GIBA Backs Onua TV In Contention Against NMC

The Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) has thrown their weight behind Onua TV and FM over a contention between the media organisations and the National Media Commission (NMC).

It criticized the abuse of authority by the Commission as it expressed “deep concern” about the development.

In a press statement, it said, “GIBA frowns at the actions taken by the NMC in addressing the issue of the alleged ethical journalistic infraction by the two stations for the reasons that, the Association believes there are far more avenues to explore in addressing the matter on hand, such as giving the opportunity for fair hearing to the stations rather than pronouncing sanctions upon them to the extent of alerting the Advertisers Association of Ghana of a Notice of Suspension without due process. ”

“GIBA believes that such actions which are tantamount to depriving the stations of their advertising revenue is unacceptable. The fact that the NMC sought to cut-off the life support of the stations by writing to the AAG is damaging,” it added.

Background
On November 14, the NMC issued what it characterized as a final caution to the Board of Directors of Onua TV over some utterances of show host Blessed Godsbrain Smart popularly known as Captain Smart.

The caution letter addressed to the Board of the media organization by the General Secretary of the Commission, George Sarpong focused on an “inciteful” broadcast by the host.

It said the utterances were directed at the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and other Commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

“Last week, your station carried an inciteful broadcast in which Captain Smart directly insulted the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and other Commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) as ‘beasts’. He claimed the officers embezzled monies meant for soldiers on peacekeeping operations but offered no evidence to back his claims.”

According to the Commission, the statements by the host were “dangerous” and “unprofessional”.

It thus directed the station to render an unqualified apology to the persons involved as well as the Ghanaian populace by November 19 but it appears the media house failed to comply with the directive.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Commission had initiated steps to suspend frequency authorisations of television and radio stations for “persistently dangerous broadcast” and had accordingly informed the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG).

The action compelled the media organizations to seek legal redress at the Accra High Court in a bid to safeguard their operation as a media network.

The television and radio stations are seeking a perpetual injunction against the Commission from the Accra High Court to restrain it from further “harassing” their operations.

In a statement, the subsidiaries of Media General said, “The suit is asking the court to among other things declare that some orders issued by the Commission to Onua TV and Onua FM are unlawful and that the conduct of the NMC in refusing to give the stations an opportunity to be heard before imposing sanctions on them is a breach of the law and of natural justice.”