.. as National Media Commission settles 56 complaints
The National Media Commission (NMC) settled all the 56 complaints it received in 2001 as against 47 cases it handled in the previous year.
The complaints, which were against about 21 media houses, had The Ghanaian Chronicle topping the list with 21 direct cases and 16 rejoinders. The Daily Graphic followed with 12 rejoinders and seven direct complaints.
The GAR/Uniiq FM station had one rejoinder and one direct case and Top Radio and Peace FM had two direct complaints each, the least on the complaint chart. These were contained in the Commission's 2001 Annual report submitted to Parliament in Accra and made available to the GNA on Wednesday.
Sixteen media houses were specifically mentioned in a graph of respondents and with others grouped together taking collectively 18 direct complaints with 13 rejoinders.
According to the report, some of the complaints included that of NPP News accusing Professor John Evans Atta Mills of having been involved in a dishonest and a scandalous ?1.5b transfer of the late Shamo Quaye from Accra Hearts of Oak FC to UMEA of Sweden.
"When the Commission brought the complaint to the attention of the NPP News, the newspaper, in its 4-9 June 2001, admitted that the story was unfounded, untrue and had, accordingly, withdrawn it and apologised to Professor Atta Mills," it said.
Another one was a story by The Ghanaian Chronicle that Kwame Pianim, an Economic Consultant, was accused, among others, of being a traitor, a double tongued person and having attended the National Reform Party's Congress at Legon and was an advisor to Professor Atta Mills.
The report said during the hearing, Nana Kofi Koomson, the Publisher, denied the allegations, stating that the publications were intelligent deductions from a statement made by Professor Atta Mills to the effect that he would involve Kwame Pianim and others in his administration, should he win the 2000 elections and were not intended to malign Pianim.
The Commission found out that the deductions made by the paper were not borne out by the available evidence and that the silence of Pianim could not, by any stretch of imagination, be construed to mean that he had thereby become an adviser to Professor Atta Mills.
The NMC, therefore, directed the that The Ghanaian Chronicle should retract the allegations against the complainant and apologise to him and also publish the NMC's release on the settlement in two continuous editions.
E.T Mensah, Member of Parliament for Prampram, also complained against the then Group Sports Editor of the Daily Graphic, Joe Aggrey, currently Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, about some comments he published in The Mirror, which the MP considered embarrassing and being an attack on his person.
According to the report, during deliberations with the parties, Aggrey conceded that the figures quoted in his article were inaccurate. "E.T Mensah expressed his satisfaction with the acknowledgement of inaccurate figures by Aggrey and was prepared to let the matter be put to rest," the report added.
During the year in review, the NMC organised workshops and seminars for media practitioners all over the country to broaden their scope of their profession.
In a preface to the report, Nutifafa Kuenyahia, Chairman of the Commission, gave the assurance that despite financial and logistic constraints, the commitment and enthusiasm of the Commission to facilitate media pluralism and its independence, as well as promote professionalism and responsible behaviour of media practitioners remained unqualified and unwavering.
