UTV invasion: TV stations free to attack political parties without right to reply - Gabby

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that any media outfit reserves the right to use its platform to attack political parties at the risk of losing its credibility.

He adds that the aggrieved party also reserves the right to fight back, but that it must do so decently.

His comments come in the wake of an invasion of privately-owned UTV by hooligans affiliated with the NPP, on October 7; which incident has been condemned by the party and government even though widespread condemnation of the invasion has festered.

“A TV station is always free to use its platform(s) to attack a political party without giving that party a right to reply. Yea, if that station is ok losing credibility in the eyes of Ghanaians. The party has every right to call that station out, loudly but decently,” Gabby wrote in a Facebook post dated October 9, 2023.

The NPP hooligans went to the station to protest the manner in which an entertainment show had become political and was always bashing government because of the panel composition.

The United Showbiz programme had been the subject of controversy after the NPP wrote to UTV to reform the programme.

A copy of their letter was ripped on live TV by panelist A Plus, in part triggering the invasion which led to the arrest of 16 people who have since been bailed.

Gabby is a journalist and media owner. He served as editor of the Statesman Newspaper and is owner of the Asaase Radio networks - all of them pro-NPP news outlets.