The influence of the media on the political process in Ghana is perhaps disproportionate to the real strength, in terms of the collective resources of the media as a whole. Apart from the state-owned media such as Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Graphic Communications Group, the New Times Corporation and Ghana News Agency, a few of the nation’s many media houses have the resources to turn the course of an election. And yet the truth is that the media collectively punch beyond their weight in Ghana’s political arena. There are many reasons for this. Unlike what happens in some countries, in Ghana there is no official “electioneering period”.
In some countries, the official campaign period is just before an election and usually there is also a period of campaign silence, prior, to the election during which there is no electioneering. This is not the case in Ghana . In this country, the entire period between general elections is a campaigning period. This means that the media is always switched on for politics. This also explains why the media, especially radio is dominated by politics.
Political parties and candidates also tend to find the media, and in particular radio, more important for campaigning and seek to appear as much as possible on radio. Radio is widely regarded as the most important instrument for campaigning and communication to the voters in Ghana for obvious reasons. The kind of campaign advertising that is popular, especially in the U.S, is very expensive and may even be inappropriate for Ghana’s specific circumstances.
Therefore, a long-term reliance on the media is the most cost-effective way of reaching the public, especially voters with political messages. The media’s role in elections is thus very critical to the outcome. This places a huge responsibility on the media, especially during this coming election, which many believe could mark a maturing of Ghana’s growing democracy. Whether or not the media can live up to that responsibility depends on how it sees its role and conducts itself. Basically, the media has a role to inform the citizens about the competing political parties and their programmes and candidates, and to contribute to the formation of opinion of the electorate.
It is generally agreed by political parties, election observers and civil society that the overall aim of media coverage during election campaigns in democracies is fair and objective reporting and information dissemination. This can, for instance, be achieved through measures such as a just allocation of broadcasting time between all the competing parties and candidates, voluntary agreements on fair news programmes, reports, and non-news programmes, or debates between party leaders.
It is crucial in the first instance to ensure that every party or independent candidate has access to the media, in particular radio and, or television, since most voters gain their knowledge about politics through the media. That means that a broadcaster is not entitled to influence the public opinion by different treatment of one or another candidate or party. But still it is often the broadcaster who decides who is gaining access to the debates and discussion programmes.
It is particularly important that state-owned media must not appear to be serving the interests of the ruling party at the expense of the other parties or independent candidates. This is because there is a tendency to mix up the state and the government, and the media and journalists suffer from the same confusion. The solution to any perception of unfairness from any quarters is to make clear and firm rules regarding how they must cover elections.
Some of the points that are generally clarified for effective media and elections regulations are: how parties and candidates can be allowed free political advertisement; how time or space will be allocated to candidates and political parties and whether paid political advertising is to be permitted. Another point is if election expenditures that affect advertising campaigns are limited and whether time and content of electoral broadcasts is to be restricted.
The public media are thought to have a special duty to publish or broadcast election statements by competing parties. It is generally accepted that the publicly funded media have some obligation to allow parties and candidates to communicate directly with the electorate on an equal basis whereas the private media have the right to publish or broadcast more often statements of the parties and candidates they prefer.
BY: KWESI GYAN APENTENG – JOURNALIST & COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
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