NMC shoots down Ursula's 'reduce channels' directive to GBC, Crystal TV

The National Media Commission (NMC) has said the order by the Communications Ministry directing Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Crystal TV to reduce their channels on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform is misplaced.

According to the NMC, the Ministry of Communication is not mandated to issue such an order, submitting that, that order falls within the NMC's remit.

“The Commission wishes to state clearly that the directive given to GBC and Crystal TV by the Minister for Communications purports to usurp the constitutional mandate and authority of the National Media Commission and same cannot be obliged under our current constitutional dispensation,” the NMC said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo.

The Communications Ministry wrote to the state-owned GBC that it should reduce its channels from six to three “to ensure there is redundancy on the National DTT platform which is currently at full capacity”.

The Commission also explained that its mandate, “to insulate the state-owned media, therefore, enjoins the Commission to protect the Board, Management and staff of GBC from political interference as well as safeguard and preserve the entirety of state-owned media facilities, assets and other resources from governmental control”.

According to the NMC, the constitution mandates the Commission the fundamental function “to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication or information” and also “insulate the state-owned media from governmental control”.

Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo in the statement dated July 22 stated that any development that seeks to deprive the media of its use of resources legally allocated to them compromises their capacity to serve the country.

Crystal TV has mounted a defence against the order by the Communication Ministry, saying the directive can “destroy jobs and exacerbate the unemployment challenges in the country”.

The NMC said the DTT platform is an essential part of broadcasting and should be “treated as media to enable it to benefit from all the freedoms guaranteed the media by the 1992 Constitution”.

Read the full statement below.