A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has reacted to the invasion of the studios of Accra-based United Television during its popular live entertainment show by a group of young men alleged to be members of the party.
According to him, no media house has an obligation to be impartial in its broadcasting. However, the outspoken politician insisted that they could be sued for their excesses or reported to the National Media Commission (NMC).
In a Facebook post on Monday, Mr Asare Otchere-Darko urged aggrieved persons to use the appropriate channels to address their grievances.
“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!”
This was after a group of young men barged into the studios of UTV during the station’s prime time entertainment show, ‘United Showbiz’ temporarily disrupting the show and threatening to beat up the host and her guests on live television.
According to them, the show had become a platform where the government has consistently been unfairly criticised in an unprofessional manner, to the point that a letter from the NPP to the management of UTV to reform the United Showbiz, was torn apart live on air by political activist, Kwame A Plus, a regular panellist of the show.
Many individuals and institutions have condemned the incident.
According to the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the act was both “barbaric and medieval, and it is very much consistent with the building blocks in recent times to establish a state of impunity against the media, one that is worse than the infamous ‘Culture of Silence’.”
“We wish to inform such evil minds, both orchestrators and actors, that the media in Ghana have survived all forms of clampdown in the past, even under dictatorial regimes, and that we shall never be intimidated or silenced by any form of attack,” the statement from GJA added.
However, the National Youth Organiser of the party, Salam Mustapha, has confirmed that all the young men who invaded the media house are known members of the party.
Speaking on Ghana’s leading current affairs show on radio, Ekosiisen on Monday, October 9, Salam Mustapha told the host Osei Bonsu [Alias OB], that it would be disingenuous on his part to deny the affiliation of the young men to the NPP.
He, however, explained that the party did not sanction the actions of the youth, comprising of constituency youth organizers and a Deputy Greater Accra Youth Organiser.
“OB, I can’t be on this platform and claim that I don’t know them. All those in the video I know them. And I can confirm that some of them are constituency youth organisers, and one is a Deputy Regional Youth Organiser [Greater Accra]. They are the guys that I work with, and so I cannot deny their bona fide membership to the New Patriotic Party. As for that, I cannot lie on this platform. They’re NPP members that I work with, and I can state emphatically that I know them” he noted.
Asked whether the Deputy Youth Organiser among them was currently acting as the Greater Accra NPP Youth Organiser, Salam Mustapha said he could not confirm that since the regional executives were yet to inform the national level about any such changes.
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