RTP Africa has honoured Ambassador Edward Akwasi Boateng with the Media Visionary Award at the 15th Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Awards, recognising his visionary leadership and transformative contributions to media development in Ghana and across Africa.
The award celebrates Ambassador Boateng’s pioneering role in shaping modern broadcasting, amplifying African voices, and building media platforms that have influenced culture, journalism, and public discourse for over three decades.
Ambassador Boateng was instrumental in initiating and providing seed funding for Ghana’s first breakfast television show on GBC in the 1990s, a bold intervention that redefined morning news and current affairs programming and laid the foundation for the diverse breakfast shows audiences enjoy today.
As Founder of Global Media Alliance (GMA), established in 1998, he went on to build some of Ghana’s most influential media platforms, including YFM, Happy FM, etv, and Silverbird Cinemas. Through YFM in particular, he redefined access to the airwaves; legitimising youth expression, music, and creative culture, and setting new standards for audience engagement and cultural relevance.
Beyond Ghana, Ambassador Boateng’s impact has been profoundly continental and global. During his leadership with CNN Africa, he initiated landmark initiatives such as Inside Africa and the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award, platforms that reshaped global narratives about Africa, celebrated journalistic excellence, and strengthened Africa’s voice in international media.
He also played a key role in supporting and establishing major African broadcast channels, including SABC Africa, eNCA and etv in South Africa, and K24 in Kenya, contributing to the growth of pan-African television and free-to-air commercial broadcasting across the continent.
In the 1990s, Ambassador Boateng worked closely with development partners to advance media deregulation across Africa, helping to foster innovation, plurality, and freedom of expression; an era-defining contribution that opened space for private broadcasting and independent media.
Receiving the award, Ambassador Boateng expressed deep gratitude to his family, colleagues, collaborators and the RTP Awards organisers, acknowledging the many individuals who supported and challenged him throughout his journey.
The Media Visionary Award adds to a distinguished list of recognitions for Ambassador Boateng and affirms his enduring legacy as a founder, institution builder, and one of the most influential figures in Africa’s media history.
As the RTP citation concluded, the award honours “a man who put Africa in charge of its own story.”
