A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has charged private television and radio stations to promote local content in their programming. He said the current stage of the country’s development required a vibrant media which will not only inform but also educate the people, forge national cohesion and promote the nation's culture. The deputy minister said this when he paid a working visit to Multi TV and Joy Online, subsidiaries of the Multimedia Group Limited in Accra to acquaint himself with their operations. He challenged the management of Multi TV to promote local content in their dissemination of information in order to enhance and complement efforts of local industries, especially the movie industry in the country. During interactions, Mr Ablakwa said the media played a vital role in the development of the nation since it promoted democracy by reaching out to the community on activities in the country and beyond. “There is more to the media than freedom of expression. The level of satisfaction the public derived from what the media does is also important," Mr Ablakwa said. He assured the organisations of the Government's support and urged them to exhibit professionalism in their duties. He entreated the management of Joy Online to institute measures to curb intolerant viewer comments on its pages. The News Editor of Joy Online, Mr Isaac Yeboah, in reaction, said the organisation was putting measures in place to control some of the excesses of, particularly, user generated contents. He expressed concern about the slow pace of the internet in facilitating the processing of information for dissemination as a major challenge to the organisation and appealed to the Government to help provide a backbone to the organisation's Internet problems. The Director of Programmes of Multi TV, Mr Abdulai Awudu, said the organisation was a multiple channel station which disseminated both local and foreign contents. He expressed gratitude for the minister’s visit and called on the Government to support the efforts of the local movie industry to promote national development. Source: Daily Graphic