CJ urges NMC to set up Media Fund

Accra, Dec. 12, GNA - Mr Justice George Kingsley Acquah, Chief Justice on Tuesday called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to set up a Media Fund to support cash strapped media organisations to enable them play their watchdog and national development role effectively. He noted that for sometime now, politicians, corporate Ghana and the public had criticised the media for reporting falsehood and fanning passions that disturbed national peace, security and affected national development.

=93We forget that the media, especially the private media are not adequately resourced to meet our desires and aspirations,=94 he added. Mr Justice Acquah made the call when addressing the closing session of a two-day conference on 93The Media and National Development=94 organized by the NMC and sponsored by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Accra.
The conference attended by more than 100 Journalists and Media Practitioners discussed issues on media and national security, culture, The Right Information Bill, media regulation and monitoring. It was to evolve recommendations for the efficient and effective operations of the NMC and the media.
Mr Justice Acquah said 93Even though the NMC itself is cash strapped, it should be a priority for it to set up a media fund with the assistance of its development partners to provide support for the private media to contribute effectively to national development.=94 He appealed to Journalists to protect national peace and security because it was in their interest to work in peaceful and stable conditions.
=93Journalism is linked to Divinity. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. I urge you to seek to be sons of God by promoting national peace and stability,=94 he told the participants.
During paper presentations and working group discussions, some of the panelists and participants stressed the need for the establishment of a Media Development Fund (MDF) at the NMC to make it partially independent of the meagre government subvention and become more efficient and effective in its oversight role of the media landscape. Mr Kwesi Afriyie-Badu, Chief Executive of KAB Consult, noted that the NMC was not well resourced that its members had to sponsor themselves to participate in conferences and seminars both in and outside the country.
=93In 2005, government subvention to the NMC was 1.2 billion cedis and an additional 200,000 dollars that was inadequate compared to over 13 billion cedis that some sister organizations of the NMC received,=94 he added.
Mr Afriyie-Badu noted that Government seemed to be using inadequate funding as a tool to deny the NMC the opportunity to play its oversight role more independently and effectively, adding 93It was time for the NMC to look at other sources like civil society, United Nations (UN) organizations and other institutions to support the establishment of a permanent MDF to improve on its operations.
He was of the view that when the MDF was established under the NMC, other media institutions such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Private Newspaper and Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and media training institutions could benefit from it.
Mr Afriyie-Badu said it was in the interest of the NMC to support media training institutions, whose graduates were usually accused of violating people's rights and create embarrassing situations for the NMC.
He said the NMC should review the calibre of lecturers and course content of the various media training institutions and advise or make comprehensive contributions to ensure that Journalists were well trained.
Mr Akoto Ampaw, a legal practitioner observed that the recent increased criticism of the media by politicians and public outcry for the NMC to be given 93the teeth to bite the media=94 was a sign of an undue pressure by the Government on the NMC to be on the neck of the media to stifle press freedom and freedom of speech and expression. He stressed the need for the NMC to be partially self-supporting to be free to operate and it behoved on the NMC members to resist any pressure from the Government otherwise it would take over the role of the NMC and begin to dictate to it.
Dr Bonnah Koomson, of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, noted that in spite of all the recent criticism of the media, it was an undeniable fact that the media had contributed immensely to the promotion of democracy, exposing official misconduct, public education, monitoring of elections and national development since 1992.
However, he pointed out that a survey conducted among media practitioners in the country in 2005 on journalistic standards, Journalists admitted that standards were falling.
Dr Koomson said most of the respondents admitted to mediocrity of reportage, poor grammar, one-sided reporting, extortion, 93soli=94, tension creation, in-balanced coverage, sub-standard reporting, refusal to cross check, arrogance, ignorance, false publications, lack of investigations, failure to admit fault, misinformation and disinformation, praise singing and pretence to know everything.
He observed that media terrorism, political journalism and polemic journalism were rife in recent times and called on Journalists to use their power of exposure to promote political and economic development in the country and not to seek personal fame and aggrandisement.