President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Affail Monney, says Ghanaian journalists are underappreciated for the effort they put into promoting peace in the country.
He made these comments at the back of the announcement by NCA that 133 radio stations have been granted approval to return to the airwaves.
While he commended the NCA for taking this step, he recalled when some radio stations were shut down; making it difficult for people to express themselves through radio.
In his opinion, the media provides “non-violent means” of expressing one’s self thereby promoting peace in the country.
“One credit they don’t give to journalists which we need to articulate all the time is that they promote peace in the country. The various media outlets provide non-violent channels for people to ventilate their concerns and as such they promote peace,” he told Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show aired on Happy98.9FM.
Highlighting the importance of the media in the promotion of peace, he shared this comparison: “Who would have thought that Libya would be destroyed today? This was because Libya was a monopolistic state where people could not express their views. But here in Ghana, even with the LGBTQ+ issue, everyone is expressing their views on the issue and that way we resolve our issue in a non-violent manner. So, with the peace that Ghana enjoys, the chunk of the credit should go to the Ghanaian media.”
The Governing Board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) has approved the licenses of some 133 radio stations to operate in the country.
A statement from the NCA said the stations include those whose licences were revoked after an audit in 2017 which affected Radio Gold and Radio XYZ.
The approval, according to the statement, is “subject to the applicants attending a sensitisation workshop on the terms and conditions of FM radio broadcasting authorisations.”
