Performance of NMC
COMMENTARY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION (NMC).
One unhealthy phenomenon that has gained notoriety in the Ghanaian media is the shameful display and publication of pornographic material. Another is the deliberate publication of lies, insinuations and unlawful attacks on personalities intended to tarnish their image. It is sad to see a newspaper headline that reads: ‘How to seduce a woman’. Aside from this, all manner of unprintable words are used to attack, malign and vilify high profile personalities in Ghana right from the presidency to the Clergy. These publications are available on news stands for all, including school pupils to read without regard for morality and the potential harm they could cause children and the entire society.
The principles of media freedom are crucial to the development of a free and just society and those principles are not and must not be negotiable. Unfortunately some enemies of decency in the media have taken undue advantage of this freedom to demonize almost every public figure. Some journalists are prepared to sacrifice intellectual honesty and moral integrity for political mediocrity. The framers of the 1992 Constitution perhaps envisaged this and thus made a provision in Chapter Twelve of the Constitution for a regulatory body which led to the establishment of the National Media Commission in July 1993 following the passage of Act 449.
The NMC has an objective to ensure the freedom and independence of the Media for mass communication or information. The Commission also has a constitutional mandate to take all appropriate measures to ensure the highest journalistic standards in the mass media including investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against or by the press or other mass media. The question is: has the NMC lived up to expectation?
Without an apology, fear or favor the answer is a big no. In Africa, the dog is expected to bow in shame when the goat chases away a thief. This is how one expected the National Media Commission to do when a couple of years back, the Methodist Church took it upon itself to initiate legal action against newspapers that publish pornographic material. Whilst the NMC must shoulder the blame for the insanity in the media, it is only fair to ask why they have performed so abysmally over the years.
It is said that unto whom much is given much is expected. So the question is how much has the State given the NMC to enable it to perform its function effectively? According to the Chairman of the NMC, Kabral Blay Amihere, the Commission receives only one hundred thousand Ghana Cedi (GH100, 000) annually from government for its activities including salaries of its workers. The Commission currently has 22 workers out of which only four are core staff. The NMC issues about 100 certificates every two months for media establishments across the country. The four core workers of the commission are expected to monitor everything in the over two thousand (2,000) media houses in the country including the over 200 FM stations and 10 television Stations with twenty five channels.
Unlike media houses such as the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Graphic Communications Group Limited, the building of the National Media Commission is nothing good to send a visitor to. This perhaps explains why people would hardly visit the NMC on excursion. Despite these challenges, the NMC could have still done better. A critical look at the personalities who constitute the National Media Commission raises serious question marks as to why these tried and tested individuals will complain of darkness instead of lighting a candle. Better still, how useful will it be for a man to worry and do virtually nothing about a terrible dream he had the previous night?
Apart from the government, it is common knowledge that the commission receives financial assistance from the UNDP, the German Development Service and others including the Frederic Ebert Foundation. Is the Commission telling Ghanaians that all things being equal, the insanity in the media will continue unabated in the name of resource constraints?
Whilst calling on government to equip the National Media Commission to enable it to discharge its constitutionally mandated duties effectively, the NMC must initiate actions to convince Ghanaians that it has what it takes to rid the Ghanaian Media of insanity.
Journalists who have become foot soldiers, remote controlled doomsayers and bootlickers for politicians and political parties ought to know that, their actions, are equal to biting their own tongues and must be told in clear terms that they are eating the wrong meat.
A word to the wise remains enough.
BY: GEORGE ASEKERE OF GBC, RADIO NEWSROOM
One unhealthy phenomenon that has gained notoriety in the Ghanaian media is the shameful display and publication of pornographic material. Another is the deliberate publication of lies, insinuations and unlawful attacks on personalities intended to tarnish their image. It is sad to see a newspaper headline that reads: ‘How to seduce a woman’. Aside from this, all manner of unprintable words are used to attack, malign and vilify high profile personalities in Ghana right from the presidency to the Clergy. These publications are available on news stands for all, including school pupils to read without regard for morality and the potential harm they could cause children and the entire society.
The principles of media freedom are crucial to the development of a free and just society and those principles are not and must not be negotiable. Unfortunately some enemies of decency in the media have taken undue advantage of this freedom to demonize almost every public figure. Some journalists are prepared to sacrifice intellectual honesty and moral integrity for political mediocrity. The framers of the 1992 Constitution perhaps envisaged this and thus made a provision in Chapter Twelve of the Constitution for a regulatory body which led to the establishment of the National Media Commission in July 1993 following the passage of Act 449.
The NMC has an objective to ensure the freedom and independence of the Media for mass communication or information. The Commission also has a constitutional mandate to take all appropriate measures to ensure the highest journalistic standards in the mass media including investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against or by the press or other mass media. The question is: has the NMC lived up to expectation?
Without an apology, fear or favor the answer is a big no. In Africa, the dog is expected to bow in shame when the goat chases away a thief. This is how one expected the National Media Commission to do when a couple of years back, the Methodist Church took it upon itself to initiate legal action against newspapers that publish pornographic material. Whilst the NMC must shoulder the blame for the insanity in the media, it is only fair to ask why they have performed so abysmally over the years.
It is said that unto whom much is given much is expected. So the question is how much has the State given the NMC to enable it to perform its function effectively? According to the Chairman of the NMC, Kabral Blay Amihere, the Commission receives only one hundred thousand Ghana Cedi (GH100, 000) annually from government for its activities including salaries of its workers. The Commission currently has 22 workers out of which only four are core staff. The NMC issues about 100 certificates every two months for media establishments across the country. The four core workers of the commission are expected to monitor everything in the over two thousand (2,000) media houses in the country including the over 200 FM stations and 10 television Stations with twenty five channels.
Unlike media houses such as the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Graphic Communications Group Limited, the building of the National Media Commission is nothing good to send a visitor to. This perhaps explains why people would hardly visit the NMC on excursion. Despite these challenges, the NMC could have still done better. A critical look at the personalities who constitute the National Media Commission raises serious question marks as to why these tried and tested individuals will complain of darkness instead of lighting a candle. Better still, how useful will it be for a man to worry and do virtually nothing about a terrible dream he had the previous night?
Apart from the government, it is common knowledge that the commission receives financial assistance from the UNDP, the German Development Service and others including the Frederic Ebert Foundation. Is the Commission telling Ghanaians that all things being equal, the insanity in the media will continue unabated in the name of resource constraints?
Whilst calling on government to equip the National Media Commission to enable it to discharge its constitutionally mandated duties effectively, the NMC must initiate actions to convince Ghanaians that it has what it takes to rid the Ghanaian Media of insanity.
Journalists who have become foot soldiers, remote controlled doomsayers and bootlickers for politicians and political parties ought to know that, their actions, are equal to biting their own tongues and must be told in clear terms that they are eating the wrong meat.
A word to the wise remains enough.
BY: GEORGE ASEKERE OF GBC, RADIO NEWSROOM
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