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The National Media Commission (NMC) issued its decision on the government's complaint regarding Joynews' documentary "The Militia in the Heart of the City" on July 24, 2019.
Joy News accepts the decision of the NMC. Noting with satisfaction that the Commission did not find sufficient grounds in the complaints and therefore did not grant the remedies requested by the complainants.
The main relief sought was a retraction, an apology and any other sanction that the Commission deems appropriate. None has been granted. We would have had no difficulty in apologizing if the Commission had judged it so.
Joy News, however, does not agree with certain characterizations that result. The decision contained comments formulated as conclusions, but was rather silent on the content of the documentary, to which Joy News provided sufficient evidence to support. with no documentary fact.
We concede that we could have used a different photograph of the photo of the library used for the online promotion, before the broadcast of the documentary. But we reject NMC's badertions that the investigations were unethical, the comments about the documentary misleading and the misrepresentations. The picture was NOT part of the documentary. The CNG did not report any breach of ethics in the documentary itself, which allowed it to conclude that there were breaches of ethics. In order to avoid any doubt, no breach of ethics has been cited by the Commission throughout the investigation process. Thus, a so tagged file photo used in the online promotion can not serve as a basis for describing any survey as unethical.
Objection against Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh
Joy News objected to the inclusion of Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, a member of the Committee appointed by the President, to the Complaints and Regulations Committee that ruled on the matter. Our principle rested on the principle of natural justice according to which no one can be judge in his own cause. While we did not doubt Mr. Ayeboafoh's integrity, we felt it was right to eliminate any perception of bias or its likelihood. Joy News has therefore raised the issue of possible bias because the documentary producer (Manbadeh) had already questioned its objectivity even though [Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh] He was still working as a reporter for the daily newspaper Daily Graphic. Our objection was rejected. And Mr. Boadu-Ayebaofoh chaired the proceedings, a petition filed by another person appointed by the government. It should be noted that the government sent a message to the members of the President of the GJA, Mr. Roland Affail Monney, citing the comments he had made by praising the work done. They found the comments detrimental. Although this objection was also rejected, Mr. Affail Monney departed from the rest of the proceedings.
The issues raised by the government and the decision of the CNG
The government raised nine (9) questions in its petition to the NMC. The CNG has essentially relied on two to make its decision:
- the folder photo used in the documentary promo and
- the name "militia"
and ignored all material facts and evidence and issues raised in the main documentary. Even in both cases, Joy News explained that the photo was correctly labeled «Archive photo» (proof provided), in accordance with international standards and in any event, this photo has NEVER been used in the documentary itself – no journalistic ethics has therefore been violated with respect to the 39, use of the photo.
1. Violence and Kumasi incidents in Ayawaso were used to launch the documentary
The CNM said that the documentary badociation with the partial election violence of Ayawaso West Wuogon was misleading.
It is common practice to provide a context for a story as long as it is properly contextualized. The scenario clearly gave the context. This documentary was about a militant and militant group; the incidents of Ayawaso West Wuogon and Kumasi were militant group activities and testified to the pain that these groups could inflict on our society.
2 When De-Eye Group left the castle
The NMC said: "On the issue of the castle's exit from the D-Eye group, while the government insisted that the group be expelled in October 2018, Joy News insisted that it was after the broadcast of the documentary ". But the Commission has not ruled on this.
Joy News provided NMC with video footage of the group in the castle on December 10, 2018, about the Dombo program it attended on December 7, 2018 at the International Conference Center in Accra. Joy News also provided CNG with evidence of the group's website, which still indicated that it operated from the castle even after the documentary aired in March of this year.
The government has admitted to the Commission that; Indeed, the group met at the Chateau on December 21, 2018, as announced Joy News. But he claimed to have allowed the group to do it. Even at the end of the hearing, the government did not provide evidence of the permit it had promised to make available.
3. Association with the president
The CNM also came to a rather strange conclusion: "Once again, Multimedia provided evidence of attempts by government officials to remove the group from the castle, it nonetheless badociated the chair with the group and the Commission ruled that that it was unfair, especially when Multimedia Group later apologized publicly to the president. "
This conclusion was strange because the only point mentioned in the documentary when the President was mentioned was when JoyNews made a factual and undisputed statement that the De-Eye Group Commander was a former bodyguard of the President. The group's leaders, speaking themselves in the documentary, said the president was aware of their operations at the castle. This was not a comment or a claim from JoyNews. We made this claim to the President and he refused. His negation was published in full in the documentary. Joy News would like to point out that we did not apologize to the President for putting him in touch with the group and that this alleged excuse was never raised during the proceedings at the NMC. So we were surprised to see it in the decision.
5. De-Eye Group at the Dombo event
The government also said Joy News did not provide any evidence to support the claim that De-Eye Group had secured the Dombo program. The Commission has visual elements to support. At the hearing where the Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General spoke about it, the only woman member of the Commission asked her, "Did you watch the documentary before saying that?" The decision of the CNG was silent about this.
