State-media in Ghana will get infrastructure support in the switch to digital, but private media organisations will be left to fend for themselves, according to the government.
Mahama Ayariga, minister for information and media relations, was speaking to a delegation from the Zambia Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Service, which are currently in the Ghana to study the digital migration process.
All countries in Africa are required to complete the migration from analogue to digital by June 17, 2015.
Ghana has five private television stations and 200 radio stations, but there appeared to be little forthcoming support for them from Ayariga, reported the state-owned Ghana News Agency, when he was addressing the Zambian delegation.
There is already a constitutionally backed National Media Commission which oversees daily content and operations of the media and appoints directors to the state-owned media houses.
Addressing his Ghanaian counterparts, Mwansa Kapeya, Zambia’s deputy minister of information and broadcasting services, said: “We want to know how you have regulated the media content, the license regime, how it is done and how it is progressing.”
“We are interested in how production is done in the film industry and how cultural activities are infused into the films, as well as how a lot of information from the films are disseminated.”
Future bills concerning media and broadcasting in Ghana include the Broadcasting Bill, which has already been submitted to parliament, and the Right to Information Bill which is aimed to help citizens gain more access to government activities.
