Stakeholders in the broadcasting sector have agreed to work closely to crackdown unethical broadcast content and regulate media excesses in the country.
They gave the assurance at a consultative meeting held last Friday under the auspices of the Ministry of Information.
The Participants dialogue on how to regulate contents produced on broadcast media in the country as inputs and possible solutions were taken from relevant stakeholders in the drafting of a comprehensive broadcasting bill that will effectively regulate the media space.
It is intended that the bill will be crafted in a manner that when passed by Parliament, will be consistent with the 1992 constitution.
Representatives from the Ministry of Communication and Digitalization, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development; the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, the National Media Commission (NMC), the National Communication Authority (NCA) and the National Security Secretariat took part of the meeting.
Others were from the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the Communication Select Committee of Parliament.
Addressing journalists on the consultative meeting in Accra yesterday, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah read out a communique detailing the outcome of the engagement.
According to the communique, stakeholders have agreed to work in close collaboration to tackle unethical media content.
“To address the question of unethical broadcast content, stakeholders agreed to set up a joint stakeholder group under the National Media Commission to examine reports of unethical content and invoke the powers of the National Communication Authority, to take punitive action against offending broadcasters,” the communique said.
Accordingly, stakeholders will sign up to a Memorandum of Co-operation within 14 days of the meeting, formalizing arrangements for action by setting up a joint stakeholder group as a committee of the NMC in accordance with section 10 of the NMC Act, 1993 (ACT 449).
The committee, will among other things, monitor the broadcasting landscape, provide an early warning system for flagging unethical broadcast and recommend appropriate remedies to relevant regulatory bodies.
The consultative meeting also examined key issues being considered in the development of a broadcasting law for Ghana stating that stakeholders have agreed to submit formal written memos on the bill to assist in the formulation of a final draft.
