Respected thought leader and former Unilever Executive Vice President, Yaw Nsarkoh, has raised alarm over the deteriorating standards in Ghana’s media landscape, warning that the unchecked decline in professionalism and ethics poses a grave threat to the country’s democracy.

Delivering an occasional lecture at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mr Nsarkoh criticised what he described as the media’s alarming descent into “a realm where profanity, pornography, personalised abuse and invective” have become disturbingly commonplace.

While reiterating the essential role of media freedom in a healthy democracy, he emphasised the urgent need for such freedom to be balanced with responsibility and professionalism.

“We are approaching a social explosion,” Mr Nsarkoh warned. “Media freedom must be matched by a distinct sense of professionalism.”

He attributed the current media crisis in part to the unchecked proliferation and fragmentation of media outlets, noting the surge from zero private stations in the early 1990s to over 700 authorised outlets today.

“How much can they invest in recruitment, training, and development?” he questioned. “The result is a collapse in standards, with partisan voices and serial callers drowning out meaningful dialogue.”

Mr Nsarkoh further criticised the continued existence of outdated legislation that restricts private media from achieving national coverage, accusing politicians of preserving structures they once fought against.

“Ironically, the very democrats who fought against such authoritarian structures have retained them to manipulate public opinion in our Santa Claus Democracy,” he charged.

He also tackled the National Media Commission (NMC), urging the regulator to reclaim its authority following what he described as a regulatory retreat after the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case involving independent broadcasters.

“The regulatory retreat has ushered in a wilderness of chaos,” he said. “What we need now is not an Orwellian state, but a fair and effective media regulator capable of restoring professional discipline.”

Mr Nsarkoh called on the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and other civic institutions to spearhead efforts to restore integrity to the media, warning that without deliberate reforms, “the entire country is the loser.”

The lecture forms part of Mr Nsarkoh’s wider critique of Ghana’s governance culture, which he labels a “Santa Claus Democracy”—a system driven by patronage, partisanship, and short-term thinking.

“If we do not fix our media, we risk undermining the very foundations of our democratic experiment,” he cautioned.