Very Rev. Ama Afo Blay
The new board chairman of New Times Corporation (NTC), Very Rev. Ama Afo Blay, has charged the management and staff of the corporation to be abreast with technology in order not to be left behind.
According to her, the steady growth in Ghana’s media landscape recently had been chalked on the back of technology and it would be prudent to catch up with modernity, should an entity wish to remain in business.
“The rate of change in technology calls on all of us to update our skills or become obsolete or get extinct in no time,” she noted.
She indicated, “The newspaper industry is facing serious challenges, include dwindling advertising revenues and poor sales and circulation as a result of the emergence of new media, particularly digital publishing and social media platforms – real challenging times for media organizations.”
Ms Afo Blay admonished the staff yesterday in Accra when she delivered her acceptance speech as the new board chairperson after the board was inaugurated.
She said Ghana has a vibrant media that are playing key roles in the country’s political discourse, and that NTC could not be left out.
The Ghanaian Times, she said, had helped over the years in building national identity, educating and giving voice to many. “The Ghanaian media have given a voice to citizens and can be described as the most free in Africa,” she observed.
She therefore pledged to restore all that went wrong. “The board will ensure the speedy implementation of policy decisions to achieve a sound industrial environment to forestall unrest at the work place such as the recent protests by staff of the corporation against working conditions and demands for salary increments,” Ms Afo Blay averred.
Ivy Austin, Alex Kwadwo Boateng, Francis Fritz Andoh, Yaw Awuku-Lokko, Elizabeth Oduro Mensah and Vesta Edu-Gyemfi were named as members of the board.
Chairman for the National Media Commission, Kwasi Gyan-Appenteng, called on the management to do their best to reclaim their past glory.
He asked them to eschew acrimonious tendencies in order to rebuild the paper once more.
BY Emmanuel Kubi