The National Media Commission (NMC) has launched a state of the art internet-based application, the Ghana Media Watch App.
The application, which will be available for download from App Store and iOS on Monday 16th of November, 2024, is designed to ensure transparency and authenticity of news and media contents as well as help protect journalists from abuse, especially during the conduct of the 2024 elections.
Executive Secretary of NMC, Mr. George Sarpong, delivering his opening remarks at the launch shared that the Ghanaian society has now become very susceptible to information distortion. This he says, has heightened in the lead up to the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. According to him, apart from misinformation and disinformation, Ghanaians are threatened again by what “experts describe as FIMI, Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference”.
Mr. Sarpong said there is an imperative for a sustainable intervention that deals with the threat of information distortion which has now become the poisoned currency of the digital world.
“What is good about our situation is that the threats are equally matched by the collective resolve of key players in the media industry to protect the integrity of our information space”, Mr. Sarpong suggested further that media stakeholders should collaborate to ensure the Ghanaian public is protected from information distortion which is lethal to Ghana’s thriving democracy.
To engender inclusivity in sustaining the operations and ensuring its effectiveness, NMC’s Executive Secretary, entreated key stakeholders, including CDD – Ghana, Media Foundation for West Africa, Fact-Checkers Society of Ghana and other media related associations to contribute through the sharing of information.
The Ghana Media Watch application enables both journalists and the public to capture and submit relevant audio and video contents worthy of sharing which are automatically time-stamped and geo-marked to ensure authenticity. Information will be vetted to determine whether it is worth sharing or demands immediate response from other agencies including security services.
Mr. Sarpong shared the application will greatly help, when appropriately deployed, during the 2024 general elections and thus admonished Ghanaians, especially, journalists to download the app when it is officially made available on App Store and iOS.
Sefah-Danquah
