Wednesday 23 October 2013

Assignment

 Dicuss how the social media and bloggers, citizen journalists affect the existence or survival of news production organizations.
How are these news productions organizations surviving the threat from social media, bloggers and citizens.
For most of human history the main means of communication was special, with face to face communication being the norm. In such oral cultures, communication, ideas and knowledge were transmitted across generation by word of mouth and the kind of repositories of useful knowledge we are used to such books and libraries just did not exist. Once speech could be written down and stored initialy on stone, the first writing culture began to emerge, religions, have played a major part in the development of producing manuscripts and religious text for study and transportation, such as on papyrus and parchment, to literally spread the world.
Yet although technological advances and new uses of older technologies played a crucial part in the development of the mass media, the influence of social,cultural and economic factors must also be taken into account.
However in the late twentieth century, new digital technologies such as the mobile phone, video games digital television and internet, have revolutionized the mass media. By the early 1990s it was clear that the future lay not with the individual personal computer (pc) with a global system of interconnected computers -internet.
Although many computer users may not have realized it that time, the pc was quickly to become little more than a point of access to events happening else where - event happening on a network sretching across the planet, a network that is not owned by any individual or organization.
Ifact the spread of the social media such as the internet has affected news production organisations in several ways. Let take music for example, the global industry in recording music is one of the most concentrated. The four largest firms universal (which absorbed poly gram in 1998),Time Warner, Sony BMG and EMI - control between 80 and 90 percent of all music sales internaly (Herman and Mac Chesney 1997). Until January 2000, when it announced a merger with Time Warner, EMI was the only organization among the top five that was not part of a longer media conglomerate. The music industry experienced substantial growth during the mid-1990s,with sale in developing countries particularly strong, promoting many of the top organizations to sign up more local artist in anticipation of further market growth.
However, the music industry has been challenged by the arrival of the internet, which allow users to (illigally) share music for free more easily and extensively than before and to produce and disseminate their own music without the need for large media corporations and marketing drives.
When it comes to the case of news papers, for half a century or more, newspapers were the cheap way of conveying inw quickly and coprehensively to a mass public. But their influence has waned with the rise of radio, cinema and much more important television,and increasingly the internet. Example, figures for news paper readership suggest that the proportion of people who read a national daily paper in Ghana has declined since the 1980s. Among men the proportion of daily news paper readers dropped from 76 percent in 1996 to 60 percent in 2005-7; readership levels are some what lower among women,but similar drop from 68 percent to 51 percent has taken place.
Indeed when it comes to how the traditional media outlet such as the newspapers, films and music are going to survive in the present of the new technological media.
The newspapers, films, music and other traditional media organizations have to diversify their output into media in I order to survive. In doing so newspaper organizations fir example have to make their production affordable for all in order to attract more readers to survive. For instance, the cheap daily press was pioneered in the united states with 'one cent daiy' paper in New York. The invention of cheap news print was the key to the mass diffusion of the newspapers from the late nineteenth century onwards.
Indeed, for the traditional media to survive they have to progress or thrive in the new digital environment. This could be done if They rebrand their products to attract their audience. In conclusion for every old product to sustain its validity in the presence of the new ones, the organizations that produce such a product have to do rebranding or packaging in order to survive. The same should be applied to the old media organizations for survival.

