Support Local Productions-Bull Dog Tell TV stations

Chief Executive of Ghanaian record label Bull Haus Entertainment, Bull Dog has urged local television stations to support, promote and encourage local TV production.

Lawrence Nana Asiama Hanson as he is called in real life is one of the industry players who have the view that if the amount of foreign content especially movies and soap operas are not reduced drastically on our local television stations, Ghanaians would eventually lose their legacy.

“The television stations should just support these young writers and producers.

Some of these people have series with nice storylines and beautiful concepts behind them which they can easily adopt, start showing and when people get interested, they can walk into any cooperate organization and seek for sponsorships but then if that production is not being aired, the investor doesn’t see it as a viable venture to invest their money in,” Bull Dog stated in an exclusive interview with Nii Ogbamey Tetteh.

Some programme managers in some of these television stations have also stated that they air these foreign soap operas because that is what the masses yearn for.

“It is not like Ghanaians enjoy these soap operas on our local TV stations but sometimes entertainment is brainwashing; what you feed me is what I get into so if we don’t push out the local stuff  it will continue to seem like we are enjoying the foreign content which, in fact, we are not,” Bull Dog said.

“Now what do we see on TV, some Mexican or Italian cheap thrash they call telenovelas. Back in the days, when the TV stations were showing the Sunset Beach and The Bold and the Beautiful among others, they were also showing Things We Do For Love, Inspector Bediako, Tentacles and the rest as well. But, Ghanaians loved and enjoyed the local productions better.”

According to the outspoken Bull Dog, it is a big indictment on the heads of those TV stations who will rather go and download what he calls ‘trash’ telenovelas for free, which in the long run will brainwash the young ones.

“It is sad we don’t’ appreciate what we have.

We are killing ourselves slowly with these telenovelas and foreign soap operas.

If the National Media Commission and the National Communication Authority can put together a regulation which says that the content of all local TV stations should be 80 percent local stuff and only 20 foreign, perhaps it could solve the problem.”

He therefore attributed most for societal vices to the foreign content being aired on our television stations.

“Our generation and the ones after them would be much better if they wake up to see local productions which tell the Ghanaian story and teach the Ghanaian values.”

By Nii Ogbamey Tetteh