Trouble at GTV

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday March 24, 2010
The impasse between staff of Ghana Television (GTV) and management of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has taken another twist with the GTV staff storming the National Media Commission (NMC) to present a petition to the Executive Secretary about the situation.

The staff who have since Monday been wearing red armbands want the NMC to intervene and resolve the impasse without any delay to forestall any future altercation between the management and staff.

Presenting the petition, Ebenezer Ampaabeng, a senior newscaster who spoke on behalf of the staff said the GTV staff had been given a raw deal by the management and had not been factored into any decision concerning them taken by the management of GBC.

They said it is never the case that GTV staff are opposed to the “One GBC” project being implemented by management but had only raised legitimate issues concerning the project, adding “when the management proposed the project we all supported it and went for the training together.”

Recounting how the impasse started, the GTV staff said a consultant was engaged to train staff from both radio and television for a six week period but the consultant ended up training all staff on television news production and no radio training.

“Only radio staff benefited from the training. The stuff pertaining radio was missing throughout the six-week training exercise.”

“It has now become a one sided programme and that is what we wanted to explain to them but unfortunately they have gone about calling us all sorts of names.”

They also explained that the new projects needed the application and installation of sophisticated equipment which were yet to be fully operational adding “we are now heading towards a tape less environment and staff needs to be conversant with the new system”

“Because we have been in television production for a long time we anticipated and foresaw the dangers of rushing the project but when we attempted to explain our position to management they refused to listen to us.

The GTV staff said since the impasse started, the Board Chairman of GBC had been on radio accusing them without bothering to find out about the issues they raised or what had happened on Sunday which led to a delay in telecasting midday news.

“Our Board Chairman only listened to the Deputy Director General who came to the studio to enforce the project and did not bother to find out from the Director General what had happened. This is because the Director General had been bale to resolve the impasse and we were satisfied with the outcome.”

“Our Board Chairman is being one-sided. He has been on a radio station threatening sanctions against Titi Anape one of our Editors. We feel he is no longer the umpire we can rely on and that is why we have come to the NMC”.

The GTV staff further accused the management of usurping the powers of the editorial section by drawing schedules saying “for all these years it has been the duty of editorial draws up schedules and we do not understand why all of a sudden management has decided to be drawing schedules for the editorial.”

They also complained that since the impasse began, some GTV staff have been intimidated by some management members who continuously ask the security to pick up anyone who raises dissenting opinion.

They also expressed concern about the way their colleagues from the radio section had politicized a legitimate issue they have raised, adding “ can you imagine our colleagues asking our Director General to confirm whether he was aware if the NPP is behind our agitation?”

Receiving the petition, Kabral Blay Amihere, NMC Executive Secretary commended the GTV staff for “charting the path of dialogue”, saying “ I have already set in motion a process of listening to all sides.”

He said “the NMC will incorporate all the complaints and help to resolve the impasse” adding “we will act with urgency because the longer the problem exist, the more damage it will do for national agenda.