Radio is the most popular and widely accessed media format in Ghana, with close to 90 percent of the population having regular access to this medium. Ghanaians are able to listen in from their mobile phones, or from radio sets. Ghana has 28 listed individual television stations. The state-run Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) operates Ghana TV (GTV), and has four digital channels, including GBC24 and GBC Life. The Multimedia Group is a single station with various channels – about 10 channels, with Joy TV, Adom TV, and Joy Sports being dedicated news channels. According to the most recent data from the National Communications Authority, there are over 27 million mobile phone subscribers in Ghana, with MTN and Vodafone taking the biggest share of subscriptions. Of these subscribers, about 10 million use data services, indicating significant access to the internet. With so many mobile subscribers, “there are more people who own a mobile phone, than those who have access to a toilet.” The extent to which the voices of men and women are heard depends largely on the issues being covered. On matters of health, education, and socio-economic issues, women are mostly heard, while men dominate on political issues. However, because the media landscape is dominated by politics, men’s voices are heard more than those of women. But beyond topics being seen as either a men’s or women’s issue, the real challenge for media outlets appears to be the ability and capacity to explain how various issues impact men or women differently. There is little debate, however, about the fact that there is not enough representation of women in the media, despite “women dominating the newsrooms”, women heading several broadcast media, and 60 percent of the Ghana Journalists Association Senate being made up of women. There is a perception that public trust in the media is waning owing to poor professional standards in many media outlets. A number of urgent interventions have been identified as needed over the next few years to improve the media environment. Some of these include improving the knowledge and familiarity of journalists with the various code of ethics in existence in Ghana or applicable to them; addressing the low salary levels in the media, especially also as a means of helping to address corruption in the sector; improving the enforcement of applicable codes and standards; encouraging policies that promote equal opportunity and/or diversity in the media, especially in terms of gender; and advocacy for the mobilisation of funds for the Media Development Fund and the effective implementation of the plan. This refers to a government plan announced on September 9, 2011 by then Vice President John Mahama (who is now the President) to set up a Media Development Fund (MDF) to support the media industry in Ghana. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2013 9