body-container-line-1
08.02.2016 Editorial

NMC Must Crack The Whip!

By Ghanaian Chronicle
NMC Must Crack The Whip!
08.02.2016 LISTEN

When the National Media Commission (NMC) was established on July 7, 1993 by an Act of Parliament, it had, as part of its mandate, the responsibility of registering, regulating and monitoring the activities of media houses in Ghana.

The National Media Commission Act 1993, Act 449, in pursuit of the provisions of Chapter 12 of Ghana's 1992 Constitution, was enjoined, among other things, to take all measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards of mass media, including investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against, or by the press or other mass media.

That notwithstanding, The Chronicle is inclined to believe that the NMC has not lived up to its mandate “to take all measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards on mass media.”

This follows the way and manner people use the airwaves to launch verbal onslaughts on one another, spewing unprintable words, just to settle scores with persons they perceive as their enemies.

The Chronicle published in its Thursday February 4, 2016 edition, a story, under the headline; “Prophet One Goes Berserk …Says He Can Give GH¢5 to Every Person in Ashanti Region.”

According to the story, the controversial Man of God and Founder of the Ebenezer Miracle Prayer Centre in Kumasi, Prophet Ebenezer Adarkwah Yiadom, aka Prophet One, engaged in a blistering media warfare with one Evangelist Akwasi Awuah, also based in Kumasi.

The story alleged that Prophet One rained curses on Evangelist Awuah, who is an old foe of the Man of God, prophesying that he and his family would suffer a never-ending plague, which will result in his (Evangelist Awuah) embarrassing death.

The Kumasi-based pastor's attack on his fellow Man of God follows recent accusations by Evangelist Awuah, during his radio programme on Sika FM, that Prophet One and similar pastors like him were exploiting innocent members of their church, by selling to them powerless holy water.

Another issue that drove Prophet One bonkers was an alleged startling revelation by a former preacher, Prophet Elisha, aka Spiritual Bulldozer, who said that some pastors receive their supernatural powers from a spiritual god, known as Mahanta.

Following the revelation, Evangelist Awuah was said to have commented on the matter and directly scoffed the alleged pastors, an act that opened old wounds between him and the popular Prophet One.

In a strongly worded 7-minute audio broadcast, which has gone viral on social media, Prophet One described Evangelist Awuah as a mentally handicapped person, whose place should be in the Garden City Special School.

The Man of God further spewed unpalatable words on New Mercury, a station he owns, causing many to wonder why someone of his standing could descend into the gutters to lash out at someone on radio, in the manner he did.

A few days later, another rude and unprintable exchange ensued between Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, and Afia Swazenneger, a popular Accra-based radio presenter.

The unpleasant exchanges started when Afia was alleged to have verbally attacked the legislator on radio, asking to know what he does for a living, and also for accusing the siblings of President Mahama of doing drugs.

The Assin Central MP returned the fire by calling the radio presenter names, alleging she is wayward and a bed-wetter. The exchanges did not end there, as the MP and the radio presenter continued their cacophony, resulting in the use of unprintable words from both of them, now trending on the various social media platforms.

As if that was not enough, the legislator has allegedly splashed nude pictures of the radio presenter on a number of social media, including facebook. One would have expected that with all these happening right under the nose of the NMC, the media supervising body would call the radio stations involved to order, or better still, prescribe the necessary punishment for them, but that has not been done.

It is against this backdrop that The Chronicle is tempted to believe that the NMC has become a toothless bulldog, by allowing anybody to go on air, especially, on radio, to insult respected members of society. The Chronicle wishes to remind the NMC that so far as it has decided to remain silent and watch some people who think they are untouchable in society use the airwaves to launch verbal onslaughts on others, the practice would not end anytime soon.

We, of The Chronicle, believe that the time has come for the media controlling body to crack the whip and make its presence felt, else it has failed in its mandate to ensure the estpablishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards on our media landscape.

The time to crack the whip is now!

body-container-line