Broadcasters petition NMC over ‘porn-showing’ TV stations

Two broadcasters, Messrs Tommy-Annan Forson and James Kwasi Oberko have made a complaint against three television stations in Ghana for showing films with pornographic scenes.

The two, on Monday, 12th June, 2017, presented their complaint to the National Media Commission and the Ministry of Information against TV XYZ, Ice TV and Thunder TV for showing these films to their audience.

According to them, it is against the broadcasting standards for television stations to show porn materials irrespective of what time they are shown.

“We have realized that these TV stations are showing things that are against the media commission’s standards and as concerned citizens, we thought it wise to make complaint to the right authorities, to prompt them to take the necessary actions,” James told Citifmonline.com.

They presented to the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission, George Sarpong, an album of compiled photos taken from porn scenes shown across the television stations in question.

Presenting the complaint, Tommy Annan-Forson said: “these things have been going on for quite a while. It started on social media and people started asking questions as to why some television stations would show porn. Some years ago, Cable Gold was doing same, I captured it, reported to the media commission and they stopped them.”

In his response, the Mr. George Sarpong commended James and Tommy for taking such a bold step in the interest of Ghana and assured him their support.

“I want to thank you for the effort that you put into this and I hope that we will get back to you. In fact, this gesture shows there is a lot of hope for the media landscape,” he stated.

After that, they also sent a copy of the complaint to the Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid who also lauded their move.

Messrs Oberko and Annan-Forson told Citifmonline.com that they would later serve the National Communications Authority, Chief Justice and Speaker of Parliament copies of their complaint.

Tommy Annan Forson is a doyen of broadcasting with over 40 years experience. He has through his radio school, RABODEF, trained a lot of successful broadcasters in Ghana.

James Oberko is also a broadcaster of more than 10 years who is currently an administrator at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology