Accra, Oct 15, GNA-Nana Apau Duah, a former General Manager of the Ghana News Agency (GNA)on Tuesday stated that the GNA is a huge national assert that is still relevant to nation building and must not be underestimated.
“Any person or institution that will underestimate the importance of the GNA will be doing a disservice to the nation. GNA’s work and impact sets it apart from all other media organisations.
“GNA’s value to the nation is beyond question. A sincere and genuine effort should be made by stakeholders to enhance its performance”, he noted.
Nana Duah was speaking at the third lecture organised by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) as part of its 70th Anniversary Celebration in Accra.
The lecture, which focused on the GNA was on the topic, “Efficient News Gathering and Dissemination for Democracy and National Integration: The role of Ghana News Agency.”
It was attended by present and former staff of the Agency, Board Members, senior officials, and journalists from other media houses.
Nana Duah said the GNA with its networks was strong in covering news from the hard to reach areas in the country to inform the public and offer the government the feedback to make policies.
He recalled that in the 1990’s when the Buruli Ulcer disease started, it was the GNA news story that drew the attention of the government and the necessary actions taken to control and contain its spread.
The former General Manager suggested to stakeholders including; the government and National Media Commission to develop a new dynamic policy framework to re-tool and sustain the growth of the Agency.
With the advent of technology, Nana Duah, said there was the need for the management of the Agency to adopt modern technology and techniques to enhance its output and play its leadership role in national integration.
Mr Albert Kofi Owusu, the General Manager of the GNA, said the Agency had not outlived its relevance as many media organisations in Ghana and abroad still relied on it for news stories.
He explained that the Agency needed resources to reposition itself as a centre of excellence in news and the preferred source of news, adding that, many radio stations, newspapers and portals still depended on the GNA for their stories.
He said “with the current strengths, coverage and credibility of the Agency, we are taking steps to turn around our fortunes.”
The Agency, he said, as part of its strategic plan, was ready to partner both private and government agencies to serve its clients with truthful, timely and unbiased news in different forms.
In the advent of fake news that had become a challenge for the society, Mr Owusu said the GNA was the solution on account of its ability to provide, balanced, objective, credible and accurate news.
Mr Affail Monney, the President of GJA, said in time past, GNA was a trailblazer, pathfinder, very powerful, and resourceful and could match the likes of Reuters.
The Agency he said continued to produce quality, credible and accurate news stories devoid of embellishment that other media houses would put into their stories.
The GNA was established on March 5, 1957 on the eve of Ghana’s independence and charged with the « dissemination of truthful unbiased news ».
It was the first news agency to be established in Sub-Saharan Africa. GNA was part of a comprehensive communication policy that sought to harness the information arm of the state to build a viable, united and cohesive nation-state.
GNA has therefore been operating in the unique role of mobilising the citizens for nation building, economic and social development, national unity and integration.
