The circulation of the print media houses in Ghana has dwindled as a result of readers resorting to reading from various online news platforms.
The phenomenon has hit more at the private print media which are finding it difficult to cope with the situation.
The state-owned Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times are also experiencing same as their circulation have reduced drastically. Mr. James Biney, a newspaper vender who has been in the newspaper selling business for over 40 years said the situation is unbearable and that some of his sub-venders are being thrown out of job.
“I used to sell over 2,000 copies of Daily Graphic newspaper a day and 1,500 copies of Ghanaian Times newspaper some three years back. But now I only request for 600 copies of Graphic and 100 copies of Times”. People only buy the state-owned newspapers because of placement of advertisements on construction of school buildings, hospitals, supply of goods and job opportunities.
As for the private newspapers like the Chronicle, Daily Guide, Daily Dispatch, Statesman, Informer, the Searchlight, Herald, Business and Financial Times, Insight and the Crusading Guide, patronage has dropped massively with some of the media houses unable to pay their staff.
According to Biney who is popularly called “Chief Vender” in Cape Coast Metropolis previously he could sell 1000 copies of the Chronicle but now he always request for 15 copies and out of that 10 copies are bought. The situation is affecting all newspapers in the country.
Ghanaian readers have developed taste in reading online news platforms and websites as well as listening to newspaper reviews on various channels thereby losing interest in buying newspapers.
However some communication analysts have attributed low patronage to prevailing harsh economic conditions which is biting hard on the newspaper industry.
DAP/as/APA