By Abubakarr Bah
Cotton Tree News (CTN), a news and current affairs programme of the University of Sierra Leone, is to merge with Radio Mount, the teaching radio station at Fourah Bay College.
In a two-day merger workshop held at GEMM in Freetown, the Project Oversight of CTN, Bernadette Cole said the object of the merger was to consolidate the two media institutions into a sustainable media organisation to provide “independent and objective news and information programming”.
Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Radio Mount Aureol, Professor Amy Joof said the move to combine or amalgamate the two institutions could not have come at a better time. She said that integrating CTN and RMA would not only sustain the “good work” of the two media institutions but would also ensure that “the University takes ownership of the media project.” She commended the managements and staffs of both Radio Mount Aureol and CTN for “setting a mark in the media landscape of the country.”
Professor Sahr Thomas Gbamanja on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of the University pledged their commitment towards supporting the sustainability of the CTN/RMA project. He said the university was proud of the significant role played by the two media institutions, especially during the 2012 multi-tier elections.
Several facilitators made presentations during the two days on the organogram, structure, programmes and operational update of CTN/RMA as well as a strategic development plan of the new entity that will emerge from the merger.
Radio Mount Aureol was established at FBC as a teaching radio station in 2005, while CTN is a news and current affairs project established in 2007 to build media capacity in the country for Peace, Development and Human Rights in Sierra Leone.
