Abstract:
The growing popularity of social media such as Twitter and Facebook in Ghana may be the
catalyst for a shift in the inter-media agenda-setting relationships between new and old
media. With only a few studies focusing on inter-media agenda-setting of any kind in Ghana,
this study employed a mixed-method approach to its enquiry into the evolving Ghanaian
media landscape in an attempt to find out what possible influences social media may have on
the agendas of traditional media. Following an analysis of content from Twitter, four
newspapers (Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, Daily Guide, The Chronicle), and two radio
stations (Joy FM and Citi FM), the study compared rank-ordered topical agendas across the
selected media within a two-week period preceding the 2016 Ghanaian elections. Results of
cross-lagged correlation analyses revealed influence of Twitter on traditional media issue and
attribute agendas during the period. Significant evidence of reciprocity was also found.
Responses from interviews conducted with media practitioners in three Ghanaian news
organisations supported the results of the quantitative analyses as respondents revealed a
reliance on social media as primary sources for news leads. Findings pointed to an increasing
agenda-setting power of social media in the Ghanaian media environment, which has
traditionally been dominated by legacy media. Further research is, therefore, needed to
scrutinise the singular agenda-setting power of various social media platforms to fully
understand the nature and extent of the agenda-setting power of the media in Ghana.