The eleven-year-old boy’s death in Kasoa, where his pals planned to sacrifice him for money rituals, was the catalyst for the national media commission’s and national communication authority’s decision to sanitize the media fraternity which took place just one and a half years earlier.
The NCA’s decision to revoke the licenses of some media outlets transmitting unethical programs was praised by many.
However, it seems the NCA took such steps in response to the death of the eleven-year-old child who was murdered by his peers under the influence of a mallam.
The media outlets whose licenses were eventually restored after negotiations with the national communications authority.
Thereafter, the NCA restored the license of the affected media outlets, some continue to air those unlawful and unethical content, including playing gramophone films and enabling bogus juju men to deceive the public.
EAI’s research reveals that several owners of those media stations whose licenses were suspended by the NCA have established additional media outlets and are functioning illegally. Some of them have also changed the station’s branding, giving it a new name and logo.
We urge the NCA to take more preventive measures since, as the phrase goes, “prevention is better than cure.” The NCA should halt these media outlets’ immoral and criminal behavior before it leads to unpleasant circumstances.
Besides, the NCA needs to take swift action to clean up the media sorority and ensure sanity, and also deal with any media outlet that would show unethical and offensive content.
Again, the NCA should establish regulations to ensure that media station activities are carried out appropriately and strictly adhered to.
Finally, given that the NCA has paid less attention to those local media outlets, our findings also indicated that the NCA ought to keep a close check on how those outlets function, those local media outlets have complete control over community opinion.
We believe that the media is the most potent force on earth. The canto falsely accuses the innocent and exonerates the guilty. And whoever controls the media also controls people’s minds, particularly young people. We are in grave danger if the media continues to display or broadcast information that will severely corrode the public’s mentality.
Let’s band together to create a powerful and moral media fraternity to aid in the development of our country.♦
Shadrack Kofi Ofori
Political Analyst
Educate Africa Institute (EAI)
0246585860
