US embassy cable - 05ACCRA637

UNCLAS ACCRA 000637 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, SCUL, OIIP, OEXC, PGOV, GH 
SUBJECT: REPORT ON AFRP "RADIO BROADCASTING IN THE 
U.S." 
 
 
1. Summary.  Two Ghanaian radio broadcasters were 
among the participants in an AFRP on "Radio 
Broadcasting in the U.S." from January 31-February 
18, 2005.  Both had rave reviews for the program and 
said the experience broadened everyone's 
perspective. One of the journalists was particularly 
impressed by a visit to the Navajo nation but 
surprised by the poverty in such a rich country as 
the United States. End Summary. 
 
2.  Ransford Anertey Abbey, Director of Operations 
for Choice FM, said he learned more about other 
African countries from listening to his colleagues 
in the AFRP, such as in the case of Sudan.  The 
Sudanese representative complained that journalists 
in the Christian south of the country are 
discriminated against and some are unable to 
practice their profession because the Muslim-led 
government in the north demands that all journalists 
are fluent in Arabic as well as English. 
 
3. In Washington, D.C., the group attended a 
briefing at the State Department, visited Voice of 
America and talked to some of the African 
broadcasters there, and met with representatives of 
federal government and non-governmental 
organizations. 
 
 
 
 
 
Mr. Abbey said the Washington part of the trip was 
especially useful because it gave the group an 
overview of how U.S. federal, state and local laws 
are drafted and implemented. 
 
4. He said he was surprised by his visit to the 
Navajo nation, a territory ruled by tribal laws and 
where the houses had no doors, no electricity and no 
running water, characteristics that reminded him 
very much of a typical African village.  He said he 
never expected to find such poverty in the United 
States. Unlike Africa, however, he said that once he 
entered the mud building housing the Navajo ruling 
council, he said he was stunned to see everyone was 
working on a laptop computer.  He made friends with 
the President of the Navajo Nation, who told him he 
might visit Ghana in the near future. 
 
5.  Mr. Abbey was the only journalist in the group 
to be interviewed by NPR's "All Things Considered," 
which was initially scheduled to be a seven-minute 
interview on press freedom, but which turned into a 
40-minute discussion of various topics.  In the 
interview, Mr. Abbey said he supports the idea of 
public radio in Ghana because people need to be well- 
informed but that in remote areas of the country 
residents have no choice but to listen to state-run 
radio.  He praised public radio for being 
independent and responsible to its listeners, and 
not to a station owner or government entity.  He 
said the Minnesota public radio staff later told him 
they plan to use his clips in their fund-raising 
campaigns. 
 
6. He would like to see the IVLP program extended to 
six weeks but added that even in the three-week 
program there were some appointments that could have 
been eliminated.  He said one tour instead of 
several visits to NPR stations would have been 
enough.  He also criticized several professors in 
Miami for not being very knowledgeable about Africa, 
and said the discussion with them could have been 
dropped. 
 
 
 
 
 
7. The other Ghanaian participating in the AFRP was 
Seidu Ibrahim Bomanjo, a Producer for Upper East 
Radio for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation in Wa. 
This was Mr. Bomanjo's first time in the United 
States, and he said he was overwhelmed by the level 
of development in the country.  He was also 
surprised by the public's participation in community 
radio, that he witnessed during the visit to the NPR 
affiliate in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He also 
mentioned how astounded he was by the sophisticated 
technology being used by U.S. journalists and 
broadcasting outlets. 
 
YATES