Thursday 17 October 2013

problems of colts football in Ghana

Although colts football over the years has archived alot for Ghana, it cannot run away without number of challenges. Despite all the achievements that were explained in the second blog,colts football in Ghana is less known to many Ghanaians. In Ghana a player who plays his football at colts level is not recognised as compare to their professional couterparts.
Colts football in Ghana is played on bad pitches, pitches that teams in Europe and other parts of the world will not even use as training ground. This lack of good  pitches for our colts teams has made  it difficult for more talents to be discovered.
Lack of sponsorship, sponsorship has become a ghost name in colts level football in Ghana. Division one, two and three leagues are played throughout the country without a sponsorship. The absence of sponsorship in the scond and third tier of Ghana football is a major problem facing Ghana football in general, imagine a first division team from aflao traveling to play against navarongo xi stoppers in the upper east region without a sponsorship.
Colts teams in Ghana have been facing alot if financial difficulties over the years because of lack of sponsorship. Indeed managers and team coaches find it difficult to handle the players which subsequently leads to the colapse of the teams. In 2008-2009 season forinstance polytank came inn as the sole sponsors of the Ghana division one league but the deal broke down somewhere along the line. Since then the lower division teams have not gotten any sponsorship deal. Colts teams in Ghana play football not because of money but rather for pride. Most players at the lower division teams are not paid, even those who are paid how much do they earn at the end of the month?
Viewership, this is another problem facing the colts football in Ghana. Most of these colts teams play their Matches with only the Sun wathcing them spectating has been a major problem facing all aspects of Ghana football and colts football is not eception. In some of the venues even if a match is made free to the public, these venues still remain empty, this is because the venues in which the games are being played do not fit for association football. Much money is spend on the black stars, whereas colts football which is the back bone of professional football is tearing apart. In England for example where colts football enjoys alot sponsorship, the empire chapionship, the division one and all the lower division leagues are being played the way the premier league is played, that is, it is played in the all play all system. Whiles in Ghana, it is played on zonal basis to avoid much money spend. This has made it difficult for the professional league board (plb) to get quality teams in our premier league. If a team goes round to play all the teams before qualifying, that team will be fully prepared for the premier league. If a team play only zone one throughout the season for example and that team qualified to the premier league, what do you expect from such a team? Typical example is Inter alies, tema based team which has played six games in the on going premier league without a single point. Indeed, colts teams are the back bones of professional football if attention is not paid, colts football will surely colapse. If the root of a tree is cut off the leafs get dry, if the leafs dry, what happens next? ...........

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Achievement of colts football in Ghana

                                   ACHIEVEMENT OF COLTS FOOTBALL IN GHANA

It is said that one cannot put up a building without a foundation, for a plant to grow well it has to stand on a fertile land, human beings cannot move without the ground. Colts football is the ground on which the professional football stands. the various colts teams in Ghana have proved beyond all reasonable doubts that without them no one can boost or talk of professional football. Indeed, when it comes player development colts teams are the major contributors. Throughout our second cycle institutions across Ghana there a of talented young footballers who can help Ghana football in future.
I remember in the year 2000, Daniel Opare was part of the volta regional under 12 soccer team in the basic schools competition i was then an athlete, after that competition Daniel Opare was called into one the colts teams in Ho, before  moving to  obuasi Ashanti gold and. Subsequently to the National teams.
Most of these colts teams are  doing very well interns player development, they go to  the grass-roots level where nobody recognise, to pick up these inexperienced players, group them together, train them and also prepare them for future use. In fact, in Ghana, over 95 percent of the players we have, started their football from the colts teams.
Coaches  who coach these colts teams across the country are the most experience coaches even though they are not recognised. It is never easy to bring someone from nowhere to somewhere. I always prefer watching colts football to premier league matches because of the passion players from that level have for the game. This is the level where no one seems not to care about, and yet beautiful football is displayed. I got an opportunity to interview a group of players after a football match between two colts teams, i asked them if they really enjoy playing colts football since they do not get any support from any body? They said, "indeed, we do enjoy playing at colts level because we are playing for our future and one day we shall surely make it to the top", according to the players they believe that there no shortcuts in success players with talent need to work more hard so as to perform at every top level. Without hard work commitment they cannot succeed.
Indeed, colts football has done alot for Ghana football, the following past players all started from a very lower division side. Ibrahim otoo started his football career whilst a student of kaneshie secondary technical school with CYO football club at mateheko a suburb of Accra. He later played for palm fire dc a second division and kwabiriem fc first division. Due to the passion he had  for football he entered into coaching and brought up a player like Laryea Kingston who did well for the black stars. Another player who also started his football career at a juvenile level was Nuhu Anyetei Cofie, he played for soccer. Missionaries football club of abosey Okai in Accra in the early 80s. He later played for hearts of Oak and other big teams in the country. If all these great players have played for juvenile level football before,then there is no doubt that juvenile football has achieve a lot for Ghana.