Executive Director of MFWA, Sulemana Braimah
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) wants the National Media Commission (NMC) to publish names of media owners and the management fronting the business as part of efforts to create the right atmosphere and standards for media practice ahead of the elections in November.
The concerns raised by the MFWA comes in the wake of an alleged threats against the justices of the Supreme Court that emanated from Montie FM issued by two radio panelists.
The two panelists allegedly threatened to unleash mayhem on Supreme Court judges if they made any judgment against the Electoral Commission in the ongoing court case challenging the validity of the voters’ register.
On the back of the recent problems emerging in the media landscape in Ghana as the nation prepares for a major polls in November, the MFWA is urging that the NMC, a regulator in the industry to publish on its website, owners behind the various media establishments for the sake of engaging them to ensure they’ll conform to standards and avoid poisonous talk.
The Executive Director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah in an interview with Kwaku Owusu Adjei on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM said the trend where faceless individuals are controlling the agenda on the airwaves is impeding their effort to push professional values in the system.
“Most often when we engage Journalists and tell them on the need to keep up with a sense of professionalism, they always tell you that, they can only conform to house-style prescribed by the owner of the station. They are often instructed to go by what will best sell the station and not the accepted standards that should be followed. So what we are saying is that we should know owners of the various media institutions so that when the need arise for them to be talked to, we can easily engage them on some of these issues.
“Secondly the airwaves is a public resource and there should not be any favouritism to issue it out to only political actors or government officials who will end up pushing their political agenda in the media.”
