Help lift the image of New Times Corporation

A Nine-member Board of Directors for the New Times Corporation (NTC) was inaugurated in Accra yesterday with a call on the members to help lift up the image of the corporation.
The Managing Director, Mr Kofi Asuman, who made the call, said the corporation was in a critical but not hopeless situation and thus needed a dynamic and result-oriented board to help in its rejuvenation and resuscitation.
He said due to the fierce competition from both the electronic and print media in the newspaper market, the former board, management and staff of the corporation had worked hard to survive and were gradually making an impact.
Mr Asuman said the new board would be expected to help in developing policies and programmes that could help lift the image of the corporation and added that one major concern of management was to repackage and relaunch the Evening News, a newspaper that made great strides on the market before folding up about four years ago.
“We expect that the new board will assist us to put the Evening News back on the stands”, he said.
The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr Paul Adu-Gyamfi, assured the new board of the commission’s support and cooperation.
He said although the new board had a daunting task, the commission would tolerate any excuses for poor performance.
“Like in most games, there will be the occasional feeling that if you cheated ‘small’ you could make it. In journalism, that could mean pandering to the market. The financial well-being of others who have profited from wrongful behaviour would be pressed on you. I know your own personal ethics would not lead you that way and that you would be guided by the highest ideals in the profession to put Ghana first in all that you do”, he said.
He added the country’s thriving democracy, growing economy and the warmth of its citizens showed that the country’s leadership of Africa was not a hoax.
The new board is chaired by Mr David Newton, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
The rest are Mr Nyamekye Owusu, Togbe Adom Drayi, Mrs Jeannette Quarcoopome, Mr Robert A. Baidoo Jnr, Dr (Mrs) Sika Ahadzie, Mr Kweku Duncan, Mrs Emma Asiedu and Mr Kofi Assumah, the Managing Director.
Mr Newton said the new board would develop a scientific framework to facilitate the solution of the corporation’s problems.

Picture: Members of the new board. They are from left (standing), Togbe Adom Drayi, Mr Kweku Duncan, Mrs Emma Asiedu, Mr Nyamekye Owusu and Mr Kofi Asuman.
Seated, from the left is Dr (Mrs) Sika Ahadzie, Mr David Newton, new Board Chairman (middle) and Mrs Jeannette Quarcoopome.