GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

B.A. IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES

LEVEL 100

INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA SYSTEMS

FIRST SEMESTER (2016/2017 ACADEMIC YEAR)

LECTURE NINE
SOCIO-POLITICAL ORIENTATION OF THE MEDIA IN GHANA

MR. PHILIP ATAWURA

INTRODUCTION

In lecture eight, we considered the critical political economy of the media in Ghana and that
of the media ownership structure in the country. We came to a conclusion that the media in
Ghana produces content that adds value to their financial status which have a long benefit
to the state through the paying of tax. Media content have now been viewed as
commodities sold in a Ghanaian competitive media landscape. The ownership structure of
media shows the patterns of media control and power sharing in the country. Now, we shall
look at the Socio-political orientation of the media in Ghana. Students should note that this
lecture note was extensively taken from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s
paper titled ‘The Ghanaian Media Landscape: How unethical practices of journalists
undermine progress’ by William Yaw Owusu in 2011/12. Hence, credit should be given
where necessary and part of the notes should not be reproduced for any other purpose
other than academia.

SOCIO-POLITICAL ORIENTATION OF THE MEDIA IN GHANA

In spite of the successes chalked up by the media, there is plenty of evidence around that
the media in Ghana are undergoing a serious credibility crisis. Journalism has recently
declined in public esteem. The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) - a local chapter of
Transparency International (TI) - in November 2011 ranked the media as one of the most
corrupt institutions in the country.

The public increasingly questions the credibility of newspapers, magazines, and broadcast
news. There is obvious public dissatisfaction with the performance of the media in the
increasingly diverse society of Ghana and this is summed up by the Vice President of the
Republic, John Dramani Mahama: “A cursory look at our media would seem like we are a
nation at war. Newspapers and radio stations are lined up in the political trenches with their
political allies or paymasters. Throwing printed and verbal grenades and taking pot shots at
the ‘enemy lines’, each side trying to outdo each other in inflicting maximum damage on the
perceived ‘enemies’.”
A growing public perception is that journalists are often arrogant, irresponsible, unfair,
biased and above all unethical while others go so far as to say that journalists have no
standards. Do these perceptions reflect reality? Can anyone blame the public for these
perceptions? In the view of many people, the repeal of the criminal libel law appears to
have opened the floodgates for irresponsible journalism.

The media and, for that matter, journalists are now having to grapple with complaints and
accusations of intrusion and invasions into people's privacy, libel, outrageous behaviour and
unprofessional conduct among other things. There have been instances where media
houses and journalists have been hauled before the law courts for defaming individuals and
organizations.

According to Ace Ankomah, a prominent legal practitioner and law lecturer, “close to 90 per
cent of libel cases at the Fast Track Court (specialised courts set up to speed up trials)
involve journalists and media houses.”

The media have also come under criticisms for fanning ethnic, religious, and most of all,
political tensions in the country. The use of insulting language by politicians and
sympathisers of political parties on radio and television has been cited as one of the abuses
of the media freedom.

The entrenched political stances taken by some journalists appear to be the main source of
worry for many Ghanaians. Expressing concern about the conduct of the media, Mr.
Mahama16 had this to say: “The recent Wikileaks cables have accentuated the media
warfare. Nothing matters any more. Reprinting the juiciest gossips from the US Embassy
cables provides a media that was already polarized on partisan lines, enough ammunition
and firepower to pound one's opponents for the rest of the year”.

Some journalists are accused of openly mounting political platforms to campaign when they
have a code of ethics to protect. The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Code of Ethics (the
guiding document for the practice of journalism in Ghana) stipulates the parameters within
which journalists can operate but this has been persistently flouted. Truth appears to be a
tool of convenience and not a fundamental component of journalism in Ghana. Mr.
Mahama admits that the situation has been “accentuated by the high stakes in our electoral
politics” and adds that “the politics of insult and personality vilification has overcome us.”

There is a widespread perception that some journalists fight human rights abuses and
crusade against corruption best when the party they are perceived to be supporting finds
itself in opposition but once in government, the same crop of journalists see the same
human rights issues and corruption in particular as no longer worthy enough a cause to
champion.
Some journalists have been criticized for defending clear cases of wrong-doing on the part
of government and public officials as well as powerful individuals even when competent
courts of jurisdiction or institutions of state have indicted such officials.

The Vice President is convinced that, while a lot of such journalism is down to “political
partisanship”, a greater part of it is due to “the lack of training by a significant number of
editors, presenters etc who are the gatekeepers in a majority of the 150 radio stations we
have across the country and the almost 50 newspapers.”
The 2011/2012 latest worldwide index released by Reporters Without Borders has seen
Ghana dropping points. The media rights organization says “Although the situation for the
media is satisfactory, several journalists were physically attacked by political militants during
the year.”

