Accra, October 17, 2017//-Ghana media industry is growing at a meteoric rate but its regulator, the National Media Commission (NMC) still sticks to 18-member commissioners to regulate the industry.
“The time has come to ask questions. We have 18 members; they are all very busy people. The Constitution says they are part-timers. This may have been adequate for a time when the Ghana media consisted of one television station, no more than three radio stations and fewer than ten newspapers”, the Chairman of NMC, Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng said at the swearing in of two members in Accra.
He noted: “Today, the Ghana media scene covers more than 400 radio stations, over 70 free to air television stations and about 40 newspapers being published daily and weekly.
Is the regulatory framework fashioned for another era able to cope with a completely different situation? Clearly, a Commission of part-timers would be inadequate for the full-time regulation of such a large industry under any circumstances”.
Nana Gyan-Apenteng added: “Your Ladyship, I do not intend to ask the many necessary questions here, but in due course, and urgently, we must ask those questions.
Apart from the numbers game, the media terrain has changed completely because of technology, different political and constitutional dispensation, different social mores and above all, a different set of political economy considerations”.
Growing irresponsible reporting
It appears that repeal of the criminal libel law in 2001 has opened the floodgates for intemperate language in the media.
“After the repeal of criminal libel law in this country it appears the spirit of the amended legislation has been lost. The repeal of the law has made citizens and sections of the media and journalists reckless and unprofessional in their work.
“Some of them do not care about the damage they cause the good name and reputation of the people,” the immediate Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho lamented three years ago.
Nana Gyan-Apenteng added: “We have to acknowledge that new social circumstances have changed our society’s perception of what is acceptable and what is not.
Today, some of the offering on radio and television at the moment is beyond the pale. We receive daily complaints from listeners and viewers about broadcasting content and we use formal and informal processes to curb some of the more outlandish excesses”.
The recent determination of complaints of pornography against three television stations is a case in point. We need legislation consistent with our constitutional arrangements to set and apply the standards required for quality broadcasting in the country.
Amendment and NMC Reform
The growing irresponsibility by the journalists and media practitioners have called for the amendment of the media laws to fight the canker.
For the NMC, Nana Gyan-Apenteng underscored the need to rethink and reform the commission as well as the media regulatory mechanism in the country.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
