The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned GHOne television for broadcasting pornographic film on live TV.
GHOne television station reportedly broadcast the hardcore pornographic material on Thursday, April 9, 2020, on its late night adult show, Duvet.
GJA in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Kofi Yeboah, says it was “deeply concerned about the broadcasting of the said pornographic material on live television programme, as it is ethically reprehensible, culturally repulsive and morally repugnant.”
GHOne, is an Accra-based television station belonging to the EIB Group.
“Although it is an adult show, broadcasting images of naked sex on live television with wide coverage across the country is offensive to the sensibilities of viewers and totally unacceptable,” GJA says.
“Moreover, the timing of airing the programme to coincide with the Nation Broadcast by the President to give an update on Ghana’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, was absolutely wrong,” it added.
GJA has therefore urged GHOne and other media outlets to always uphold high ethical standards in line with professional guidelines.
“In the context of the GHOne case, we wish to particularly draw the attention of media houses to Article 24 of the GJA Code of Ethics, which provides that: ‘A journalist shows good taste, avoids vulgarity and the use of indecent language and images’.
“We further urge media houses to abide by other ethical codes of the profession, including Section 7(e) of the National Media Commission (NMC) Broadcasting Guidelines, which provides that: ‘Actual sexual intercourse between humans should at no time be transmitted'”.
The GJA has noted the apology rendered by the management of the EIB Group to the NMC and the general public, as well as assurance given by management to sanction the erring staff in that regard and a promise to sin no more, it stated.
“These proactive steps taken, demonstrate good faith by management to accept blame and mend the trust and credibility damage the station may have suffered in the eyes of the public as a result of such indiscretion.”
“We hope the measures being taken towards ensuring administrative sanction and production sanctity will be thorough and encompassing in order to curb the recurrence of such ethical breaches in the future.”
By Melvin Tarlue