GhanaWeb Reporter, Ghana’s first digital media sharing platform, has been launched to democratize journalism and empower content creators.
Integrated into the GhanaWeb App, the award-winning platform running on both iOS and Android operating systems aims to give Ghanaians an opportunity to amplify their voices on issues that matter to them and for content creators to earn a share of the advertising revenue.
Envisioned in 2019, the GhanaWeb Reporter has gone through several phases of development and in December 2021, it was presented to the public at the Ghana Bloggers Summit where 10 bloggers and citizen journalists were selected for usability testing to evaluate its effectiveness.
The GhanaWeb Reporter has two main accounts which are the Basic Reporter and the Professional Reporter. The Basic Reporter is the default account that gives users access to the basic features including GhanaWeb discounts and services like the GhanaWeb Self-Service Advertising, GhanaWeb Memorial and GhanaWeb Business Pages at no cost.
Users on the Basic Reporter account can share videos, audio, files, images and text of news, entertainment and opinion content as well as their social media posts to the App at their convenience. The posts are screened for content violation and if approved, they are simultaneously published on the user’s page and on the GhanaWeb Wall which has a mix of content including GhanaWeb Reporter posts, opinions and discussions, blog posts, photos of registered members and promotional content.
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Each GhanaWeb Reporter user has a specialized page with a custom URL and they have the ability to engage followers through the App’s private messaging feature.
Meanwhile, the Professional Reporter account is subscription-based and offers premium GhanaWeb Reporter features including monetized niche blogs and a content performance dashboard to keep track of earnings from advertising revenue generated by their blogs. They also earn a share of the revenue from GhanaWeb’s Self-Service Advertising displayed on their blogs to promote local advertising.
Professional Reporters are classified into four categories: Blog Reporters, VIP Reporters and Advocacy Reporters. Blog Reporters consist of bloggers and citizen journalists who keep 50% of the local advertising revenue; VIP Reporters consist of celebrities and influencers who also keep 50% of the local advertising revenue; and Advocacy Reporters consist of charities, non-governmental organisations and agencies that are allowed to keep all the local advertising revenue generated by their monetized blogs. They also have access to directly publish content on their niche blogs and the GhanaWeb Wall without screening.
“Ten bloggers and citizen journalists selected after the GhanaWeb Reporter Contest in December 2021 were the first to own Professional Reporter accounts that earned them monetized niche blogs. GhanaWeb has decided to offer a subscription fee waiver to all Professional Reporter account users until further notice,” said the Editor-in-Chief of AfricaWeb, Ismail Akwei.
“Any GhanaWeb Reporter user who wants to upgrade to the Professional Reporter account should have a complete and filled-up profile, should have published multiple and diverse posts and increased engagement on their pages. If they fulfill this requirement, they can apply for an upgrade,” he added.
GhanaWeb Reporter was the only project from Ghana among 21 projects from 13 countries in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region to receive $1.93 million in funding from Google in 2020 as part of the first Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge to help journalism thrive in the digital age and to see news innovators step forward with new thinking.
To be a GhanaWeb Reporter, download the GhanaWeb App for free on the Google Play Store and the App Store. Go through the registration process and make your first post.
The Reporter would be introduced to other AfricaWeb platforms in Cameroon, Nigeria and Tanzania over the next year.
