Last week, Emefa Adeti of Joy News wrote an insightful piece for myjoyonline.com in which she said, among other things, “imagine a country without journalists.
What would such a country look like?
No one to ask hard questions. No one to bear witness.
No one to hold power accountable.
No one to preserve our collective memory.
The silence would be deafening, louder than any broadcast.
Because journalism is not just another profession; it is the oxygen of public life.”
The piece, published before the annual awards ceremony of the Ghana Journalists Association, brought back into sharp focus the media’s role in safeguarding Ghana’s democracy.
I wholeheartedly agree that the media are “the oxygen of public life.”
Their role in Ghana’s democratic dispensation are critical.
Yet, in reflecting on this, I am also quite struck by the paradoxical view citizens hold of the media.
Why do I say that? For answers, let us turn to insights from Round 10 (2024) of the Afrobarometer survey.
Media rights
Ghanaians are in strong support of the media’s right to do their work without any obstruction from the government. In Afrobarometer Round 10 (2024), 72 per cent agreed with the statement “the media should have the right to publish any views and ideas without government control.”
This represents significant growth from the 55 per cent that agreed with this sentiment in Afrobarometer Round 3 (2005).
In addition to this overall support for media rights, Ghanaians also strongly support the media to undertake one of its critical functions – investigating cases of corruption and government malfeasance.
In the same survey, 82 per cent agreed that “the news media should constantly investigate and report on government mistakes and corruption.”
When the question was first asked in Round 4 (2008), 75 per cent of Ghanaians agreed, showing that there has always been strong support for the media in undertaking this important task.
Ghanaian concerns
Notwithstanding the strong support for the media, Ghanaians also express some worries.
When asked about their level of trust in the media, here is how they answered: 15 per cent “trust a lot” news from public media institutions, and 15 per cent “trust a lot” news from private media institutions.
In addition to the low level of trust in media institutions, there is the perception of corruption.
Only seven per cent of Ghanaians answered “none of them” when asked how many journalists from public media institutions are involved in corruption, with another nine per cent saying the same of journalists from private media institutions.
And to go back to another round of the Afrobarometer survey (Round 8, 2019), Ghanaians had expressed concerns about the media because when asked “please tell me how often, in this country, you think people from each of the following groups spread information that they know is false?
News media and journalists” only six per cent answered “never.”
This presents the media with a dilemma. On the one hand, citizens strongly support media rights, but on the other hand, they have deep reservations about it, whether private or public.
This dilemma is concerning because if the low level of trust in the media persists, a day may come when citizens’ strong support for it will drop.
In fact, there was a period when citizen support for media rights declined to the point where 57 per cent expressed support for the government’s right to censor the media (Afrobarometer Round 7, 2017).
Way forward
Ghana’s media have, over the years, exposed cases of alleged corruption and abuse of office by both elected and unelected officials.
The proliferation of news analysis programmes provides platforms for the discussion of national issues.
The media have also been part of important coalitions with other societal groups, fighting to protect Ghana’s democracy and ensuring good governance.
However, there are some vulnerabilities it faces in serving as a safeguard of Ghana’s democracy.
One of the key drivers of mistrust is political ownership. Increasing political ownership in an era of deepening political polarisation only means that news will be tainted.
Addressing the ownership structure, I believe, will help improve trust in the media.
The other vulnerability is the economic incentive structure and the need for advertisements and commercial partners.
This potentially compromises the media, as the fear of losing advertising dollars, even from state actors, may restrain it from certain reportage.
This may require diversification of sources of revenue so that a certain level of independence can be maintained.
Again, I reiterate my earlier point.
The media are an important stakeholders in Ghana’s democracy.
Their multiple roles – reporting the news, providing information, shining light on government activities, etc. go a long way towards informing citizens of how public resources are being used and how public officials are conducting themselves in office.
More importantly, by shining light on the government, the media helps to promote a governance environment of transparency and accountability.
The writer is the Project Director, Democracy Project.
