Sam George vows to clean up the media space

The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, has announced plans for a major “clean-up” of Ghana’s media space.

The sector minister also warned that media houses airing content harmful to public safety risk losing their broadcasting licences.

“If you (media house)are engaged in showing things that are inimical to public safety, we will serve you a warning. If you fail to heed it, we will withdraw your licence. I will suspend licenses of media houses that do not take into consideration the right things,” Mr. George said in a radio interview with Joy FM on Tuesday morning, August 12, 2025, monitored by Today.com.gh.

Referring to some television stations that have been airing content detrimental to children, he said that if the National Media Commission (NMC) does not act, the National Communications Authority (NCA) under his ministry would intervene.

“The National Media Commission must be told to sit up and work,” he said.

He explained that while the NMC has the constitutional mandate to review content, the spectrum used to broadcast such material falls under the NCA’s authority. “When as Minister for Communication, I see some of these things and I try to act using the NCA, then you will have some people come and say Sam George is acting in excess of his powers, this is content which needs to be reviewed by the NMC,” he said.

He added: “But that content is streamed using a national resource, spectrum, which we regulate at the NCA under the ministry. Now, when we give you a frequency authorisation, you can check, there is a clause that the NCA reserves the right to suspend or revoke your licence authorisation in the interest of national security and public safety.”

Highlighting the dangers of irresponsible broadcasting, Mr. George cited an incident in which a 17-year-old sexual abuse victim was exposed on air without protection of her identity. “So when a media house put a 17-year-old minor who has been abused sexually for ten years, meaning from when she was seven years, without even taking the requisite steps to even protect her identity, and put her in the same room with the person who has been abusing her and turns it into a public comedy, my colleague Gender Minister will act to protect the rights of that minor but I will also act, to take that media house off air,” he said.

He stressed that enforcement would start with warnings and escalate to licence suspension or withdrawal for persistent violations. “Because you see it is about public safety and that is why I have said very soon. We’ve done some work with the telecom companies, we are dealing with DSTV at the moment, the next one is going to be a proper clean up of the media space,” he added.

Mr. George also referenced previous cases, including the 2021 Kasoa incident where two minors allegedly killed a friend after being influenced by televised money-ritual content, condemning such broadcasts alongside sexually explicit programming aired during afternoon and early evening hours.

“That is not why we gave you the licence authorisation. That is not information. That is not education. That is not entertainment. That is an abuse of the innocence of our children,” he said.

He recalled that his ministry had previously suspended between 62 and 64 media houses before a presidential amnesty was granted.