A toll free number to receive complaints about offensive broadcast contents has been launched in Accra.
The development of the toll free number, 0800-419-666, followed a collaboration between the National Media Commission (NMC) and National Communications Authority (NCA).
The platform provides the public an opportunity to report to the NMC any content such as money doubling schemes, money rituals and alcohol advertisements on television or radio which they consider as appalling for immediate action within 30 days by the media regulator.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, launching the platform in Accra on Tuesday, said, the platform was on the ministry’s media support programmes.
He said the toll free number was activated to receive complaints on offensive media contents to help clamp down on the menace.
“The menace of money-doubling, open promotion of ritual murders, alcohol advertisements during the day and other offensive contents have been on the rise on our broadcast platforms.
“If we want to preserve our sanity against these menace, we need to guard what keep the media space safe. This toll free number gives the public the power to report these contents for the necessary action to be taken by the NMC,” he stated.
Mr Nkrumah reiterated the need for continuous collaboration between all media stakeholders and state institutions in the usage of scarce resources to tackle the menace.
Describing the move as pragmatic, he said, it would ensure media practitioners put out contents that conform to the GJA Code of Ethics, NMC guidelines for media practitioners and other professional requirements, thereby averting the broadcast of unwholesome contents.
He, however, cautioned the NMC against using the platform to suppress freedom of expression saying that “this tool should be used fairly, justly and transparently when the need arises.”
“I urge the NMC to balance the regulatory function with the right to free expression at all times. Freedom of expression is a right guaranteed by the constitution and it is a right we must all uphold,” Mr Nkrumah added.
Director-General of the NCA, Joe Anokye, said the broadcast contents complaints centre was designed to equip the communication regulator with the tools to enforce regulatory compliance.
He noted that concerns about “egregious contents” in 2021 resulted in an MoU between the two institutions to collaborate to deal with the challenge.
This, he said, led to the development of the Broadcast Monitoring Centre which monitors 13 satellites.
Currently, 168 TV stations and 50 radio stations were being monitored adding that the staff had been trained to receive and process the complaints.
Chairman of the NMC, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh, assured that the centre would not be used as a tool to witch hunt broadcast entities and would operate transparently and fairly.
He stressed the need for journalists to be responsible in their reportage while exercising their rights to free speech.
President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, urged the NMC to ensure fairness in the handling of complaints and avoid conduct that would hamper the operationalisation of the centre.
Albert Dwumfour, President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said offensive media contents was a threat to media sustainability and freedom of expression.
The GJA, he said, would provide adequate support to the centre which aimed at empowering the public to seek accountability from the work of the media.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