Although the repeal of the criminal libel law was seen as the beginning of the ‘real’ freedom
of the press and diversity in the media, observers like MFWA, NMC, GJA and other civil
society groups have persistently expressed concern about the high level of unethical
practices on the part of some journalists and media houses.

Some sections of the Ghanaian public are beginning to raise concern about the abuse of the
freedom given to journalists in the country. Others have doubted the media’s ability to
promote good governance, democracy and to uphold the rule of law that would translate
into accelerated development and economic growth. For instance, some contributors to the
Constitutional Review Commission – the body set up by the government in 2010 to
recommend possible ways of amending the 1992 Republican Constitution - made a
passionate appeal for a sanctions regime against the media.
The situation is also compelling opinion leaders like Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a prominent
academic at the University of Ghana, to go to the extent of calling for re-introduction of the
Criminal Libel Law. “If stringent measures are not taken and a possible return to the criminal
libel regime not considered, scenes in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda is (sic) not far away
from Ghana,” he insists.

Nevertheless, Mr. Kufuor, who supervised the repeal of the law as President of Ghana, does
not believe that re-introducing the law would solve the issue. He admits that some
journalists have become irresponsible but insists he has no regrets in supervising the repeal.
His only advice is that journalists should strive to uphold high journalistic standards, a view
shared by the NMC Chairman.

The year 2011 represented one of the critical moments in journalism in Ghana as it
witnessed several national controversies involving the media which exposed the
vulnerability of Ghana’s democracy.

The media’s handling of the Wikileaks cables and the ruling National Democratic Congress
(NDC) presidential primary that selected President Mills to contest the December 7, 2012
general elections for a second term alongside the markedly increased perception of
corruption were key issues that threatened national cohesion and shook the foundations of
the country’s democracy.

Even though the GJA and the NMC have been working hard to bring sanity into journalism
practice in Ghana, lack of funds has hampered their efforts. These important institutions are
aware that there is an urgent need to position themselves to meet the challenges of the
media landscape and boldly take all the appropriate measures to meet these challenges as
allowed by the constitution.

“I have repeatedly said that there is no way that the NMC can efficiently monitor and
regulate the expanded media landscape when it is the least resourced of all the governing
institutions; and must because of the importance of media in a democracy probably do
more on a daily basis throughout the 365 calendar days,” Blay-Amihere bemoans.
CONCLUSION
The articles reviewed appear to confirm the widely-held view that the Ghanaian media,
particularly the press, have taken entrenched political positions. The media landscape is
sharply divided along party political lines and journalists are perceived to be at the forefront
of the process of polarisation.

There is evidence of a polarised country where partisan politics have come to dominate
virtually every aspect of national public life, especially in election years. National issues
appear to be discussed at the dictate of the ruling NDC and the opposition NPP alone. The
standard of the media has been lowered as journalists actively engage in partisan politics.
There is also evidence of politicians using the media to systematically pursue a partisan
agenda as they make every effort to divide and rule. As a result, there is no longer any
consensus building in the media as there used to be.

With the tacit support of journalists, politicians run the risk of leading Ghana into chaos. The
media and some leading journalists cannot escape blame for this unfortunate trend.
Journalists without doubt have allowed themselves to be used.
REFERENCES
Ace Ankomah at ‘Journalists and the law’ Training for the GJA at Constitution Review
Commission at http://www.crc.gov.gh/

Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, Legon Centre for International Affairs, University of Ghana,
September 17, 2011 at http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=27077

Ghana Integrity initiative at

http://www.tighana.org/giipages/aboutus.phphttp://elections.peacefmonline.com/
politics/201112/84307.php

GJA Code of Ethics at http://www.rjionline.org/MAS-Codes-Ghana-GJA

http://www.modernghana.com/news/95958/1/90-per-cent-of-libel-cases-involve-
journalists.html

J.A. Kufuor, former President of Ghana at

https://focusfmknust.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/repeal-of-criminal-libel-lawwas-a-good-
decision-kuffour/

John Dramani Mahama, at the 16th GJA Awards at

http://www.modernghana.com/news/350384/1/full-text-of-vicepresident-john-mahamas-
address-a.html

Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman of Ghana’s National Media Commission (NMC) - at the 10th
anniversary celebration of repeal of Criminal Libel and Seditious Libel Laws (Amendment)
Act 2001 (Act 602), at http://danquahinstitute.org/news/1485-address-by-ambassador-
kabral-blay-amihere-on-occasion-of-10th-anniversary-of-repeal-of-criminal-libel-law-and-
mediafoundation-for-west-africa.html

Reporters Without Borders at http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html