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'Media isn't just about numbers' — MFWA Director criticizes Onua TV over Captain Smart’s incendiary comments

  Tue, 21 Jan 2025
Headlines Sulemana Braimah
TUE, 21 JAN 2025 1
Sulemana Braimah

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has expressed strong disapproval of Onua TV for allowing its presenter, Captain Smart, to make inflammatory remarks on air.

According to Braimah, such unprofessional behavior should not be tolerated under the guise of attracting viewership and revenue.

He emphasized the need for media owners to prioritize producing quality and responsible content that serves the public interest.

His critique follows a video of Captain Smart urging young men in Obuasi to invade AngloGold Ashanti's mining site. The controversial video has sparked widespread condemnation, particularly after seven young men were reportedly shot dead during a clash with military personnel guarding the site.

The tragic incident has reignited discussions about the role of media in promoting responsible discourse and avoiding incitement. Braimah's remarks underline the importance of ethical journalism in safeguarding public safety and fostering a well-informed society.

Read his full post below

ONUA FM/ ONUA TV:

Some of these acts perpetrated and tolerated on Onua FM/Onua TV present a clear and significant threat to not only national peace and social cohesion but also to media freedom.

It does appear that for the owners, board and managers of the media organisation, media freedom means media recklessness is allowed so long as such acts will attract listeners and viewers, and ultimately, advertisers who simply advertise on the basis of numbers. No more ethics, no more values and no more professionalism. I hope we will begin to have ethical advertisers who will look beyond the numbers.

These acts of recklessness that only serve the interest of the perpetrator and media owners cannot be part of the reasons why our 1992 constitution grants elaborate freedoms for the media. Such freedoms are granted because the media, when responsible, professional and ethical, can, and actually will be, a force for the good of our society. Media freedom cannot be the same as media chaos.

I am hoping that one day, and hopefully very soon, the owners and controllers of the media organisation will come to appreciate that it’s not, and should not be, all about numbers and advertising revenue. I hope and pray that they come to the realisation that it is also possible to have the numbers and revenue from good, ethical, and professional media practice.

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Comments

MFWA FUNNY | 1/21/2025 2:17:01 PM

This group called MFWA is now a funny and an unserious group. Look how they are struggling to even criticize ONUA. God of Akkufo Addo will chase all of you hypocrites. 15 lives perished because of your hypocrisy in the galamsey fight. When Dr Tony Aubynn was in Obuasi assuring the youth of allowing them do the galamsey, you guys MFWA were fighting Nana Addo. That quack professor GYAMPO and his UTAG were hypocritically shouting and insulting Nana Addo. Now the blood of these guys will be at...

Should the Free SHS policy be reviewed?

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