GNA Boss Urges Staff to Meet International Standards

The General Manager of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Albert Kofi Owusu has encouraged the staff to commit themselves towards providing news content that meets international standards like the United Kingdom's Reuters News Agency.

He said a news agency was very relevant in an era of media pluralism because media houses who would not have direct access to critical news sources could always rely on stories filed by it.

Likewise, it would be impossible for any newsmaker to directly access every media platform, thus the essence of a new agency to feed media houses with its stories.

Presenting his Vision and Programme of Action at a staff durbar, Mr Owusu said what was required to restore the Agency to its past glory was capital investment to secure the state of the art technology, get the requisite staff strength, train them and secure their commitment.

He said he knew of the challenges that had been limiting the Agency's effectiveness before he took up the job, but he believed in the vision of Kwame Nkrumah that Ghana needed a news agency to tell her story accurately, speedily and impartially to the world; while it fostered national unity and socio-economic development.

Mr Owusu said with innovation and team spirit, he would lead GNA to mobilise the requisite resources and the goodwill to get the job done.

'As a student, I was here for two months as an intern and met the best of the journalists of the day in the GNA and it was so exciting just being part of the team,' he said.

'I want us to go back to those days, where the GNA was held in such a high esteem and everyone wanted to work here'.

The initiatives to be introduced in the coming days, he said, included a photo service, audio-visual reports, a more vibrant website, stronger social media service and a revamped business development outfit.

'All these can be done through the concerted will of you and me. Let us not be our own enemies but unite and build a vibrant agency to the admiration of all because it is the engine of the nation,' he emphasised.

Mr Owusu said he was optimistic because his interactions with many of the staff indicated that they shared a similar vision.

'We're going to have exciting years where the Agency would lead in churning out exclusive and breaking stories; as well as insightful and educative stories on varied subjects, especially on development, environment, science, human rights, politics, and economics'.

The staff welcomed the challenge to turn things around and called for team work and hardwork.

Mr Owusu assumed office on Tuesday, November 20, 2018.

---GNA