The Minister for Information and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency, Honourable Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has charged the National Media Commission (NMC) to collaborate with other relevant stakeholders to work to raise the standards in the broadcasting industry in the country.
He made this call when he paid a visit to the Commission on Tuesday April 20, 2021, as part of collaborative efforts to sanitize the broadcasting space and supports the operations of journalists.
His visit follows last Friday’s consultative meeting held under the auspices of the Ministry of Information to dialogue on how stakeholders can help regulate content produced for broadcasting in Ghana.
The Minister commended the NMC and other stakeholders for the quick response to the call and the quality of inputs made.
He expressed his delight at the stakeholder collaboration to form a joint committee under the NMC to monitor and tackle unethical media content in the broadcasting landscape.
Hon.Oppong Nkrumah assured the Commission of his support towards the realization of the coordinated mechanism on safety of journalists. He reiterated his commitment to assist the programme with a secretariat and roll out an electronic platform that will interface with journalists to ensure the smooth operations by the Commission.
He added that his outfit will support measures to protect journalists and deepen the frontiers of free expression in the advancement of the country’s democracy.
“We think that as quickly as possible, the coordinated mechanism on the safety of journalists should be rolled out. The reason being that, the longer we delay, the longer the cancer festers and it will be good if we are able to perhaps tighten our timelines and get some work done as soon as possible,” the minister emphasized.
“We believe in consultation and engagement but if we can find a way to box that as quickly as possible, and get this mechanism out, we ourselves will know we are doing something which we believe and more importantly, our colleagues who are practicing in the space will have some comfort,” he said.
Hon. Oppong Nkrumah provided also, an update on the implementation of the Media Capacity and Enhancement Programme (MCEP) to help boost the competencies of media practitioners in the delivery of their mandate. He underscored the importance of capacity enhancement particularly, of media practitioners in their daily news reportage.
For his part, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo commended the Minister for the courtesy call and was hopeful that the issues discussed will be addressed. He also assured the Minister of his full support in helping the industry to be better regulated.
Also present at the meeting was the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Rowland Affail Monney, Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr. George Sarpong, Deputy Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr. Alex Bannerman and other members of the Commission.
The Minister for Information was accompanied by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mrs. Mamle Andrews, Director of Finance and Administration, Mrs. Patricia Dovi Sampson, and the Director of Policy Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPBME), Mr. Mawuli Segbefia .
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
