Don't Blame the NMC
The national media commission has been squeezed again.
The body has been under pressure from certain quaters blaming the organisation for not stepping up to the party.Some have gone ahead to tag the commission as a toothless bulldog who has lost it way.
However, the chairman of the board in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday cautioned that irresponbile and total disregard for ethic by the media can roll the country back and adding that " when that day come, let journalist, media owners, serial callers and others realise that they brought wrath of society upon themselves"
The media landscape of this country continue to rise and it seems we as a people are not ready to step up. There are many media outlets in the country and Accra alone is said to have more than twenty radio stations alone. The problem with irresponsibility is many but the most significant is the fact that our constitution which has the media profession at heart missed certain links.
The first that come into mind is irresponsible publishers. Most publishers or owners of newspapers and radio stations are political figures. They are unable to separate their political agenders from just doing the media job. Radio stations like RAdio Gold and newspapers like the Ghana Palaver, Searchlight, Daily Guide all belong to political figures. It is understandable that in every nation there is a blue state and a red state and for sure people will like to others to hear their opinion.
The contitution of the country does not put any regulation as to who can own a media house. It only stipulate the obvious ones like political parties, religious organization among others. These stipulation does not change a thing since individuals fund political parties in the country.For instance, Oman fm is owned and controlled by Ken Agyepong a strong NPP follower so there is no way if such a man own a radio station would be fair and objective in it quest to entertain, educate and inform the public. Hell no he won't do it for the sake of power and politcal ambition and so goes to the rest.
The National Media Commission (NMC) according to the laws that brought it into being can not apprehend or bite, they are there to caution and recommend, which for me is not enough although it is understandable because we also don't need a tiger like NMC.
In the said interview the Chairman of the NMC,said that although the NMC respect the rights and powers of state intitution to discharge it duties, " that power should not constitute any impediment or intimidation of the media nor create fear and panic among the media". Yeah the NMC, had made it point but the fact is that irresponsibility in the media has a string of money making machine. Most of these media outlet that had been blacklisted as the breakers of the ethics are the low funded and cash trap ones.
Most of their owners do not see their entity as bussiness but rather a system created to frustrate opponents.Their reporter are under paid, there are no adverts and editors of such papers are themselves politicians in disguis. It is a fact that adverts are the blood life of every media house and as a feature of the media it is key to the runing of the business.Currently open the Daily Graphic and it is full of adverts infact sixty percent of it pages cover advertisement. If you have an industry that has one company monopolising adverts that is what you get. Adverts are key!!!! Open any of the private newspapers and see the number of pages for adverts.
There is virtually non in most cases.If there is no sought of regulation that has the potency to help smaller media houses there is no way ethics won't be thrown to the dogs, afterall man must chop as they say.
History of journalism has also not been favourable to the cause of liberating the Ghanaian media into responsible ones. The average Ghanaian was introduce to the media as a tool for agitation. Our fore fathers used it wisely to again independent from Great Britain and most of them were politicians. So from the unset media was crafted as a political avenue where we throw mud at each other. Today it has not changed much. Most of our media outlets are in to make money so now we see stripers on front pages and how to have sex for three hours not forgeting how to increase libido and size of penise as headlines and the nudes are everywhere. And there is nothing the NMC can do than to advice?
I am of the opinion that the law that formed the media commission be looked at once more. Changes should be made interms of who should own a media house and process one can be called a journalist. But for now let see what happens in the course of the week.
The body has been under pressure from certain quaters blaming the organisation for not stepping up to the party.Some have gone ahead to tag the commission as a toothless bulldog who has lost it way.
However, the chairman of the board in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday cautioned that irresponbile and total disregard for ethic by the media can roll the country back and adding that " when that day come, let journalist, media owners, serial callers and others realise that they brought wrath of society upon themselves"
The media landscape of this country continue to rise and it seems we as a people are not ready to step up. There are many media outlets in the country and Accra alone is said to have more than twenty radio stations alone. The problem with irresponsibility is many but the most significant is the fact that our constitution which has the media profession at heart missed certain links.
The first that come into mind is irresponsible publishers. Most publishers or owners of newspapers and radio stations are political figures. They are unable to separate their political agenders from just doing the media job. Radio stations like RAdio Gold and newspapers like the Ghana Palaver, Searchlight, Daily Guide all belong to political figures. It is understandable that in every nation there is a blue state and a red state and for sure people will like to others to hear their opinion.
The contitution of the country does not put any regulation as to who can own a media house. It only stipulate the obvious ones like political parties, religious organization among others. These stipulation does not change a thing since individuals fund political parties in the country.For instance, Oman fm is owned and controlled by Ken Agyepong a strong NPP follower so there is no way if such a man own a radio station would be fair and objective in it quest to entertain, educate and inform the public. Hell no he won't do it for the sake of power and politcal ambition and so goes to the rest.
The National Media Commission (NMC) according to the laws that brought it into being can not apprehend or bite, they are there to caution and recommend, which for me is not enough although it is understandable because we also don't need a tiger like NMC.
In the said interview the Chairman of the NMC,said that although the NMC respect the rights and powers of state intitution to discharge it duties, " that power should not constitute any impediment or intimidation of the media nor create fear and panic among the media". Yeah the NMC, had made it point but the fact is that irresponsibility in the media has a string of money making machine. Most of these media outlet that had been blacklisted as the breakers of the ethics are the low funded and cash trap ones.
Most of their owners do not see their entity as bussiness but rather a system created to frustrate opponents.Their reporter are under paid, there are no adverts and editors of such papers are themselves politicians in disguis. It is a fact that adverts are the blood life of every media house and as a feature of the media it is key to the runing of the business.Currently open the Daily Graphic and it is full of adverts infact sixty percent of it pages cover advertisement. If you have an industry that has one company monopolising adverts that is what you get. Adverts are key!!!! Open any of the private newspapers and see the number of pages for adverts.
There is virtually non in most cases.If there is no sought of regulation that has the potency to help smaller media houses there is no way ethics won't be thrown to the dogs, afterall man must chop as they say.
History of journalism has also not been favourable to the cause of liberating the Ghanaian media into responsible ones. The average Ghanaian was introduce to the media as a tool for agitation. Our fore fathers used it wisely to again independent from Great Britain and most of them were politicians. So from the unset media was crafted as a political avenue where we throw mud at each other. Today it has not changed much. Most of our media outlets are in to make money so now we see stripers on front pages and how to have sex for three hours not forgeting how to increase libido and size of penise as headlines and the nudes are everywhere. And there is nothing the NMC can do than to advice?
I am of the opinion that the law that formed the media commission be looked at once more. Changes should be made interms of who should own a media house and process one can be called a journalist. But for now let see what happens in the course of the week.
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