Management of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have denied being source of the poor visuals of US President Barack Obama's address to Ghana's Parliament on Saturday.
Footage of the event was beamed on international media channels such as the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera.
The poor quality of pictures and sound raised concerns among the viewing public.
While visuals appeared pale, sound was hardly audible.
"You could hardly establish coherence between words," a viewer lamented.
Joy News sources said all the television stations picked their feeds from a Metro-TV-powered outdoor broadcasting van.
An official from Metro TV had earlier told Joy News GTV failed to pick its feed directly from the outdoor broadcasting van directly in front of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
He insisted the state broadcaster rather sourced its visuals from Metro TV's channel on DSTV.
However, GBC officials have dispel such suggestions and promised to come public with the “true” reasons for the poor footage.
Mr Obama spent a night in Ghana with his wife Michelle, who traces her ancestry to Africa – and their two daughters Malia aged 10 and Sasha aged 7.
The visit of Mr Obama is significant because it highlighted Ghana as a beacon of democracy and good governance, the White House had said.
The US First Family visited the Cape Coast Castle, a former slave fort. Mr Obama said the cruelty that the slaves suffered shows there is always a door of hope.
“And symbolically, to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children, and see the portal through which the diaspora began, but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana of the extraordinary progress that we've made because of the courage of so many, black and white, to abolish slavery and ultimately win civil rights for all people, I think is a source of hope,” the US president said.
“It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome.”
Media coverage of the events was huge. Over 500 media houses, local and international, applied for accreditation, sources at the Information Ministry said.
“Ghana is privileged to be venues for several events that mark the visit of the world's most powerful man,” a corresponded from an international media house stressed.
Mr Obama's visit is the third by a sitting US president. The first was that of former US President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Source: Fiifi KoomsonJoy News
1 comment:
There is no doubt that the poor quality of pictures as well as the inaudible sound that was experienced viewers in Ghana and across the world was a serious embarrassment to the nation. Where is the minister of information in all this? She must take responsibility for the embarrassment she has caused the country and do the right thing by resigning.
I wonder if any care was taken to ensure that the viewers would not experience any difficulties. I cannot buy from the minister that the poor quality was due to rivalry. Which of the two station was given the right to air the speech and what did her outfit do to ensure that there will be no sabotage. I switched from BBC to Aljazeera and finally to CNN only to be told by CNN that there was a technical problem at the source. I could not believe it.
Ghanaians can only accept one reason from her and that is resignation for poor work done. The international focus of the event and the poor quality of the sound and pictures can only be placed at the door step of the information minister period. Her resignation will be dearly welcome.
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