J.N.K. Savage:Tracing The Works Of A Great Journalist Behind Computer Age

Journalist/Documentary film Producer and Director Justin N.K. Savage and wife Nancy-Elizabeth Savage (Nancy-Elizabeth Hudson).,  You are looking at my mother and father.

Justin Nobleman Kodwo Savage was a professional journalist, documentary film producer, and director, born in Cape Coast, in the central region of Ghana, in 1932. While in active service, he passed away on January 29, 1976.

At Guinea Press, now ‘The Ghanaian Times’ during the Kwame Nkrumah era, Mr. Savage travelled extensively across the globe whenever the president left the country to participate in world affairs.

At home, Ghanaians were able to receive first-hand information from Mr. Savage, over Nkrumah’s trip overseas, appearing in ‘The Evening News,’ a newspaper dominated by party news, CPP, and adulation of Nkrumah.

At Guinea Press, Justin Savage had the opportunity to make further studies in journalism in London, England, but Nkrumah’s interest in communism took him off Ghana's soil to many Eastern European countries, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc, and Russia.

In the sixties, the president of then-Czechoslovakia invited African journalists to his country. Justin Savage heads the African journalists from Ghana, but the Ghanaians' presence stole the show, because of the native Kente cloth they put on. Kente exposes the rich tradition and culture of Ghana.

Justin Savage filed his press cuts and combined all his publications, which appeared in the newspapers as a magazine, naming it “A Mixture Of Periodicals.” These publications later after his death, became my favorite book, assisting me to gain more writing skills when my interest increased to be a writer.

Darkness fell on Ghana when Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966, in a coup organized by the CIA and local collaborators. Chaos and curfews followed amidst jubilation and sadness. Mr. Savage served the Guinea press for a year more, and he resigned.

He followed a course in technology at the Kumasi Science and Technology Institute, where he studied film production. After his course, he entered into Ghana Broadcasting Corporation as ‘Advisor on film for television.’

He excelled in his profession and had promotions. It wasn’t long before the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (West German Television Team) established a television project attached to the Broadcasting House in Ghana.

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is a German political foundation named after Friedrich Ebert, Germany’s first democratically elected president. Headquartered in Bonn and Berlin, the foundation contributes to social democracy by means of:

Political education to reinforce its fundamental values, research and scientific analysis of central policy areas, various forms of public dialogue to pave the way for it, scholarship programs for students and Ph.D. candidates, development cooperation aimed at global justice, and building bridges of international cooperation for worldwide democracy.

For efficient service and to be familiar with new developments in television production, Mr. Savage was in West Germany for an intensive course. He returned to the Broadcasting House and was appointed ‘Documentary Film Producer and Director.

At the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, he made several documentary films, especially during the exhibition of Ghana and other African products at both the first and second ‘Ghana International Trade Fair’ in Accra.

Kodwo, the name his co-workers loved to call him, did several documentary films, including ‘Ghana At A Glance, Cocoa In Ghana, Backyard Industries, and ‘Furnace in a Village’, produced in 1972. I had the opportunity to play a role in ‘Backyard Industries.’

I grew up seeing some of his friends, such as Mr. Kofi Badu, the Managing Director of Daily Graphic, and Mr. Willie Donkor, the Editor of Weekly Spectator, still in the media. 

In the early nineties, in January, I contacted one of my father’s friends, called Mr. Ebo Biney, at the Broadcasting House, requesting if he could telecast one of my father’s films on January 29, in remembrance. 

It came as a shock to me when I learned that all my father’s films were burnt, following a fire that engulfed the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation some time ago.

Since then, I have been working very hard to see if I can find any of my father’s work online, despite being far behind the computer age and advanced modern technology. Like winning the lotto, I discovered two.

The first is at the website of Len Pole, a Museum Consultant: “Advisor on a film for television, ‘Furnace in a Village’, produced by Kodwo Savage, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, 1972.” – http://www.lenpole.com/I contacted the museum consultant after the discovery of my father’s work on his website. I was delighted when he told me a few years ago that ‘Furnace in a village’ was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Then I had a breakthrough when I discovered another work at Selected Bibliography in Communication – JSTOR by Graham B. Kerr, under the topic- All African governments are committed to the development and most wish to …Journalism Quarterly [forthcoming]. ….. SAVAGE, J.N.K. “Ghana Jugend begeistert. “Ghana inspires youth.”

The selected Bibliography in Communication is a book published by the Canadian Association of African Studies. Justin Savage writes:

“We must bridge the gap between leaders and masses, between government and people. No government tells the people everything, but every government must reach the people to tell them what they should be told,” – Julius Nyerere.

Continue reading: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/483601.pdf?

The search for my father’s work isn’t yet over. As time goes on, when I discover something new, I will keep on updating this article. I hope readers will enjoy reading it, and if any reader has any suggestions to improve it, you are always welcome.

The incredible story of this great writer, neglected when he was a child, is now available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Writer-Died-Joel-Savage-ebook/dp/B013L54A7O.

YOU TOO CAN WRITE FOR MONEY

Writing is an interesting, creative part of life.


Many are born with talents. Some of these talents could be hereditary. While others go to school to learn whatever they want to do in life. In this case, some people are born as writers while others are made.

As an African writer who grew up in a hard environment, where education was and is always a luxury, I don't think I would have made it to the university level to study journalism. It is very expensive to study at a university in any part of Africa.

At a very tender age in middle school, I detected my passion for writing. Mine was hereditary because my father was one of the best Ghanaian journalists during the Kwame Nkrumah era. Justin Kodzo Savage (JUSKOSAVE) was assigned as a reporter to travel with Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.

Many newspapers reject articles. They look for special articles of interest. It seemed I hit my targets right. Every article I wrote was published. That encouraged me to read and write more articles. At secondary school, I had already made a name for myself as a writer.

I was paid for many of my articles, and within a short period, not that I became well known, but I made a lot of money from my writings. There are many books about how to be a successful writer, but I have my own ideas and rules I dwell on to be a successful writer.

1. Please, when one wants to write articles that can easily be accepted by the print media for publication, choose topics like teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, crime, or any other social problems affecting society to write about. The print media love them.

2. When writing, let readers know about the effect of the chosen subject on society. You could even suggest how the government should tackle the problem by reducing or permanently eradicating it.

3. Don't try to impress the publisher by writing long articles, or else the article may lose its significance. Let your article be short, with all the ingredients that make it interesting. You will be happy sitting by your dining table, reading your own written article.