Professor Amin Alhassan, the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), is encouraging the government to implement a media tax to replace the current “struggling” TV licence fee.
For years, the GBC has struggled to collect TV license fees due to what it has described as Ghanaians’ unwillingness to pay what is owed to the state broadcaster.
Professor Amin Alhassan, speaking at a media forum organised by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in Accra, said that the discourse on establishing a media tax must start now for a successful public service broadcast.
“Research has continually proved that when it comes to media reliability or confidence, public service broadcasters around the world stand out,” he said.
“A recent study shows that when public broadcasting in Germany is shut down, journalism suffers”. What exactly does that imply?
“That every German consented to pay a specific amount of tax to keep public service broadcasting alive, that every British agrees, and that it is part of their federal votes for the Americans.”
“What it tells us is that we need to agree in this country to have a clear conversation about what kind of public service broadcasting system we want.”
“Do you want one that competes for advertising with private media, or do you want one that is solely focused on providing public service?” Professor Amin Alhassan concluded.
