NMC to launch new broadcasting regulations
The National Media Commission (NMC) is set to launch a new broadcasting guidelines next Month for efficient regulation of the media landscape in Ghana in the wake of social media complications.
Additionally, new religious broadcasting guidelines for regulating the broadcast of religious materials would also be launched.
Mr Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, Chairman of the NMC who announced this, said technological advancement and the advent of social media presented greater challenge for regulation especially in the broadcast industry.
He however, insisted that the NMC would continue to review its broadcasting standards and adopt best regulations to the new situation.
Mr. Appenteng was responding to concerns raised by participants at a sensitisation forum on the constitutional and legal implications of the digital migration about the conduct of some broadcast media organisations.
The forum was organised by the NMC with funding support from the Frederich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a German Non-Governmental Organisation that focused among others on capacity building of the media.
According to him, “We are in the era where social media comes with its complications, therefore we need to adopt regulations to the new situation so that we can meet the challenges of broadcasting regulation in a complex technological world” he said.
He said the NMC would continue to partner with relevant institutions such as the National Communications Authority (NCA) to chart the way towards efficient broadcasting regulation in Ghana.
According to the participants who were made up media professionals, security personnel, and persons from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as well as the academia, the NMC needed to be strong to regulate media content devoid of any political influence to bring about quality and responsible media in the country.
They noted that the NMC had not been allowed to operate the way they should by successive governments and called for the NMC to be given prosecutorial powers to prosecute media personnel and organisations that flouted media regulations.
Source: GNA