[ 2016-04-23 ]

Law lecturer slams ‘crippling’ NMC media law
A law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of
Management and Public Administration (GIMPA),
Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee, says the Content
Authorization Law of the National Media Commission
(NMC) meant to check program contents of media
houses is needless.

She said if the NMC wants to check the issue of
the bad content of media houses, it could use
other means other than pushing for a new law.

The Supreme Court on Thursday, April 21 placed an
interlocutory injunction - a court order to
prevent the NMC from carrying out the
implementation of the Content Authorization Law.

The suit challenging the law was filed by the
Ghana Independent Broadcasting Association (GIBA)
which argued aspects of the new law contradict the
press freedom captured in the 1992 Constitution.

The seven-member jury made up of Justice Sophia
Akufo, Justice Akoto Bamfo, Justice Baffoe Bonney
and other four Justices’ issued the injunction
on the ground of balance of convenience and
hardship.

Thus, NMC should weigh the circumstances so that
the new law will not oppress the media houses.

Speaking on the Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis
program, NEWSFILE, Beeri Kasser-Tee says it is
important for NMC to care about contents of the
media but argued the approach must not be seen as
restricting their work.

She says the NMC could address the issue through
self-regulation. Thus allowing the media houses to
ensure that whatever program they feed the public
with is in the interest of the country.

They could also use seminars, and workshops to
provide refresher courses to journalists, she
said.

Reacting to the judgment, Minister of State at the
Presidency, Abdul Rashid Pelpuo decried the
proliferation of pornographic materials in the
country.

“Can we allow a situation where moral conducts
degenerate into a situation where people broadcast
a raped girl as though we don’t care?” he
asked.

He, however, charged the NMC to exercise restraint
in its attempt to address the issue saying “You
don’t have to cure an ill by creating ills in
the society”.

“The introduction [of a new law] must be to the
taste of the people”, he said.

The Content Authorization Law is meant to provide
protection for minors, disallow the occult and
glamorous pictures, and helps to regulate
phone-ins on media platforms.

The law gives NMC the power to monitor the
airwaves and identify issues of breach which
attracts some form of punishment from the media
regulator.

In the worst case, a media house could be shutdown
or be made to pay a fine of ȼ60,000 or
individuals could get a jail term of 10 years.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

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