The Board of Directors of Onua TV/FM, has said that it suspects the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission wants to interfere in the editorial independence of TV and radio stations owned by the conglomerate.
The Board said it considers this as a major threat to the media in Ghana and must be resisted.
“We suspect that his real intention is to interfere with the editorial independence of all the stations in the Media General Group. This, we believe, is a major threat to the media in Ghana and must not be allowed to happen,” the Board Chairman, Mr. Kojo Yankah wrote in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Commission dated 29th November, 2023.
The Board of Onua TV/FM stressed that, “The NMC was established by the Constitution “to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication and information” and we will take all steps necessary to ensure that the NMC is not rather used to trample on media independence for political or any other purposes.”
The letter by the Board of Onua TV/FM sought to complain to the Chairman of the NMC Board, about a letter written by the Executive Secretary to the Advertisers Association of Ghana.
“The attention of the Board of Media General Ghana (Ltd) has been drawn to a letter from the Executive Secretary of NMC dated 28th November 2023 to the Advertisers Association of Ghana, AAG, in which the NMC Executive Secretary has taken a rather unprecedented step to notify them that any further steps that they are taking to advertise on Onua TV and Onua FM are done at their own risk,” a part of the letter read.
According to the Onua TV/FM Board, it “takes a serious view of this matter. This illegal action follows other illegal steps taken by the NMC which we had responded to earlier. We addressed a copy of our letter dated 27th November 2023 to you and have attached another copy to this letter for ease of reference.”
“The Media General Board takes serious exception to the actions and posture of the Executive Secretary and would ask the NMC to take immediate steps to regularize all the missteps of the Executive Secretary in targeting Onua TV and Onua FM for purposes known to him,” the Board urged.
Background
On Tuesday 14 November 2023, Media General received a letter from the NMC which was wrongly directed. The letter complained of a broadcast simultaneously carried by Onua FM and Onua TV. In the same letter the NMC imposed sanctions on the two stations without asking for their side of the story.
In response to the letter, the Company drew the attention of the Executive Secretary Mr George Sarpong, to the error and also stated that the stations should be given an opportunity to be heard as is required by the procedures of the National Media Commission’s own Complaints Settlement Committee. But Mr George Sarpong has refused to give the stations the opportunity to be heard and has also not named any complainant.
Meanwhile he has threatened to have the frequency authorisations of the two stations suspended among other illegal actions.
Media General finds the actions and posture of the Executive Secretary arbitrary, unconstitutional and against the principles of natural justice and, therefore, filed a case in court to stop the Commission from further harassing the two stations. The Company states in the suit that the Media Commission by its actions has constituted itself into a complainant, a prosecutor and a judge in complaint and from its actions cannot now be trusted to be a fair and impartial arbiter in any case against OnuaTV/OnuaFM.
The NMC Executive Secretary without any complaints or invitation to OnuaTV/OnuaFM decided to be the complainant and the prosecutor and the Judge and passed a judgement. The Media General Group’s Board vehemently rejected the NMC’s actions in letters to NMC dated 21st November 2023 and 27th November 2023(attached).
In reaction, the Executive Secretary said he was going to have the frequencies of the two stations suspended and also secretly wrote to the Advertisers Association of Ghana on this veiled threat.
It must be made clear that the NMC does not have the power to influence editors nor to suspend frequencies of media houses. If this is allowed to happen it will be a serious threat to media operations in the country as the Commission can take steps to arbitrarily withdraw any broadcaster’s authorization without giving them a hearing if the Executive Secretary in his personal view does not like one presenter or the other to be on air.
If this behavior is allowed, it could destroy the business of media houses by getting advertisers to stop advertising on their media just because the Executive Secretary with Political views does not like a media house or a presenter especially in election seasons.
As a leading Media company, Media General and its subsidiaries Onua TV and Onua FM are ready to cooperate with the National Media Commission to achieve the highest standards in media practice. But it will not allow itself to be intimidated and shall take all steps to protect its business and editorial independence, including actions from the National Media Commission, which appear to be politically motivated.
We have accordingly initiated the legal action against NMC to prevent them from these illegal and frankly unconstitutional activities. We urge media houses and members of the public to rise up against this blatant abuse of office else we lose the democracy and the right to free speech for good.
Signed
Head, Corporate Communications Department, OnuaTV/OnuaFM
