The drastic reduction of indecent language use on radio, which reflected in the second quarter results of the Media Foundation West Africa (MFWA) language-use monitoring exercise, has been attributed to the demise of President John Evans Atta Mills.
The monitoring of language-use on radio by the MFWA is a project which aims at promoting decent language campaigning for the 2012 elections in Ghana.
Presenting the results at a press conference in Accra, the deputy director of MFWA, Sulemana Briama stated that the second quarter monitoring exercise, from July 15 to August 11, 2012, recorded significantly less number of indecent language-use in the media as compared to the first quarter.
According to MFWA, this conclusion was based on the weekly results that were gathered from the week before the death of the President to the week of the final funeral rites and burial (July 15-August 11).
In their presentation, indecent expressions on radio during the week before the death of the President was relatively high (20); however, upon the announcement of the President’s death, the incidence of indecent expressions began to decline steadily.
According to the results, the number reduced from 20 to 8. During the one-week of mourning, the number of indecent expressions reduced to five, and then further reduced to one during the final funeral rites of the President.
“Thus in general, the sobriety in mood and the political atmosphere that followed the announcement of the death resulted in some level of decorum in language-use on radio,” he stated.
The MFWA did not only attribute the steady decline of indecent expressions only to the demise of President Mills but also informed that the decline could be as a result of the professionalism with which a lot of radio hosts or presenters moderated their programmes.
In concluding the presentation, the MFWA commended the moderators and Ghanaians in general for the decorous way in which comments were made and discussions conducted during the period of mourning the late President.
“We encourage all Ghanaians to continue this trend of decency in our political discourse in order to ensure a peaceful, free and fair election in December 2012,” he stated.
Source: The Finder
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