Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that a media house can choose to be partisan and unprofessional in their ways as much as politicians can resort to drag them to appropriate quarters or call them out through other channels.
According to Gabby, aggrieved parties can either go to court and sue for whatever reliefs or report such media houses to the National Media Commission (NMC).
He adds that if an aggrieved party refuses to take the two formal options, they have three others, to boycott the channel, to enjoy the programme or to tune out.
His comments come in the wake of an invasion of privately-owned UTV by hooligans affiliated with the NPP, on October 7; which incident has been condemned by the party and government even though widespread condemnation of the invasion has festered.
“A radio station or TV show has no obligation to be impartial. In fact some even choose to lie and insult. You may call them out, complain to NMC or sue them. But, you can’t FORCE them to be fair. Endure, enjoy or tune out!” Gabby wrote in a Facebook post dated October 9, 2023.
The NPP hooligans went to the station to protest the manner in which an entertainment show had become political and was always bashing government because of the perceived panel composition.
The United Showbiz programme had been the subject of controversy after the NPP wrote to UTV to reform the programme.
A copy of their letter was ripped on live TV by panelist A Plus, in part triggering the invasion which led to the arrest of 16 people who have since been bailed.
In a related post, Gabby said any media outfit reserves the right to use its platform to attack political parties at the risk of losing its credibility.
“A TV station is always free to use its platform(s) to attack a political party without giving that party a right to reply. Yea, if that station is ok losing credibility in the eyes of Ghanaians. The party has every right to call that station out, loudly but decently,” he added.
ghanaweb.com
