The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has the lion’s share of media coverage between August and November 2016, the latest release of the National Media Commission’s media monitoring report has revealed.
The NDC pulled 47 per cent of media coverage as against 31 per cent for the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) while the Electoral Commission (EC) managed four per cent.
“Going forward, the media in Ghana need to be aware of the risks that we take towards our democracy if we continue on this path of neglecting the issues that are of concern to the people. This is what the politicians find very sexy – how they are covered. And we want to explain here that in this particular exercise…what we are actually assessing is the access that is granted these parties. It is not just about what the media are saying about the political parties, but the amount of time measured in seconds and minutes that is given to the political parties. So if we put the 44 radio and eight television stations in Accra, NDC is getting 47 per cent of the coverage and NPP getting 31 per cent,” NMC Executive Secretary George Sarpong said while making public the findings of the report.
“…The Electoral Commission is the institution that has the responsibility for the conduct of the elections, the rules governing the elections, the processes, procedures, eligibility of candidates, and electoral boundaries, so if they get squeezed out, chances are people get to understand very little of the rules and processes and procedures involved in the election.”
Speaking to Class News, the Chairman of the NMC, Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, described the trend as rather worrying and questioned why political parties would be given more media coverage at the expense of the electoral body.
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