NDC, NPP General Secretaries cited for use of indecent expressions

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Friday cited the General Secretaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, for use of indecent expressions on radio.

The MFWA’s report on campaign language monitoring for August 12–18, made available to the Ghana News Agency, shows that the two General Secretaries were among the people, who made indecent expressions on radio.

The Foundation also said the highest number of five indecorous expressions was made on Asempa FM, an Accra-based radio station affiliated to the Multimedia Group.

The report indicated that the monitoring of campaign language use on radio by the Foundation over the past week (August 12 – 18, 2012: week 20 of monitoring) had revealed that 16 indecent expressions were recorded.

It said unsubstantiated allegations, insulting, offensive comments and provocative remarks were the categories of indecent expressions used.

The report said the monitoring of language use on radio is a project by MFWA with funding from STAR-Ghana.

The main aim of the project is to promote decent language campaigning for the 2012 elections in Ghana.

The report covered 30 of the 31 radio stations selected for the project, which showed that most of the programmes on which indecent expressions were captured were morning and evening/night political discussions.

The main subject matter around which majority of the indecent expressions was made was the health of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

According to the report, 16 indecent expressions were recorded on 10 of the programmes aired on six radio stations.

The breakdown is as follow: Unsubstantiated Allegations: six; Insulting/Offensive Comments: five; and Provocative Remarks: five.

On expressions used by political party affiliation, the report showed that 16 indecent expressions were made by three groups of people/stations. Thirteen out of the 16 indecent expressions were made by officials/supporters of the NDC and NPP.

The MFWA urged presenters/hosts, producers and station managers to be more proactive by educating and insisting on the use of decent language by those who feature on their stations.

MFWA asked all radio stations to desist from the rebroadcast of indecent expressions since the act tends to amplify the intemperate expressions and their potentially negative consequences.