TV services may be transmitted over cable, terrestrial wireless, or satellite platforms.
Some of these broadcasting TV stations have come into being within the last two decades as the country undergoes radical transformation, which also helps in the promotion and deepening of democracy and citizen participation in governance and development.
Broadcasting Bill
Until the commencement of the 1992 Constitution, the media landscape was characterised by the domination of state-owned media, and broadcasting was a state monopoly.
The fundamental legal framework for broadcasting and for the mass media, in general, has undergone a radical transformation with the commencement of the Constitution.
This new legal framework is premised on the guarantee of the right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media in article 21 (1) (a) and the right to information in article 21 (1) (f).
The Ministry of Communications in 2012, therefore, organised a forum to bring all stakeholders together to further discuss the draft Broadcasting Bill to clarify some issues raised after the Bill was earlier submitted to the Attorney General's Department for advice.
The draft Bill provides a legal and regulatory framework that ensures that persons entrusted with a scare and critical public resource like the radio spectrum, operated in a manner that safeguards public order, public morality, national security and generally uses the resources in the best public interest.
It seeks to improve the falling standards in Ghana's electronic media sector and ensure that it starts to embrace modern best practices.
The Attorney-General went through the draft Bill and raised issues for clarifications which included the Constitutionality of the Bill, the Relationship between the NCA and the National Media Commission (NMC), the validity period for the Broadcasting authorisation, Provision of Content Regulations as well as Television Receiving Set Licence Fee.
Other issues also raised were Comprehensive review of Public Service Broadcaster, Renewal of Broadcasting Authorisation, Emergency Powers of Governments, and the Provisions on Content Regulation.
In November 2019, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah announced that Ghana's new Broadcasting Bill will be laid before the Parliament in January 2020.
He declared that the government intended to pass the bill before the end of 2020 but nothing was heard.
The current Broadcasting Bill that is the guideline was drafted back in 2012.
Despite the improvements in Ghana's media freedom, there has reportedly been dissatisfaction in some areas about the absence of transparency in spectrum frequency allocation by the NCA, the failure of the NMC in punishing deviant media houses and journalists, as well as the growing tendency of the broadcasting of pornographic materials and offensive language by the media.
Bill to deal with money doublers, spiritualists on TV
The Broadcasting Bill when passed into law can help regulators in Ghana's media space to deal with the issue of spiritualists, money doublers, and fraudsters who advertise their activities on television.
Kasoa murder
This follows the discussion on the kind of content shown on many of Ghana's television channels following the murder of an 11-year-old boy allegedly by two teenagers at Lamptey Mills, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region.
Reports indicated that the two teenagers planned to use the deceased for a money ritual after contacting a traditional priest.
Many are of the view that the teenagers conceived the thought of money ritual after watching spiritualists and traditional priests advertising their claimed ability to make people instantly rich.
According to police documents, the two teenagers were inspired to carry out the crime after watching a spiritualist on TV talking about how he could make people rich.
Information Minister assures
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah is of the view that there are existing laws that can deal with them.
Oppong-Nkrumah said the Broadcasting Law currently being worked on will address any remaining loopholes existing law in the country.
The Bill has been in Parliament since 2012 and only God knows when legislators will pass the Bill into law to avoid such occurrences.
Pulse Editor's Opinion is the opinion of an editor of Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the organization Pulse.