Abstract:
This study examined the influence of media ownership structure on media independence and its implication for democratic governance. Two publicly-owned newspapers and two privately-owned newspapers with different political affiliations were used as a case study. Qualitative case study approach was deemed as appropriate method for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the four newspapers and journalists interviewed for the analysis. The study found out that the structure of the media ownership affected the watchdog role of the media studied. Contrary to constitutional guarantees of media independence, the study showed that journalists working in the state-owned media are prevented from exercising their watchdog role on top functionaries of whichever political party happened to be in power. Unlike the public media, the private media appear to have a different modus operandi; the main issue for them is whether their paper is aligned to the watchdog target or not. The study found out that they are unimpeded in exercising their watchdog functions if the target is a rival to their owners political camp, and they exercise their watchdog role whether the target of the investigations is in government or not. On the other hand when the target happens to be in the same camp as that of their owners, they appeared constraint in exercising their investigative role .The study also found out that the difference between the two ownership structures (public and private) in terms of ability to perform watchdog functions on government is marginal.
