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The Supreme Court court has struck out the law requiring media owners to seek content approval from the National Media Commission (NMC) before airing or publicising them.

According to the court, the regulation which requires media owners to apply for content authorisation, submit programme guide and content for approval or in default pay a fine or serve between two and five years in jail term, amounts to censorship, and is therefore unconstitutional.

The justices further added that, the NMC was to provide guidelines and not sensor content.

The judgment follows a suit by the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), which specifically prayed the apex court to expunge regulations 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 22 of the NMC (Content Standards) Regulations 2015 (LI 2224), insisting that it was inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution which guarantees unfettered media freedom.

The President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Akwasi Agyeman, had explained that their decision to drag the National Media Commission (NMC) to the Supreme Court over the new media law, was not an attempt to embarrass the commission.

According to him, the move was to seek interpretation of some clauses in the new law which they disagreed with.