IMC condones unprofessional conducts

Special Commentary

IMC condones unprofessional conducts

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

The Independent Media Commission (IMC), charged with the responsibility of regulating the media, seems not to be doing its work effectively.

For the purpose of ensuring strict adherence to professional standards, all newspaper registrations are required to be scrutinized by the IMC before license to operate is issued.

Once owners of newspaper pass through all the registration stages, they now go on operating in total disregard for professional ethics. Simply because the IMC lacks what it takes to properly regulate or monitor the newspapers, proprietors and editors have been taking undue advantage of the situation.

A typical example is the Ariogbo Newspaper. In the application sheets of the said newspaper, no mention was made of the position of ‘Executive Editor’. What is contained therein is the position of ‘Editor’.

Take a look at the imprint of the Ariogbo Newspaper, and you’ll see for yourself the misuse of the title ‘Executive Editor’.

What is most disturbing is the fact that the holder of the said position, Abdul Karim Kabia (Fonti), has never been a full-fledged editor of any newspaper anywhere in the world and besides, that position applies only in a setting wherein there is a chain of editors performing different editorial tasks.

Unless the IMC considers such as a breach of trust and therefore an unprofessional and unacceptable conduct, more undeserving titles will continue to show up in newspaper imprints.

One area where the IMC has failed woefully is to ensure that newspapers stick to their signed editorial policies.

Again, a typical example in this regard is the Atomic Newspaper of Mohamed Bangura.

When the said newspaper was before the interviewing panel of the IMC to finalize its registration process, the proprietor made it abundantly clear that the newspaper will be non-political and professional.

Few months down the road after securing a license to operate, the said newspaper became fully political and unprofessional, with the IMC doing nothing about it.

Without the effective monitoring of the operations of newspapers, the relevance of the IMC becomes much undesired, especially given the current wave of media take-over by corporate entities.

With IMC now having a new head in the person of Rod Mac Johnson, it is only hoped that the institution will adopt a new direction if only to regain its much compromised glory.

So far, what we’ve seen the IMC embarking upon is nationwide training sessions on professional ethics. Whether the intention is skewed towards the per diems that normally go with such trips remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the issue of professional standards is not being handled or addressed holistically.

On several occasions, the IMC has been branded as a toothless bulldog that has no meaningful role to play insofar as transforming the media landscape in the country is concerned.

Let me end by stating that to whom much is given, much is expected. IMC has no option but to leave up to expectation.

Lonta!