The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has awarded Starr FM for excellent reportage during the 2016 general elections.
The flagship English-speaking radio station of the Excellence in Broadcasting Network was among 13 media houses in Ghana awarded for accuracy devoid of indecent language before, during and post-elections.
The Foundation consulted with eminent media professionals, team of researchers doing daily monitoring, coding and analysis of indecent expression on the various platforms before giving the award. Four radio stations in Accra received the awards with the other nine coming from the other regions.
The Managing News Editor for EIB Network, Eyram Bashan, expressed gratitude to the organizers and pledged EIB’s commitment to live up to the standards in the industry.
“We tried to go beyond just the information within the space to do facts checking, all our reporters were trained, they were empowered with the skills, the resources they needed to be able to offer credible, quality election information and it may have stood out for us to be considered for this award,” she said.
Meanwhile, media watchers are pushing for the immediate passage of the broadcasting bill into law and the Right to Information Bill. The founder of MFWA Prof. Kwame Karikari noted that the delay by Parliament in passing these bills is adversely affecting the ethics of the profession.
He also admonished media houses to internally regulate its work.
“We want the Parliament to pass the broadcasting law, we know the bill has been there for many years and we are hoping that the sector minister will introduce the broadcasting bill to parliament, so that bill will be discussed and passed appropriately. But to enhance the media work, we also think that the RTI bill should be passed into law”.
