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Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said government is engaging with relevant stakeholders to pass the broadcasting bill.
According to him, government is taking inputs from technocrats and industry experts and at the same time being tactful in the passage of the bill so as to not create a situation where it becomes a tool for successive government to use in stifling media freedom and freedom of speech.
Speaking on TV3’s current affairs programme the Key Point, the Minister for Information, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, said government is treading cautiously in the passage of the bill because one of the key tenants of democracy is media freedom and according to him, it will rather be out of place to pass a bill that curtail the freedom of the media – one of the key players in every democratic dispensation.
The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said the government of Ghana is engaging the relevant stakeholders as part of efforts toward passing the broadcasting bill.
According to him, the government is taking inputs from technocrats and industry experts and at the same time being tactful in the passage of the bill so as to not create a situation where it becomes a tool for successive governments to stifle media freedom and free speech.
The minister said on Saturday that the government is treading cautiously in the passage of the bill because one of the key tenants of democracy is media freedom, noting that it will rather be out of place to pass a bill that curtails the freedom of the media – one of the key players in every democratic dispensation.
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Managing Partner at AFiBA Consulting, Jesse Agyepong has said the basis of media censorship of a programme must be made clear.
According to him, “If statements within the act or the bill are overly ambiguous and are left to the interpretation of the Committee members Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) should fight these every day to the extent that the ambiguity exit, we need to fight this every day.”
This comes at the back of National Film Authority’s (NFA) indication that effective May 1, 2021, no television station, cinema theatre or movie screening centre shall show any unclassified audiovisual content.
The NFA says it is stated in the Development and Classification Film Act 935 that all audiovisual content should be reviewed and classified before shown on any platform.