The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has rated ‘indecency’ as the top-most violated ethical principles in the Ghanaian media.
‘Indecency’, according to the publication released by the MFWA yesterday, is the publishing or broadcasting language, expressions or pictures that are free from obscenity.
The Foundation said out of the 1,762 violations recorded for the period of June – December 2020, under its Media Monitoring Project, 883 which is more than 50% of the violations, were infractions related to the use of indecent language, expressions, or pictures in the media.
“One would have thought that given the critical role the media plays in engendering popular participation and the impact it has on the country’s democracy, peace and stability, the principle of decency would be the most valued.
“On the contrary, Decency is the most abused ethical principle in the media. Out of the 1,762 violations recorded for the period, 883 which is more than 50% of the violations were infractions related to the use of indecent language, expressions or pictures in the media.”
Aside indecent language, four other most violated ethical principles in the Ghanaian media were Inaccuracies, Offending Good Taste and Public Sensibilities, Prejudice and Stereotyping and Mixing Facts with Opinions.
Verification is one of the most hailed virtues of journalism, without which the practice loses its significance.
On Inaccuracies, the MFWA published that “verification is one of the most hailed virtues of journalism, without which the practice loses its significance.
“However, publication of factual inaccuracies, unverified claims and unsubstantiated allegations are becoming a bane in the media.
“Accuracy is the second most abused principle of the media. Out of the 1,762 violations recorded in the period of monitoring, 407 (23%) were infractions of the principle of Accuracy.”
On the principle of Good Taste and Public Sensibilities, the publication indicated that media practitioners are enjoined to publish content that does not provoke public displeasure, elicit public disgust, or the feeling of outrage.
“Nonetheless, over the period of the monitoring 246 (14%) incidents offending the principle of Good Taste and Public Sensibilities were recorded, the third most abused principle. Six out of 10 of these violations were recorded on news websites.”
Similarly, the ninth article of the Global Charter of the Ethics for Journalists states that “Journalists shall ensure that the dissemination of information or opinion does not contribute to hatred or prejudice and shall do their utmost to avoid facilitating the spread of discrimination on grounds such as geographical, social or ethnic origin, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, disability, political and other opinions.
“On the contrary, prejudicing and stereotyping remain one of the main ethical sins of Ghanaian media, the fourth most violated. A total of 95 incidents of prejudice and stereotyping were recorded within the period of monitoring. These stereotypes and prejudices bordered on gender, ethnicity, social and political discriminations’, the MFWA publication stated.
On the issue of mixing facts and opinion, the publication noted that this violation was mostly recorded on news bulletins and talk shows where news anchors and show hosts were noted to be spinning facts and adding subjective commentaries while presenting news stories.
“The monitoring also observed the penchant of news anchors to intersperse the material facts of news stories with unnecessary jokes and embellishments, sometimes leading to the dousing of the severity of new stories.”
The Foundation made some few recommendations that it believed would improve the situation.
To Editors, the MFWA urged them to institute zero-tolerance to certain unethical statements, particularly prejudicial and stereotypical comments that border on ethnicity, as such comments can inflame tensions and incite people to violence.
“Editors of the various media organisations are encouraged to develop practical editorial policies and standards where it is absent or ensure strict adherence to them where such policies exist.”
To Media owners, the Foundation encouraged them to subject their organisations to the general ethical principles and guidelines that bind the media irrespective of their political affiliations.
The National Media Commission must continuously monitor and invite media owners, hosts and journalists to dialogue and build consensus on upholding professional standards, the MFWA said.
The post Indecency tops media ‘sins’ in Ghana -MFWA appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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