The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has put up worries over the government’s new closing down of seven private radio stations, warning that the move intimidates press freedom and media pluralism.
While addressing the need for executive implementation, the MFWA queried the fairness and clarity of the shutdowns, especially the future for political intervention in media ruling.
The order, rigged out by Minister for Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Sam Nartey George, affected Bawku-based Gumah FM and six other stations arraign for operating without valid frequency permission.
The authority has safeguard the move as a legal and necessary step to endorse broadcasting standards. But, the MFWA warned that such actions, if ungoverned, could ruin democratic ethics.
A key worry for the MFWA is the manner in which Gumah FM’s closure was operated, declaring that such matters fall under the independent National Media Commission (NMC), not government officials.
“Radio plays a crucial role in promoting inclusion and reflecting divergent opinions in the political terrain,” the MFWA stated on Wednesday. “Any intervention in the broadcasting regulation domain by politicians raises suspicions of possible political targeting and favouritism.”
“While the accusations may be tenable, we cannot allow a ‘tribunal’ of partisan political players such as the sector minister, the regional minister, the director general of the NCA, the national security coordinator, among others, to prosecute while being themselves the complainants,” the MFWA claimed.
“If this trend is entrenched, critical broadcast stations could be shut down for political reasons,” the statement warned.
The principles holds out that even if the shutdown was based on intelligence reports, the appropriate procedure would have been to present evidence to the NMC, which should then regulates the station’s luck.
To defend press freedom, the MFWA is calling for quick corrections to transfer broadcast licensing and regulatory authority from the National Communications Authority (NCA) to the independent NMC, cautioning that continued government interference in media regulation could have severe results.
Source: Chaleradio.com
