Joy FM’s ‘Castle militia’ documentary misleading – NMC

The National Media Commission (NMC) has described the ‘militia in the heart of the Nation’ documentary by Multimedia as misleading and a misrepresentation of facts.

“The Commission finds the commentary on the documentary and the association with the Ayawaso West Wuogon violence as misleading and a misrepresentation. However, because the Multimedia Group published a rejoinder from the Government, we direct that it publishes our ruling,” the NMC said in its ruling after the government filed a complaint over the documentary to them.

The NMC also noted “the inclusion of shots from the Ayawaso West Wuogon violence and attack on the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator were at variance with the activities of the D-Eye Group as captured at the Castle. The Commission concluded that there was no predisposition to violence in the documentary. Therefore, the association of the D-Eye Group with the Ayawaso West Wuogon Violence and the BBC story from Nigeria, were sensational.

“On the issue when the D-Eye Group exited the Castle, whilst the Government insisted that the group was evicted in October 2018, the Multimedia Group insisted that it was after the documentary that the eviction was carried out.

“Again, whereas Multimedia provided evidence of attempts by government officials to remove the group from the Castle, it still associated the President with the group and the Commission held that it was unfair especially when the Multimedia Group later publicly apologized to the President.

The Commission is of the view that whereas it finds the presence in the Castle of the D-Eye Group problematic and unacceptable, the group did not manifest any violent conduct to be described as a militia or vigilante group from the documentary as the people of Ghana have come to identify such groups”.