Renowned legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah, has descended heavily on the National Media Commission (NMC), accusing it of not doing enough to stem the tide of unsavory comments on the airwaves of media organisations in the country.
The ace lawyer was speaking in the wake of recent cases of contempt of court against some political activists and other persons in the media.
Speaking to The Independent, Mr. Ankomah said the NMC has failed to make it mandatory for radio stations to acquire delayed broadcast equipment to ensure that certain unpleasant comments that are not in the best interest of the country would not be played on the airways.
The delayed broadcast equipment has the feature of delaying recordings for some minutes before it is heard by the public.
With the usage of delayed broadcast equipment, radio stations could truncate phone-in segments and contemptuous comments made by panelists before they even come to the attention of the public, Mr. Ankomah said.
The lawyer wondered why the NMC and other regulatory institutions like the National Communications Authority could not emulate their peers in other countries by making the said equipment a requirement for media operations.
According to him, even though some radio stations have the technology, they have refused to use it, reckoning the manpower and responsibility needed to operate it.
On other platforms, Ace Ankomah has described as lazy journalism, the practice where radio stations did not gatekeep comments on their programs.
For a week now, the issue of the responsibility of journalists and the media has been the agenda in the public domain as the Supreme Court flexed its muscle against some persons who made contemptuous comments.
The Editor for the Daily Searchlight, Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, still has three more days to spend at the Ho Central Prisons, having spent seven days now in jail, while vociferous NDC communicator, Stephen Atubiga is already freed after serving his three-day jail term as was determined by the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Source: GhanaWeb
