Starr FM’s Edward Adeti exonerated in NMC ruling

• Edward Adeti was dragged to NMC by BONABOTO

• He was accused of unprofessional conduct

• NMC in its ruling said it did not find any wrongdoing or unprofessionalism with Adeti's work

Starr FM reporter Edward Adeti, has been exonerated in a ruling which was brought against him by BONABOTO, a Civil Society Organization in the Upper East Region.

BONABOTO filed a petition to the National Media Commission (NMC) over some reports published on GhanaWeb and Starr FM.

They accused Edward Adeti, who is the Upper East regional correspondent for Starr FM of unprofessional conduct.

But NMC in its ruling said, it did not find any wrongdoing or unprofessionalism in the work of Adeti and therefore did not grant the demands of the complainant.

“With regards to his practice as a journalist, one does not need certification to practice the profession in Ghana. The Commission is not mandated to interfere with the day-to-day activities of any media house.

The Commission has established that Mr. Francis Atintono was once arrested and detained for narcotic activities. They had looked through all the statements and did not find any merit in the Complaint directed against the journalist (Mr. Edward Adeti).

On the matter of CHRAJ and the missing vehicles, even if CHRAJ did the investigations on its own, the reaction from BONABOTO suggest that CHRAJ has an active interest in the matter which is duly reflected in what the journalist wrote,” a statement from the NMC dated, Thursday, June 17, 2021 signed and issued by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the NMC, Alexander Bannerman said.

The NMC further stated, it is unable to grant any of the request in the complaint by BONABOTO since the committee could not establish any unethical or unprofessional conduct against the journalist even if his language appeared to be strong.

“On the matter of the two defamatory cases, it is clear that the due process of the law has been applied and NMC cannot review the decision of a court of competent jurisdiction.

The NMC hopes to use this avenue to call on and direct the Ghanaian media including journalists to be cautious at all times with any information put across to the public by always giving the other party a fair hearing and complying with the GJA code of ethics, The Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association codes including the various NMC Guidelines.

The NMC is grateful for these aggrieved complainants resorting the Commission’s processes to handle their cases and not to the court of law or other means and is always open to the public to help resolve their complaints against the media,” the statement concluded.