The first public forum with the NMC was on the topic "How Much of the Public Officer's Private Life is Public?" This forum attracted very senior media practitioners. Amongst them were the Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the General Manager of the Graphic Communication Group, the Editor of the Ghanaian Times and a lot of other senior journalists from the private print and electronic media. The two panellists - an academic and a practitioner both agreed that public officers largely do not have private lives so long as their conducts have implications for the performance of their public functions. They argued that the media should constantly put the lives of public officers under scrutiny so as to hold them to account for their stewardship. But they should be careful not to endanger the reputation of many good public officials all in the name of holding them accountable. Participants also supported the views of the panellists but lamented the poor journalistic practice that is creeping into the profession.
They called for a stronger role of the National Media Commission to enable it regulate and sanction media houses that violate their professional ethics.
Ghana's democracy is said to be growing from strength to strength and this is evidenced by the growing confidence in the electoral system and the civic awareness that the media has been helping to create. The media which is often christened "the fourth estate of the realm" has seen enormous expansion and growth since the inception of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution. The National Media Commission (NMC) is the constitutionally mandated body to regulate the media environment and see to the promotion of high journalistic standard and a free and vibrant media in Ghana. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation in partnership with the NMC initiated these Stakeholders Meetings to help the media share experiences and critically examine their role in ensuring that the December elections are held in a peaceful manner.
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