THE NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION

IS THE NATIOTNAL MEDIA COMMISSION (NMC) A TOOTHLESS BULL DOG? DO YOU AGREE AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AS A SOLUTION TO THE NMC’S INABILITY TO FUNCTION?

Before the 1992 Constitution, the freedom of Ghana's media was excessively curtailed by a licensing regime that tended to strangle the industry. The establishment of the 1992 Constitution defined a Commission known as the National Media Commission (NMC) to safeguard the right of people to freely express themselves. The NMC was established on  July 7, 1993 by an Act of Parliament (Act 449) pursuant to Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution.

Currently, the NMC carries out three basic functions to developing content guidelines, monitoring, complaints settlement and training, all based on the Constitutional provision for journalistic standards.

The NMC exists to ensure that there is promotion of free, independent and responsible media so as to sustain democracy with a media that is independent from the organs of the state. In order to promote that goal, the NMC needed to be committed to maintain its independence from political influence and ensures that the state owned media is independent from government control so as to sustain democracy and national development.

In raising professional standards among media practitioners, ensuring fairness to the public, protecting journalists from harassment, and encouraging the media to play their role of holding people in authority to account and protecting the rights of the individual,  the NMC is to take all appropriate measures to ensure the maintenance of highest journalistic standards in the mass media, including investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against or by the press or other mass media.

However, the guidelines do not have an explicit legal status and the sanction available is limited to the publication of a correction, an apology, a rejoinder or “direct disciplinary action”.  A typical example is when a Journalist and Editor of the New Punch Newspaper, Ebenezer Ato Sam also known as Baby Ansaba confessed he made false reportage about the health status of President  Evan Atta Mills in other to ridicule him and make him unpopular among his opponents as they contested for the Presidency in the country, the NMC did nothing about it as to check him or penalised him.

In addition, the NMC is to make regulations by constitutional instrument for the registration of newspapers and other publications, except that the regulations shall not provide for the exercise. As such, it is empowered only to receive and to accept or to reject proposals for broadcasting services.

Conversely, there are no further specific provisions in the NMC Act as to its regulatory powers and procedures other than with respect to complaints settlement which is also the subject of a separate Legislative Instrument (LI) and this conflict power with the National Communication Authority (NCA).

In regards to all these lapses to function adequately, the NMC in it current state is term to be a “toothless bull dog”, thus, despites its obligations lack the power to function effectively. In view of this and for it to function efficiently, I recommend the following possible measures.

Firstly, the existing NMC Act needs to be amended to bring greater clarity to strengthen its powers of sanction and to provide for a formal appeals process in relation to rulings on complaints.

Such increased powers would need to be balanced by the provision of a formal appeals process within the NMC procedure as well as judicial review. For instance, it could impose a financial penalty or, in extreme cases, suspend or withdraw the authorization of media practitioners or media houses when they go contrary to the profession.

Secondly, the Commission should have their representative in the 10 regions of Ghana to ensure efficient monitoring. That would help inexperienced and aspiring journalists become more professional and ethical in their practice by organising training workshops and seminars for them.

The skills and expertise of practising media persons should also be updated and upgraded to make them more skilled and better qualified. Also, the public should be educated about the work and functions of the National Media Commission to abreast the public about their work.

Thirdly, in order to ensure broadcasting service providers deliver on their promises of performance and that they comply with relevant regulations on broadcasting service ownership, provisions should be made in law for the NMC to solely carry out the authorization of broadcasting services frequency, including setting of terms and conditions for such services and ensuring compliance regulation of ownership and control of broadcasting service regulation of promises of performance.

That would help avoid conflicting issues between the NMC and the NCA. It would equally assist in assuring the quality and diversity of services available and addressing issues such as media concentration, cross-ownership and foreign ownership, which are important matters affecting media freedom and independence.

In conclusion, the NMC owes it a duty to promote the media in Ghana and so it is in the interest of the public that it should help develop the mass media in the country so that there would be decency among media practitioners and media houses and owner would be more objective, fair and truthful in their reportage.