The National Media Commission (NMC), in collaboration with the media, is preparing to deploy a special
Mobile Application to monitor the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in December
- This is for election incidence capturing, media monitoring, fake news and disinformation analysis.
The mobile application to be known as “Election Watch App” would be made available to some
journalists from some registered media houses who would subscribe to the Application as well as some
members of the general public for the purposes of the 2020 election.
This, according to the National Media Commission, is to ensure that the upcoming election in the
country is free, fair, and transparent.
The Election Watch App, which was developed by a locally sourced technology solutions company, Soft
Masters, would for instance store videos submitted to the platform by subscribers and put them in a
database which would be peer reviewed and authenticated to prevent the spread of fake news and
disinformation.
According to the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission, George Sarpong, said his outfit
has decided to use the mobile application to monitor the elections this year and also to collaborate with
media houses because, it would widen the scope of monitoring the 2020 elections than in previous
years where the NMC did it alone.
“The reason why we want to open up our election monitoring and the Election Watch App to the media
and the public is to ensure transparency, and its credibility.” The Executive Secretary explained.
He made this known at a meeting where the Mobile Application was introduced to the media fraternity
including members of the Private Newspaper and online Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) at a
short ceremony on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, held at the Conference room of the Local Government
Services Secretariat in Accra.
He added that, the reason why the Commission decided to take up all the cost involved in the
development and deployment of the App by itself without seeking any funding from any entities with
direct interest in the elections, “is that we didn’t want to confuse anyone.”
The registration and the use of the App does not come with a cost for users, especially media
organizations which would depend on to authenticate videos related to the elections from different
parts of the country before they broadcast.
The App has an ability to check disinformation with accurate time checks and location identification
features to ensure authenticity of election related videos.
Source: Clement Akoloh||africanewsradio.com
