The National Media Commission (NMC) says the Ministry of Communications move to reduce the number of channels that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Crystal TV operate on the National Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform, is out of the Ministry’s domain and a usurpation of the Commission’s powers.
The NMC further noted that the Commission’s fundamental responsibility as stipulated in the constitution, is “to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication or information” and also “insulate the state-owned media from governmental control.”
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the Commission Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, the Commission emphasized that any form of development which seeks to hinder the media to use its resources legally allocated to them compromises their capacity to serve the country.
Management of both media houses had earlier mounted a defense saying that the move will destroy jobs and simply add on to the unemployment challenge in the country.
The statement further explained that “the directive given to GBC and Crystal TV by the Minister for Communications purports to usurp the constitutional mandate and authority of the National Media Commission and same cannot be obliged under our current constitutional dispensation.”
According to the Commission, the DTT platform plays a crucial role in broadcasting and therefore should be “treated as media to enable it to benefit from all the freedoms guaranteed the media by the media 1992 Constitution.”
The NMC said the DTT platform is an essential part of broadcasting and should be “treated as media to enable it to benefit from all the freedoms guaranteed the media by the 1992 Constitution.”
The Commission made these comments in an emergency meeting held to consider the petitions made by GBC and Crystal TV over the Communication Ministry’s move to reduce their number of broadcasting channels on the DTT platform.
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I’m Deborah Aba Narkoah. I’m an avid reader, writer and public speaker.
