NMC ADVOCATES FOR MORE TIME FOR EC
The National Media Commission, NMC has called for intensive media coverage for the activities of the Electoral Commission and the issues involved in the electoral process, ahead of the December 7 general elections.
According to the Commission, it is about time the media, especially,
the radio stations, which were more accessible to the electorates, gave
prominence to educating the people on the electoral process as the country
geared towards the polls.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, George
Sarpong, was presenting the election monitoring report of the Commission for
the Ashanti Region from August to November this year, in Kumasi.
Mr. Sarpong
said the media in the region had been giving much attention to political party
activities as against that of the EC and its activities.
He therefore urged
radio stations to channel a lot of airtime to the coverage of programmes of the
EC. He said political parties speak for themselves and not about general issues
that affect the electorate.
However, for
journalists and media practitioners to gain proper understanding of the
procedures with regard to elections, they must consider the relationship
between the EC and their respective media organizations in terms of coverage.
Mr.
Sarpong said there appears to be a discord between matters of public interest
and what the media prefer to talk about, which was not in line with the
standard of media professionalism.
Similarly, there is a huge gender disparity
in media coverage and issues that promote women and children.
The report also
showed a divide between which issues the media cover and which issues matter
most to the public.
According to the report, the five most important issues for
the electorate are education, health, employment, agriculture and women and
children.
The top five issues covered by the media were however the electoral
process, party dynamics, the national economy and corruption.
The Chairman of
the NMC, Kwasi Gyan Apenteng explained that the election monitoring report was
to enable the Commission and all stakeholders to understand the media trends
and identify which aspects of media reportage was lacking.
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