Democracy thrives on mutual respect, let’s eschew hate speech – NMC

Mr George Sarpong, Executive Secretary, National Media Commission (NMC), has asked the citizenry to desist from using intemperate language and hate speech ahead of the December polls. He said that had become necessary because those negative tendencies were recipe for chaos.In a keynote address at a public forum on 'Countering Hate Speech, Polarising Narrative to foster Democratic Consolidation in Ghana', Mr Sarpong noted that people became skeptical of the fairness of elections and impartiality of government institutions when political leaders focused on ethnic or regional identities over national identity.He said hate speech and polarising narrative undermined social cohesion, incited violence, and eroded trust in social and political institutions.Mr Sarpong said if Ghana were to grow its young democracy and prevented the society from falling apart, then all citizens needed to show high level of tolerance because democracy thrived on mutual respect, dialogue, and peaceful coexistence of diverse group s.The Executive Secretary cited the social unrest in India as a result of Hindu-Muslim tensions years back, hate speech against the Rohingya Muslim in Myanmar, ethnic violence in Kenya in 2007 and the infamous Rwandan genocide as valuable lessons for Ghana. He said the citizens needed to know that the nature, scope and consequence of polarising narratives caused a much wider problem than politics and elections and accept basic moral rules in their communication. Mr Sarpong said the nature of the modern crisis of information integrity was that bigger foreign actors were behind the pervading of untruth on social media and other tools. 'They just highlight truthful content that is polarising and divisive, using algorithmic manipulations…so we need to understand the nexus between media, technology, peace building and how to respond to that,' he said.  The Executive Secretary called on the media to embrace balance and fairness as principles and foundation stone of ethical journalism.'In traditional jou rnalism, the requirement is that both sides of an issue are to be given fair and balanced coverage. If there is a conflict between the NDC and the NPP, a journalist would be fair and balanced if she covered their perspectives equally,' he said. The forum launched the National Multi Stakeholder Coalition Against Hate Speech and other Polarising Narratives.It was organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa.Source: Ghana News Agency