The National Communication Authority (NCA) has inaugurated a Broadcasting Monitoring Centre (BMC) in Accra to monitor broadcast content by media houses across the country.
The new BMC which was inaugurated yesterday November 29, 2022, will help improve the NCA’s duty to fully monitor the broadcast content and make sure contents do not violate the authorities’ policies.
In 2021, there was widespread public concern about the negative repercussions of the ritualists’ content on television stations that entertained spiritualists as well as charlatanic advertisements which mislead large sections of the public.
In view of this the Director General of NCA, Mr Joe Anokye prompted stakeholders to brainstorm on ideas and ways to deal with the issue.
The NCA in line with its mandate under section 62 of the Electronic Communications Act 2008, Act 775, has the power to monitor and make sure contents from television and radio stations are of high quality and human friendly.
The Board Chairman of NCA, Mr Isaac E. Osei-Bonsu (Jnr), said the BMC would “provide a classic example of how the provision of systems or solutions by one Agency could be useful and critical for the other Agencies.”
He said the BMC would provide information to the various agencies when needed for investigations, and verification, and provide a digital plug for the recording and storing of broadcasting content in a digital manner and format.
“Again, the BMC also shows how State Agencies can collaborate and harness each other’s systems, solutions and data to impact on their delivery without having to face obstacles or hurdles when sourcing for information critical to their work”
Mr Osei-Bonsu (Jnr) said until 2018, monitoring the quality of broadcasting services required human intervention which was phased out due to the implementation of the Broadcast Monitoring System.
Mr Joe Anokye said the NCA last year signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the National Media Commission to regulate Broadcast Content which had helped in establishing the BMC to provide the required technical support for the objectives of the Memorandum of Cooperation.
Mr Anokye said the new system had 16 satellite receivers and monitors, all 13 satellites providing Free to Air (FTA) satellite TV services over the territory.
The Executive Secretary of NMC, Dr George Sarpong, commended NCA for setting up the BMC and was optimistic that it would help promote the broadcasting of good content to accelerate national development.
