Collection Of T.V. License Resistance

T.V license fees the world over at least in countries where there are best practices such as the United Kingdom, are not collected because of what the audience watch or listen to on public broadcasting services.  

Indeed T.V. license fees are collected from owners of T.V. sets just as anyone who owns a car ought to get a license from the DVLA. 

It does also not mean that by charging T.V. licence fees any member of the audience is being forced to listen to or watch programmes aired by the public broadcaster, in the case of Ghana, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, GBC. 

Therefore those commercial radio presenters and pressure groups mounting a campaign against the collection of T.V license fees have gone over the bar.  

They are exhibiting gross ignorance about why T.V license fees are charged.  

More so, to try and politicise it means such people and groups either misunderstand the need for T.V license or are being mischievous.  

To also say that T.V license fee is another IMF cost push measure is a shame. These characters must also be told that GBC is not in competition with any commercial radio or television station.  

It is a public broadcaster which by law cannot engage in commercial activity and the pettiness and inaccuracies being perpetuated on the listing and viewing public by way of commercialisation.  

Indeed GBC is made up of reputable professional broadcasters who can stand their own and maybe teach the unprofessional upstarts a thing about broadcasting and its ethics.  It is sad when those who should know better, hide behind politics to visit untruths and pure lies on the public.  

To boot, GBC is the only broadcast organisation which shows fairness and objectivity instead of the stewed broadcasts from some commercial radio and television stations.  

Those leading the howls against T.V. license fee collection should tell Ghanaians how many times GBC has had to retract false stories and beg for forgiveness.   

We don't do that in GBC because we know that credibility suffers when we churn out half-truths and damaging rumours.  

What those howling hoarse should understand is that the collection of T.V license fee has the backing of parliament, the legislative body of the land and as such it is mandatory on every T.V set owning Ghanaian to pay T.V licence. 

Besides there are sanctions attached to non-payment of the fees backed by law. Therefore calls for a resistance against the payment of T.V license fees are criminal, unpatriotic and a plain waste of time of the ears and time of the public. Those pushing this agenda must be ashamed of themselves.

They must rather sit down and devise scientific political marketing programmes to help their political party of choice to win power. To hide behind a legitimate parliamentary act to pursue a political agenda is doomed to fail.  One other ridiculous claim is that GBC has never covered any programmes of a particular pressure group.  

Those saying this are either not in Ghana or never listens or views GBC radio and T.V Programmes. Radio Ghana and GTV news have covered news conferences, marches and other events of this particular pressure group.  

What this group plans to do by resisting the collection of T.V. license fees has nothing positive about it.  

It is a very negative defiance. Spare GBC the petty and infantile politicking. Rather let’s talk about how to help the people of Ghana understand their civic responsibilities be it the need to pay taxes for development or how to be civil in the conduct of politics and democracy.  

We don't need any negative defiance, we need thinkers and problem solvers not people who howl for howling sake.

By Teye Kitcher a broadcast journalist