Ghana’s leading English-speaking radio station, Citi FM, has officially launched its coverage of the 2016 general elections.
The launch, captures the station’s strategy to cover the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections “on the ground, on-air and online.”
Bernard Avle, the Director of News Programming at Citi FM, and host of the Citi Breakfast Show, revealed that the station has trained about sixty (60) reporters comprising student journalists from across the country, together with its regional correspondents and staff in the newsroom, to accurately cover happenings before, during and after the elections.
An additional one hundred (100) volunteers have also been equipped to cover all 275 constituencies in the country as part of the coverage.
“We have 60 journalists and a hundred volunteers working with us covering every nook and cranny of the 275 constituencies in Ghana. As we speak, we have already sent teams out who are already scooping out issues in the various constituencies finding out what’s happening,” he said.
As part of plans to provide a comprehensive and extensive reportage on the election, the station has also increased its political programming and reintroduced its political programme.
Bernard Avle said, “on air, we’ve increased the content of our political programs to reflect the reality of campaigning on the ground. The Citi Breakfast Show has introduced at least an hour and half of updates to listeners on what’s happening on the ground…we have the Citi Prime News extended by another 30 minutes; so Prime News at 12 o’clock runs till 1:00pm.”
“He added that, “on Eyewitness News, our Point Blank segment will be dedicated to aspirants for the various constituencies.”
‘Political Program’
Citi FM has also introduced a new political programme dubbed “Campaign Trail”, which presents a wrap of the day’s political activities, focus on the various constituencies and engage persons who matter on the political landscape of the various areas.
The show airs from Monday to Thursday at 9:00pm, and will be hosted by Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku till after the elections.
‘Online election coverage’
Citi FM’s online coverage of the election features a fine mix of text, audio and visual report of all electioneering activities happening across the country.
“People’s consumption of news has changed so if you notice, Citi FM has introduced a hashtag #GhElections. Everything elections goes with the hashtag. Our Facebook updates are second to none in terms of depth and quality of coverage. We also have Citi TV which has a number of interesting videos of things happening.”
‘Election website’
Citi FM has published a new website dedicated to all election related stories. The website, www.Ghelections.com, captures every political activity going into the election.
“The website will have a compendium of information on all the 275 constituencies, past electoral results, reports from the regions and it really is the one stop shop for everything elections. We are so determined to give listeners and viewers an unforgettable experience in this particular election,” Bernard Avle said.
The Director of News Programming further called on the general public to tune in to the station to enjoy its unique election 2016 programming package and listen to the analysis, facts and precise experiences on the ground.
Listeners, viewers and readers can engage in conversations around the station’s election 2016 coverage on Facebook via: Citi 97.3 FM, on Twitter at @Citi973 using hashtag: #GhElections.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana