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Two national regulatory bodies have threatened to sanction any media organisation that steps out of bounds of ethical and professional conduct in the run-up to the Supreme Court ruling on the election petition. In a move to safeguard the peace and security of the country before and after the Supreme Court ruling on the case, the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the National Media Commission (NMC), the institutions mandated to regulate media practice, say they will not tolerate the irresponsible use of any media platform. �Any media house which allows its platform to be used to incite people to conflict will be held fully responsible,� the Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr George Sarpong, said at a news conference jointly organised by the two regulatory bodies in Accra yesterday. Their statement was jointly signed by the Chairman of the NCA, Mr Kofi Totobi-Quakyi; the Chairman of the NMC, Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere; the Director-General of the NCA, Mr Paarock Van Percy, and Mr Sarpong. �The NMC and the NCA would like to assure the public that while every effort will be made to encourage professional practice in the media, the two institutions will not hesitate to take all appropriate measures within the law against any media house that does not comply with the terms of their broadcasting authorisation, the various guidelines of the NMC, the Code of Conduct of GIBA and the Code of Ethics of the GJA,� they said in the joint statement which was short in text but unequivocal in message. Action or rhetoric? Even before the two national regulators could wrap up what seemed to be the strongest caution they had ever issued jointly to the media, their reputation of �barking� more than �biting� in similar circumstances was flipped open by a journalist who questioned the potency underlining their latest admonition to the media. But the Executive Secretary of the NMC said with national peace and security at stake, it was a different ball game and urged the media to uphold the paramountcy of peace and stability in the country by guarding against inflammatory pronouncements �whose unintended consequences could be dire�. He would not be drawn into naming the specific sanctions that the NCA and the NMC intended to invoke against errant media organisations, except to say that the two bodies had a wide range of sanction options under the law, adding, �That is a carte blanche!� He said a joint consultative committee had been set up by the two institutions to monitor compliance by the media. Mr Sarpong said self-restraint must be the watch word for the media in this respect and urged them to be guided by the admonition of the Supreme Court on the need for greater circumspection. �The NMC and the NCA recognise that the media have a huge responsibility to help safeguard the peace that Ghanaians so dearly cherish,� he said. Protect national sovereignty Responding to questions from journalists, Mr Blay-Amihere cautioned the media not to drag the nation to the point where �we�ll be forced to take reciprocal measures�. �If we are compelled, in the supreme national interest, to act, we will act. If we had not done it in the past, that doesn't mean we will not do it,� he said. Mr Blay-Amihere asked the media to endeavour to retrieve the positive attitude they exhibited during the 2012 electioneering and expressed the hope that they would live up to expectation. �This is a call to all of us to protect the sovereignty of the nation. We have not failed the nation in the past and we will not fail it now,� he stated.