The Press Market in Ghana

Following the discovery of oil in Ghana, more investors including international press are eying the country as their investment destination. The foreign press is expected to provide news coverage on the activities of both foreign and local investors in Ghana. Newspapers such as Metro Newspaper in London, Marketing Africa and Enterprise Africa are expected to begin operation in Ghana by the end of the year. Ten years ago, you would have found no more than six privately owned newspapers for sale on any given day. Now, there is such a proliferation of newspapers, selling to what can still only be described as a very limited market of educated and affluent Ghanaians. On the newsstands, we have eight dailies, 14 bi-weeklies, 50 weeklies and nine monthlies. To start with the state-owned media houses, the Daily Graphicis the indisputable leader of the newspaper market in terms of circulation and sales. Comfortable with its lack of competition, it carries safe, sometimes spineless journalism, usually reluctant to take any unnecessarily firm opinions. The paper reports on crime stories, but largely full of advertising, it has little need to exert itself with innovations or investigations. The Ghanaian Times is the other government-owned mainstream newspaper, but more left-leaning than the Graphic, and more thorough in its coverage of social issues in particular. Apart from the afore-mentioned newspapers, we also have four major private newspapers in the country namely Daily Guide, Chronicle, Statesman and Heritage. The current cover price of the newspapers in the country- both government and private-is 70 pesewas (less than 1 USD). The distribution channels of these newspapers include all the retail outlets (vendors) and internet. About 50% of Ghanaian newspapers are circulated across the whole country. Apart from Accra, the papers are transported to other regions through State Transport Corporation or through domestic airlines. In spite of the strength of the investigative nature of newspapers in the country, some key players in the industry have severally described Ghanaian newspapers as sub standard. Some of the private newspapers in Ghana could accurately be described as propaganda pamphlets than as newspapers, most of which are funded by particular personality within a political party. The standard of newspaper production, with specific cognizance of the pages, as compared to even those in Nigeria and other parts of the African continent, brings to bear a vast difference in the content structure of newspapers produced in Ghana. Newspapers in Ghana do not meet international requirements, as compared to those of even other African countries where the pages of a particular newspaper are up to 80 or more. This does not make Ghanaian newspapers attractive on the international market. Though the country has the best of journalists, they do not have the capital to operate. This has been due to the lackadaisical attitude of the newspapers publishers themselves since most of them lack adequate planning to move their businesses. Unlike Graphic, Daily Guide, Ghanaian Timesand Heritage, most of the journalists who are mostly working with the private press are not being paid well to motivate them give out their best. Newspapers come and go in Ghana and many are run at a loss. Smaller political newspapers run off staff that receive little or no salary and are produced with an old computer or two and hours of dedication. Media houses still lack adequate technical capacities. The private press has great prospects but quite a number of its outlets have a very weak production base and are therefore not able to give of their best. They are burdened with high cost of production and inadequate advertising, which would ensure a steady flow of needed funds effectively to run their businesses. It costs a publisher 20 Ghana pesewas (less than 0.50 USD) to print a copy of 16-page newspaper. In spite of all these negatives, it remains a fact that one of the healthiest things that ever happened in Ghana has been the creation of an environment in which dissenting and varying views are freely expressed and tolerated. Studies revealed that business, sports and entertainment newspapers in Ghana are able to penetrate easily into the market and survive than the political ones. As a result, most of the business papers in Ghana have columns for sports, entertainment and other important issues in order to attract more readers. The good news is that Ghanaian newspaper industry is expected to be vibrant as the government promised to help in the distribution of newspapers, especially the private ones, by establishing companies that can circulate papers efficiently throughout the country. The government also started giving out adverts to both government and private newspapers to sustain them. However, before entering into the Ghanaian media landscape, a publisher of a newspaper both foreign and local has to register with the National Media Commission with an amount of 50 USD. The National Media Commission was set up on 7 July 1993 by an Act of Parliament (Act 449)pursuant to Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution, with a mandate to promote free, independent and responsible media to sustain democracy and national development. Market trends in the Ghanaian newspaper industry are growing as the major players are always increasing their per unit sales a day. The market is there for the foreign press to enter without any barrier. The political, economic, legal and socio-cultural environment in Ghana is very conducive. The criminal libel law has been abolished and journalists have the right to express their views without fear. The economic growth of the country currently stands at 6.8%. The Ghanaian population is over 22 million and the people are friendly. The literacy rate of the country currently stands at 52 %, according to the World Bank statistics. This phenomenon and the discovery of oil in Ghana do present a large market with high expectations unmet. The presence of foreign newspapers in Ghana, according to analysts, is expected to make the country’s newspaper industry more competitive. Ghana’s dream of joining the ranks of Africa's oil exporters came a step closer to reality when Tullow Oil discovered perhaps three billion barrels of crude last year with an estimated 120.000 barrels to be drilled per day. The country is to start oil production in the next two years. Regarded as among the more stable and democratic countries in West Africa, Ghana says it will learn from the mistakes of its peers to harness oil for the benefit of all. «There's no reason that oil should be a curse,» say some of the government officials. «We want to make sure we follow the example of countries like Canada or Norway who've used oil to their benefit.» Ghana has sought to exploit its energy potential for decades, but it was only last year that the Mahogany and Hyedua wells turned the country into one of the most talked-about exploration zones in Africa. Tullow says it has found a reserve of between 170m and 1.38bn recover- able barrels extending across the West Cape, Three Points and Deepwater Tano blocks. Combined with promising exploration work in Uganda, the Ghana prospect could be an important discovery for the UK-listed Tullow, which is working in Ghana with Kosmos Energy and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The government says it is working with the World Bank and donors to ensure it uses any future oil income to help meet its target of turning Ghana into a middle-income country by 2015. Officials say the money could be used to fund the $450m Ghana needs each year to develop infrastructure, as well expand education and development projects. President John Agyekum Kufuor said in November last year that a team of experts would draw up a plan to ensure the transparent and prudent use of oil revenues.

Author: Felix Dela Klutse, Business Editor, Daily Guide Newspaper