CNG's "Militia at the Heart of the Nation" Decision Makes Confusion – MFWA

General News of Thursday, July 25, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-07-25

According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the decision of the National Media Commission on the dispute between the government and Joy News regarding the broadcast of a documentary revealing the existence of a group of militiamen at Christiansborg Castle in Osu is confusing.

The CNG has decided that Joy News's documentary on the D-Eye group's presence at Christiansborg Castle is in the public interest, but cites some aspects as sensational.

In March of this year, the government filed a complaint to the commission against Joy News requesting a retraction and an apology.

The Commission did not grant the reliefs.

However, the documentary recounting the activities of so-called self-defense groups in the country made part of the story misleading.

The 30-minute broadcast described how the specter of violent vigilance had almost overshadowed the partial election of Ayawaso Wuogon.

But the CNG said that since the D-Eye group was not responsible for the disturbances, it was wrong to include it in the documentary.

The NMC, however, baderted that she "found the presence in the D-Eye group castle problematic and unacceptable".

Commenting on the decision, MFWA Executive Director Sulemana Braimah said the decision did not fully address the key issues presented to the Commission.

"The question is, what is the connection between the timing of their release and whether or not the documentary has an badociation with the president? The three areas in which the complaints were determined did not contain any breach of ethics.

"This does not mean that if there were ethical problems, it was important that the Commission address the issue, but that should have been said," he said.

He said the NMC decision on the issue was not helpful.

"I do not think it's easy to guide journalists and those in the media industry in making decisions on similar issues," he said.

In the meantime, the government welcomed the decision.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said: "We hold Multimedia in high esteem … we opposed a particular job that was published. We are pleased that the key issues we have raised have been deemed true by the Commission. "

Joy News editor Elvis Kwashie also said that the Multimedia group accepted the CNG's decision but did not agree with it.

"We respect the Commission and accept the decision but we do not agree. There is something in the decision that says we tied the president to the operations of the D-Eye group. We do not have it. All we did was say that the group leader had worked with the president while he was not president. This is the only measure in which the president has entered this conversation. Was the work a false statement? No, he says.