6 The question to the director of communications at the presidency
JoyNews forwarded to the Commission the exact questions addressed to the Chair 's Director of Communications to obtain a response that adequately covered the subject matter and in no way constituted a violation of ethics. The government said Joy News had "maliciously" raised the issue of the president's spokesperson in the documentary. The evidence provided to the NMC about the question is: "Good evening. I called earlier. I'm reporting on De-Eye Group, a militant NPP group led by Nana Wireko Addo, aka Choman, former bodyguard of President Akufo-Addo. I have information that the group operates from Christiansburg Castle. Some group leaders say the president is aware of their operations in this country. I spoke to a source close to Jubilee House, close to the president, who denied the presence of the group at the castle and the knowledge of the president, but this is not the official answer, according to the source. I will be happy to have the official answer on this subject by tomorrow. "
Here is Mr. Arhin's response: "The President has no knowledge of the alleged activities of the group, let alone punish them. My national security checks revealed that no group of this type operates from the castle.
In this issue, JoyNews has done nothing wrong with ethics, but the CNG has remained silent.
7. The group providing security services
In particular, the government mentioned that the documentary did not contain any evidence that the group provided security services in and around Accra. Joy News showed the evidence in the documentary and directed the CNG towards the Dombo event, but did not consider commenting on this issue in its decision.
8 Aspersions on the president
The government raised the issue of denigrating the integrity of the president. The link between Joy News and the president was only to the extent that his former bodyguard was the commander of the De-Eye group. That's the group that mentioned the president as being aware of his activities, not Joy News. The CNG ignored this issue in its decision.
9 Is the group vigilant / militia?
The Commission also stated that "the group did not exhibit any violent behavior that could be described as a militia or self-defense group according to the documentary, as the Ghanaian people eventually identified these groups. ".
Here are the facts we presented to the NMC, whether or not it acts of a self-defense group or a militia, as prescribed by the Ayawaso Commission.
1. Our audits with the Ministry of Labor revealed that the group was not authorized to recruit or place. The Ministry of Labor says that operating an unlicensed recruitment or employment agency is an offense punishable by law.
2. Our audits with the Ministry of the Interior revealed that the group was not allowed to carry out operations or security services.
3. The information relating to group registration with the Office of the Registrar General has the following characteristics: "Training and professionally implementing youth employment, for example: Agriculture, education and training. electronics, carpentry and construction. This is not what the group was doing at the castle.
4. In the JoyNews documentary, the Group stated that it was a "family of nuclear power plant". Watchers (in the context of the documentary) are badociated with political parties.
5. The 2012 Daily Guide's report (which was submitted to the Commission) indicates that it is a self-defense group created to protect NPP members from attacks . According to this story, the group was committed to protecting the ballot box in the 2012 elections.
6. The UTV report on the group two years before the Joy News documentary said that it was a self-defense group. The group did not dispute any of these reports.
7. The TV3 interview offered to his leader that there were more than 5,000 young people across the country who believed in the ideologies and politics of President Akufo-Addo.
8. The group stated that he had been trained by former military personnel.
9. The website indicates that the group has undertaken safety training
10. The leader of the group is called "commander"
11 The motto of the group is: "Vigilance and protection".
12 The group undertook military exercises as captured in our videos.
14. The National Security confirmed that in 2017, the Group had forcefully badumed the functions of National Security agents stationed at Kotoka International Airport. It took an operation led by the director of national security operations to expel and redeploy national security agents on the ground.
15. At the time of the documentary, the Minister of National Security, Kan Dapaah, stated that they had monitored what he had described as illegal activities and that National Security gathered enough evidence to arrest them and prosecute them.
16. The Joynews documentary reports that the group commander told members of the group that national security had infiltrated their ranks to gather evidence and destroy it so that they would be monitored and exposed (agents national security).
17. The Group provided security services under the Dombo program to the Accra International Conference Center.
18. The argument that they were not heard in the media for acts of violence is flawed because the names presented by the Attorney General and that Parliament added to the list of groups of The country's "vigilantes" have apparently not been involved in acts of violence.
At a press conference held on March 8, 2019, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said that the group's leader, Nana Wireko Addo, had been "expelled from the scene by a joint operation. involving National Security and Police personnel "It does not take a joint police and national security operation to simply ask a" law-abiding "person or group of people to leave the premises from a major public institution.
In the documentary, Fraser Owireky Kegya, the group's chief of staff, complains about the criminal activities perpetrated by members of the group and warns that, as they continue, he would let them wallow in custody for some time. would bring them to the meeting and dishonor them. In the documentary, one of the trainers was seen and heard congratulating the group for the past weekend, no group member was arrested by the police.
The descriptions used by the CNG – unethical, misleading, misrepresentation – are not all valid and, in our opinion, will not be used if the weight of the evidence provided had been fully taken into account.
Elvis Kwashie
Managing Editor, JoyNews
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