Significance of private broadcasting to national development 02/05/08 (P.7)

By: Kofi Yeboah
ONE colonial governor to whom Ghanaians must forever be grateful is Sir Arnold Hodson. He brought the nation freedom and joy more than two decades before Dr Kwame Nkrumah proclaimed independence for Ghana in 1957. That freedom and joy is radio, a legacy that has today become a critical aspect of the country’s overall development.
Sir Hodson introduced radio into the country on July 31, 1935 and right from that day, Ghanaians have been overwhelmed by the magic of radio.
As captured in a 1985 publication of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) titled, “50 years of broadcasting in Ghana”, the people of Accra went wild with excitement when they heard the voice of Hodson on Station ZOY, the first ever live radio broadcast in the country.
“The shouts were loud and deafening as the crowd roared out: ‘This is simply wonderful; radio comes to the Gold Coast Indeed’”, the publication recalls.
It further notes that the excitement about radio was even greater during the Second World War as listeners clung to their radio sets for updates on the war. As established in my academic research project to the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana (2001), the power and influence of radio being the most effective means of getting information across to the masses, makes the medium a critical asset for the prosecution of any kind of agenda.
In his GBC Golden Jubilee lectures in 1985, the late Communications Icon, Prof P. A. V. Ansah, asserts that Hodson’s idea of establishing Station ZOY was “to cater for the information, cultural and entertainment needs of the political and educated elite who consisted of European settlers, colonial administrators and the small groups of educated Africans”.
Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had different ideas about the relevance of radio. He sought to use the medium to strengthen national integration and to propagate the agenda for the emancipation of Africa.
Although the ideas of Hodson and Nkrumah about the use of radio seem to run parallel, their thoughts demonstrate a common convergence in terms of the importance governments and politicians attach to the medium. To military adventurers in particular, radio is even more critical to the extent, as Prof Ansah notes in his GBC Golden Jubilee Lectures, that, “whether a coup attempt succeeds or not is determined by who gets control of the radio station; any bid for power, therefore, seems to have the following operational principle; ‘seek ye first the radio station and its effectiveness and all other things shall be added unto it’”.
That observation by Prof Ansah is, perhaps, the reason why various governments, past and present, but more particularly military regimes, have gone every length to maintain a firm grip on the national radio station, which enjoyed absolute monopoly for six decades. Instead of using radio for its traditional functions of educating, informing and entertaining the people, they used it largely for propaganda purposes, diluting the excitement and interest with which many people had welcomed the medium at its introduction.
Prof Ansah again observes that the credibility and professional integrity of a broadcasting system is deeply undermined if it only seeks the interest of the government. “When the system’s credibility is subverted by its reputation for even occasional distortion and suppression of facts, it ceases to be an effective medium for carrying persuasive messages towards national integration or national development in general”, he says.
Indeed, for more than six decades that the GBC monopolised the broadcasting industry, various governments used the national radio and television stations as pawns to prosecute their agenda and propaganda. The national broadcast station, thus, failed in its traditional duty as a credible watchdog to hold the government accountable to the people.
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, the man who established the first private radio station in Ghana, finds the bias of Radio Ghana in favour of the government, for instance, very worrying. In a lecture delivered in 1996 on the topic, “The Fourth Republic of Ghana will last for a hundred years. True or false”?, he remarks, “If anybody can tell me the last time they heard a GBC news commentary critical of, or written by a well known adversary of the government, I shall take off my Tarzan’s loin cloth. Fact is that it will never happen and I shall be spared the ‘black blushes’”.
With such perception about the national broadcasting station, it was not surprising that many Ghanaians hailed the country’s transition into a constitutional regime under the Fourth Republic with guaranteed freedom of expression and of the media. The promulgation of the 1992 Constitution gave the impetus for the establishment of private broadcasting stations, thus breaking the monopoly of the GBC.
Article 162 (3) of the constitution provides that, “There shall be no impediments to the establishment of private press or media; and in particular, there shall be no law requiring any person to obtain a license as a pre-requisite for the establishment or operation of a newspaper, journal or other media for mass communication or information”.
In spite of the constitutional guarantee for freedom of expression and the establishment of private media, the political environment under the regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was still hostile to the establishment of private broadcasting institutions. It took the bold initiative of Dr Wereko-Brobby to give meaning to the constitution by establishing Radio Eye, the first private radio station in the country in 1994, albeit without authorisation from the National Communication Authority (NCA).
