Gov’t will work to expand media frontiers - Zita

The Minister of Information, Mrs Sabah Zita Okaikoi, has given the assurance that an Atta Mills government would work assiduously to ensure the expansion of media frontiers and freedom in the country.
She said as a first step, the administration had adopted an open-door policy that would facilitate the free flow of information for the benefit of all Ghanaians and also as part of its declared aim of ensuring transparency and accountability.
The minister gave the assurance during a familiarisation tour of the Daily Guide, the Insight and the Statesman newspapers in Accra last Thursday.
She also urged the media to always ensure that all their publications were targeted towards the well-being of Ghanaians, adding that “In the pursuit of your professional work as journalists, you should always think of Ghana first and ask yourself what effect your work would have on the country”.
Mrs Okaikoi described the visits as the first move towards engendering closer collaboration between the media and the government, especially the ministry but was quick to add that this was not for the media to be in bed with the Atta Mills administration.
She added that the government believed in a vibrant and objective media that would put the government on its toes to deliver for the people of this country.
She said the media in Ghana was an equal partner to the government in finding solutions to the myriad of problems facing the country, and that the Atta Mills administration would not turn a deaf ear to the media in Ghana.
Mrs Okaikoi reiterated the call on media houses to use their medium to also educate the people on the issue of environmental cleanliness, patriotism, the need for Ghanaians, especially those outside the tax net, to pay their taxes for the government to generate enough revenue to develop the country.
She added that after the elections, the era of partisan political party activities must give way to a united front made up of all Ghanaians working together to accelerate the pace of providing the basic needs of Ghanaians.
At the Daily Guide offices, the Editor of the newspaper, Mr Fortune Alimi, said it was an erroneous impression for people to hold the view that the paper was anti-NDC.
He explained that as a responsible media house, its management and staff were made up of a blend of people from various political backgrounds and what the paper sought to do was to create equal avenues for all Ghanaians to express their opinions.
He added that as a responsible corporate entity, it had been supporting and would continue to support the government in disseminating its policies and programmes and also bring out the ills in the society.
The Editor of the Statesman newspaper, Mr Frances Agyei-Twum, commended the minister for calling on the media house.
Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, also commended the minister for the visit.
She said one of the major problems facing most of the privately owned newspapers was lack of advertisement to generate enough resources for expansion and hiring of qualified personnel.