Accra, Sept 1, – Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Communications, today charged news organizations to be commercial- oriented in the provision of their products. ”There is the need to treat news as a commodity which is saleable … provision of news should now fall within the general framework of reducing government expenditure. ”The news business is profitable business,” he said at a meeting with the Management of Ghana News Agency in Accra. Mr Spio-Garbrah, who was making his first visit to the GNA since his appointment as minister of Communications, was conducted round the offices by Mr Sam Quaicoe, the General Manager. Mr Spio-Garbrah said the GNA with its wide network of correspondents throughout the country, could be sitting on a gold mine which it could use to its benefit. ”This will enable it to become less dependent on government. We’ve come a long way from the time when the Agency was set up to just provide information …. the situation has now changed … the Agency has to change to fit into the times”.
