INSTIL DECORUM ON AIRWAVES (PAGE 31, MARCH 31, 2010)

Participants in a media development forum in Accra have called for a regulatory framework in broadcasting to instil decorum and a code of ethics on the airwaves to prevent people from using abusive and profane language on air.
Contributing to the debate on whether phone-in programmes were a blessing or a curse, all the participants agreed that phone-ins were an important aspect of freedom of expression and participatory democracy in the country.
They, however, expressed concern that serious challenges existed that ought to be addressed to save the country from sliding into the Rwandan experience that followed the use of radio to inflame passions and cause carnage.
The acting Director of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, said there was a vacuum in the broadcasting legislative framework, which must be bridged to set standards and ensure a certain behaviour on the airwaves.
She explained that people, especially serial callers, had taken advantage of the absence of those guidelines to use obscene and abusive language on the airwaves, which are supposed to be a public resource for the general good of the state.
Mr Ayamba Zananiba, a media practitioner, who spoke in support of the statement that phone-ins were a blessing, said in the field of governance, phone-ins had expanded people’s horizon and increased awareness of socio-political issues, as well as rights and responsibilities.
He said, concerning health, many people had been educated on basic hygiene and deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, influenza and the swine flu through radio phone-ins.
He, however, was of the opinion that the country could reap the full benefits of phone-ins if they were properly managed, especially in governance where people were beginning to participate in the political discourse on how to move the country forward.
Mr Ben Ephson, the Editor of the Daily Dispatch, who spoke against the statement, said if the phone-ins were allowed to continue in their present format, they could create mayhem and spell doom for the country.
He, however, explained that research conducted by his outfit showed that most Ghanaians had come to accept phone-ins as tele-guided and were not paying serious attention to them.
Mr Ephson said more than 9,000 people were sceptical about the genuineness of phone-ins in the research, which polled 10,000 people in various parts of the country.
Mr William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), said phone-ins had contributed in making broadcasting interesting because of its interactive powers.
He, however, expressed the opinion that there ought to be a legal framework to make it mandatory for broadcasting stations to have delay transmission facilities to help presenters in gate-keeping.
Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, the Co-ordinator of the Ghana Media Standards Improvement Project, which organised the forum in conjunction with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said the main objective of the project was to strengthen the capacity of Ghanaian media personnel to be more effective in their work to sustain democracy, instead of derailing it, and also advance freedom of expression.