Certificates for 50 new publication

FIFTY new newspapers and magazines yesterday received certificates from the National Media Commission (NMC) to enable them to operate in various parts of the country.
The newspapers and magazines will focus on general news, sports, business, fashion, education and religion, among other issues.
Among the publishers is a the 83 year-old former Editor of the Ghanaian Times, Mr Kwame Gyau Kyem, who was given a certificate to publish “The Fortune Hunters”.
In addition to the presentation of the certificates, the NMC in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation organised a seminar for owners and editors of newspapers on the theme: The Role of the Media in Ghana’s Democracy: Responsible Journalism, Media Accountability and Standards”.
In an address, the Chairman of the NMC, Ambassador Kabral Blay Amihere, said journalists could do well to their profession, if they refused to serve as footnotes to the ambitions of politicians and other interest groups.
He said it was wrong for journalists to walk in the shadows of others when society expected them to set a positive agenda.
Ambassador Blay-Amihere reminded journalists to, at all times, be guided by the code of ethics of journalism.
Touching on the theme, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Professor Kwame Karikari, called on the NMC and National Communications Authority (NCA) to establish a monitoring centre to monitor the activities of radio stations.
He said such monitoring mechanism would help in the identification of recalcitrant radio stations which encouraged insults and other anti-social comments on air for possible withdrawal of their licences.
Professor Karikari sensitised the participants to political responsibility, social responsibility, professional responsibility, legal responsibility, among others.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, said the seminar was significant, since it would help the media practitioners to be mindful of their responsibilities to society.
He also called on Ghanaians journalists not to devote all their time to politics but concentrate more on issues of development for the benefit of the majority of the people.
The Programmes Co-ordinator of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Mr Danaa Nantongmah, stated that the foundation was committed to encouraging independent media, since it was critical to good governance.
A representative of the Private Newspapers Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), Nii Laryea Sowah, advised private newspaper owners to employ qualified editors and also a sizeable number of reporters of which the owner could pay adequately.
The Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr George Sarpong, sensitised the participants to the NMC Act, registration of newspapers and the work of the Complaints Settlement Committee of the NMC.
Speaking on behalf of the incoming publishers, Mr Gyau Kyem advised journalists, especially editors, to act professionally so that society would always remember them for their good deeds.