NCA asked to come up with guidelines
A communications lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Kwame Karikari, has challenged the National Communications Authority (NCA) to come up with clear guidelines on the ethical standards required for the allocation and operation of radio frequencies.
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He said radio frequency allocation should not be treated like just any commodity, adding that even if it was treated as such, basic cultural norms should be considered and enforced.
Prof. Karikari was speaking at the Graphic-Star-Ghana Roundtable on: “Media Ethics and Transparency in Frequency Allocation”, in Kumasi yesterday.
He said it was unfortunate that the NCA had failed to demarcate the boundaries which should streamline and sanitise the industry.
He said it was even more worrying when it came to advertising, where anybody could pluck a leaf and advertise it on radio as an aphrodisiac, adding that the practice was not healthy and could create chaos on the media landscape.
Frequency allocation
“Frequency allocation is a democratic issue. There are parameters, prescriptions that have been laid down by international bodies, including UNESCO, which mandate the media, among other things, to hold a natural resource in trust for the people,” Prof. Karikari stressed.
He underscored the fact that frequency allocation was not meant for any rich man but to educate, inform and entertain people.
He touched on the three types of radio frequency, namely, commercial, community and public service, all of which should have a specific mandate to operate.
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The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, appealed to the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to educate journalists on the dangers of stoking ethnic sentiments through their reportage and the need for them to refrain from infractions.
He said nations had gone to war because some individuals had inflamed ethnic passions, adding that "any behaviour that has the potential of inflaming ethnic passions must be resisted, exposed and sanctioned".
Ethnic sentiments
Making reference to a 2006 media monitoring conducted by the NMC in which 85 media reports were found to have stoked ethnic sentiments, Mr Sarpong described the situation as a dangerous practice which had become a daily occurrence on the media landscape.
He thus appealed to the media to reduce the sensationalism in their reportage as the nation got closer to national elections and "rather feed the public with unbiased, accurate, balanced information for national decisions to be made by the public in the selection of our national leaders".
Mr Sarpong said the media had a role to play in holding the government accountable, checking abuses and bringing to the attention of the government the opinions and needs of the governed.
He said while the media played an important role in national development, some media practitioners had taken advantage of that role to engage in unethical conduct.