As an advertising major, I wasn’t expecting to be so infatuated with the journalistic environment at Joy News. My first time walking through the many radio and television sets was electric and refreshing – I wanted to be a part of it. Before I knew it, I found myself among journalists, anchors, writers, and producers at a meeting in the entertainment sector of Joy. They discussed ideas for potential stories and passionately debated current Ghanaian celebrity drama (which required heavy research afterwards on my part).
One of the major stories over the past week has revolved around the Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant following the 2017 crowned winner Margaret Dery’s resignation. A few months prior to Dery’s resignation, several previous winners have come forward saying Inna Patty (CEO) and Exclusive Events Ghana physically and verbally abused the winners, exploited them, embezzled their raised funds, and even Pimped the women for sponsorship deals. The organization denied these claims and the situation seemed to have blown over- until the recent resignation.
Former Miss Ghana 2017 addressed her resignation on twitter, saying “Being a miss Ghana queen has honestly been one of the worse experiences of my life, yeah, I know it looks good on the outside, but it’s just one big sham on the inside. All that glitters is not gold. Ladies, you don’t need a crown on your head to succeed.”
Though the pageant claims to “gladly accept” Dery’s resignation after 8 months as their crowned queen, burning questions from the media and the public remain unanswered. Ironically enough, the launch of the 2018 Miss Ghana pageant is scheduled for tomorrow, August 2nd. Joy News received an invitation to the launch, and I am so excited to tag along and see what they address. The combination of these upsetting allegations with Inna Patty and Exclusive Events Ghana’s vague and defensive response to the accusations has myself and Joy starving for answers.