Influence of Media Owners’ Political Affiliations on Journalistic Professionalism in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether media owners’ political affiliations influence news content and journalistic professionalism in Ghana. Media ownership theory as developed by Altschull in 1984 basically contends that the content of any newspaper is directly influenced by the interests of its owners. The findings of this study support this theory. The research was based on content analysis as well as in-depth interview. Media content was measured through content analysis of the two major newspapers of the country, Daily Guide and Enquirer. The two were selected because of their owners’ political affiliations, circulation and reach. The results of the in-depth interviews were then compared with the findings of the content analysis. The articles reviewed coupled with data from the interviews appear to confirm the widely-held view that the Ghanaian media, particularly the press, have taken entrenched political positions. Therefore, the study found that in majority of the instances newspaper ownership did have relationship with the nature of coverage of NDC and NPP issues in Ghana from 2010 to 2014. The findings indicated that Daily Guide and Enquirer covered political issues in a similar fashion during the period under review. Hence, the main hypothesis that there was likely to be relationship between newspaper owners’ political affiliations and the coverage of NDC and NPP issues in Ghana was supported by the results of the study.