Minister condemns porn material on TV

Zita Okaikoi, Minister of Information, on Tuesday condemned the screening of movies containing pornographic material on television during the day and urged television stations to desist from= the act.

She was speaking at the inauguration of the Board of Directors of GAMA Films Company Limited.

The Minister said some of the telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) and Nigerian movies showed on television during day contained adult material not good for children.

She said the influx of foreign movies, including Nigerian movies, was worrying, saying "not everything that tickles the fancy of other nationals should tickle our fancy".

Mrs Okaikoi appealed to the new board members to find ways of encouraging, supporting and promoting the production of local movies that addressed issued of local concern.

The Minister urged TV3, the sister company of GAMA Films, to edit out pornographic and witchcraft materials from movies before screening them on local television.

Mr. Edward Addo, speaking for the newly inaugurated six-member board, assured the minister that they would ensure that movies shown at GAMA Films and on TV3 benefited Ghanaians, particularly children. Other members of the Board are Mr Ernest Carl Vaderpuye, Mrs. Pepert= ual Darfour, Mr Ahmed Farid, Mr Syed Ahmad Zaidi, Chief Executive Officer of TV3, and Sheikh Suhaimi, Chief Operations Officer of TV3.

Mr. Kofi Nyantekyi, Director of Airtime Management at TV3, told the le material from movies before they are shown on television.

He said TV3 was committed to helping to promote local movie productions, but the movie producers had not reciprocated the effort of t= he station in time past.

"We lost almost a GH¢100,000 trying to help promote some local mov= ies."