The National Media
Commission (NMC) has launched a Broadcast Content Complaints Centre (BCCC) to
enable the public report content they see on TV or hear on radio that they find
inappropriate or offensive. The Centre is situated within the National Communications
Authority’s Broadcasting Monitoring Centre (BMC).
The launch of the BCCC is
a follow-up to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the NMC and the
NCA in June 2021 under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and the
Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to regulate Broadcast Content in
line with the provisions of Section 3(c) of the NCA Act of 2008, Act 769.
At the public signing of
the Memorandum, the Honourable Minister of Information encouraged both
institutions to give practical effect to the commitments in the Agreement. The
current collaboration means the NMC will use the BMC for monitoring purposes while
a 24/7 consumer complaints centre is running to receive complaints from the
public.
Launching the Consumer
Complaints Centre at the NCA Tower in Accra, the Honourable Minister for
Information and MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, commended the NCA
for bringing the June 2021 MOU into fruition. He said the rising complaints of
unwholesome content on the airwaves needed to be tackled in a holistic manner,
and with the support of well-meaning members of the public.
According to the
Minister, it is only when the public lend its support to the campaign that
egregious content will be weeded out of Ghana’s airwaves and TV screens. He
further indicated that the utilisation of the BMC is an efficient use of the
country's limited resources and emphasised the importance of balancing the
introduction of this regulatory function with the right to free expression.
The Executive Secretary
of the National Media Commission, George Sarpong, said the NMC was happy to see
the realisation of the complaints centre. He said the intra-agency
collaboration with the NCA has come at a time when there is a nauseating rise
in content on TV that should be of concern to all. He added that the complaints
will be analysed based on clear objectives and guidelines with ethical
principles to guide media content in the industry.
The Director General of
the NCA, Joe Anokye said the NCA is excited that the BMC is being used by other
agencies for the benefit of the country. According to him, the Broadcasting
Monitoring Centre’s main aim was to effectively monitor compliance to the technical
conditions of the broadcast Authorisations. “The first BMS was installed
here at the NCA head office in 2018 and was expanded to the regional offices
between 2019 and 2020. It was designed to monitor only two (2) satellites:
Astra 2F (for FTA) and Eutelsat 36B (for DSTV). Originally, we focused our
efforts solely on the needs of the NCA so the specification of the BMS was
skewed towards monitoring of the technical criteria for broadcasting in line
with the Authority’s mandate.” He added that “today’s event clearly
shows that the NCA is on course in playing a pivotal role, since most solutions
and social interventions migrate towards the use of communications services,
which we regulate. We will endeavour to safeguard the communications space with
this realization”, he said. Mr. Anokye further disclosed that the Food and
Drugs Authority is currently engaging with the NCA to use the BMC for their
monitoring purposes.
Present at the launch
were the Board Chairman of the NCA, Isaac Emmil Osei-Bonsu Jnr, the Board
Chairman of the NMC, Yaw Ayeboafo, President of the Ghana Independent
Broadcasters Association, Cecil Thomas Sunkwa-Mills, President of the Ghana
Journalists Association, Mr. Albert Kwabena Dwumfour and Mr. Sulemana Braimah,
Executive Secretary, Media Foundation for West Africa.
