Sam George: 'We are going to do a proper clean up of the media space'; I'll suspend licenses of media houses that show things inimical to public safety
The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George has said his outfit was going to do a proper clean-up of the media space.
"If you [media house] are engaged in showing things that are inimical to public safety, we will serve you a warning, if you fail to heed with it, we will withdraw your license. I will suspend licenses of media houses that do not take into consideration the right things," he said in a radio interview with Joy FM on Tuesday morning [Aug 12, 2025] monitored by Graphic Online.
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Making reference to some television stations that have been airing content harmful to children, he said all those media houses risk losing their broadcasting licences if the National Media Commission (NMC) does not act, his outfit, the National Communications Authority (NCA), working under the ministry, will move in and act.
"The National Media Commission must be told to sit up and work", he said.
"When as Minister for Communication, I see some of these things and I try to act using the NCA [National Communications Authority], then you will have some people come and say Sam George is acting in excess of his powers, this is content" which needs to be reviewed by the NMC.
He said it was true the NMC has the constitutional mandate to review content, "but that content is streamed using a national resource, spectrum, which we regulate at the NCA under the ministry. Now, when we give you a frequency authorisation, you can check, there is a clause that the NCA reserves the right to suspend or revoke your license authorisation in the interest of national security and public safety."
"So when a media house put a 17-year-old minor who has been abused sexually for ten years, meaning from when she was seven years, without even taking the requisite steps to even protect her identity, and put her in the same room with the person who has been abusing her and turns it into a public comedy, my colleague Gender Minister will act to protect the rights of that minor but I will also act, to take that media house off air," he said.
"Because you see it is about public safety and that is why I have said very soon. we've done some work with the telecom companies, we are dealing with DSTV at the moment, the next one is going to be a proper clean up of the media space," he added.
Mr George explained that enforcement would begin with warnings and escalate to licence suspension or withdrawal for stations that persisted in airing content “inimical to public safety”.
“If you are engaged in showing things that are inimical to public safety, we will serve you a warning. If you fail to heed it, we will withdraw your licence,” he said.
It will be recalled that during the press briefing dubbed Government Accountability Series on August 1, 2025, Mr Sam George said the NMC had the constitutional responsibility to regulate content.
He added that while content fell under the NMC’s remit, it was broadcast using spectrum regulated by the National Communications Authority (NCA), which his ministry oversees.
According to him, frequency authorisations give the NCA the right to suspend or revoke licences “in the interest of national security and public safety” if harmful content persists.
He pointed to the 2021 Kasoa case, in which two minors killed a friend after allegedly being influenced by televised money-ritual content, and condemned the broadcast of such material, as well as sexually explicit programming aired in the afternoon and early evening.
“That is not why we gave you the licence authorisation. That is not information. That is not education. That is not entertainment. That is an abuse of the innocence of our children,” he said.
Mr George noted that his ministry had previously suspended between 62 and 64 media houses before a presidential amnesty was granted.
Sam George: 'We are going to do a proper clean up of the media space'; I'll suspend licenses of media houses that show things inimical to public safety https://t.co/KOFGv7JpwB pic.twitter.com/pvBHsnSA4b
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) August 12, 2025