It was almost 60 years since Hodson introduced broadcasting into the country but the ecstasy that greeted the birth of Radio Eye was unimaginable. It demonstrated the hunger of the people for a new experience and their anger against the government’s manipulation of the GBC.
Unfortunately, Radio Eye survived for only 24 hours as armed soldiers moved in swiftly to close the station down before the people got intoxicated with excitement. The short life span of the station notwithstanding, its establishment generated intense public concern for the liberalisation of the airwaves and, indeed, that opened the womb for the birth of other private broadcasting stations.
Subsequently, the government yielded to public demand for the liberalisation of the airwaves and in July 1995, Joy FM, in symbiotic relationship with GBC, became the first established private radio station under the liberal dispensation. In the same year, 1995, more than 38 television authorisations were granted with a deadline to commence transmission by December 1996. Out of the 38 authorised private stations, only one, Crystal TV, was able to beat the deadline to get on-air.
Eighteen years???? down the lane, the trail blazers and the more than 100 private radio and television stations operating in all the four corners of the country have become masters in the art of broadcasting, with some reaching out to listeners and viewers even beyond the borders of Ghana.
The impact of the private electronic media on the lives of Ghanaians and overall national development has been very spectacular and immeasurable. The emergence of the private electronic media granted the public one basic human right — choice.
That right was even more desirable given the monopoly of the GBC over a long period of time. The variety of news and programming that the private radio stations brought to the fore injected innovation, quality and competition in the broadcasting industry. No wonder they made a strong impression on the public. The monopoly of the GBC was effectively broken.
Beyond giving the public preferences, the private broadcasting stations have also broadened the scope of the traditional functions of the media—- to educate, entertain and inform. They have helped, in no small measure, to carry out information about government business and other social activities to the wider public all over the country to complement the efforts of the national broadcasting stations in carrying out such information.
Again, the private radio stations have also been extremely useful in carrying information from the public to the government and other agencies about critical issues affecting the public. It is very common, for instance, to find people calling radio stations on telephone to report of criminal activities or emergency situations, which are quickly relayed to the police and other appropriate authorities for prompt action.
One area in which the private broadcasting media have made a huge impact is the deepening of participatory democracy in the country. Phone-in programmes and other innovations introduced by some of the stations have enabled many people to actively participate in the democratic process by expressing their views and opinions on various national issues.
The people now seem to have a sense of respect, appreciation and belonging. Their understanding of democracy has been deepened and they are no longer fertile minds for deception.
The significant role played by the electronic media in the 2000 and 2004 general elections has been well documented as unprecedented in the political history of the country. Apart from giving on-the-spot account of the electoral processes, the private broadcasting stations also carried live reports of events up to the declaration of the final results. Many political analysts believe that the success of the last two general elections could find reason in the significant role played by private radio and television stations in particular and the media in general.
Again, the private broadcasting institutions have contributed significantly to addressing the huge unemployment problem in the country. The industry employs more than 20,000 people, mostly the youth. That alone, has helped to decongest the system of disenchanted unemployed graduates.
In spite of their positive contribution to national development, the private broadcasting industry has come under strong criticism by a section of the public for what largely borders on the lack of professionalism exhibited by some practitioners in the industry. Concerns have been raised, for instance, about poor quality of news and programming, vulgarism and inflammatory remarks on some of the radio stations.
Such concerns emanate from the realisation that like fire, radio or the electronic media is a good servant but could be a very bad master.
Certainly, many of those concerns are very legitimate. Some of the private stations have paid little regard to professional and ethical obligations. Some of them don’t seem to have any quality programming.
With the view to helping to overcome these and many other challenges in the industry, the Association of Private Broadcasting Companies was formed in 1996. By 2004, it became obvious that the aims and objectives of the earlier umbrella body had grown bigger and therefore it was transformed into the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA).
Apart from seeking the interests of its members, the GIBA has been working assiduously at training its members. The aim is to ensure an increased capacity for the members in every corner of the country to international standards. It is to the credit of GIBA, therefore, that one of her members has taken the bold step of exporting Ghana’s brand of private broadcasting to a neighbouring country.
The fact is that private broadcasting has engendered excitement, no doubt. But it can also be a very dangerous weapon of mass destruction when left in the hands of the unprofessional. That is the more reason why the Broadcasting Standard published by the National Media Commission (NMC) must be enforced together with standards set by the GIBA, with the view to regulating the industry to ensure high professional standards.
On a balance sheet however, the private broadcast industry has been more of a blessing to the nation than a curse. They have filled a huge vacuum in the broadcasting industry created during the period of monopoly by the GBC. They deserve the support of all to enable them give off their best to the nation.