A Comparative Study of Ghanaian Online Newspaper Coverage of Monkeypox: A Case of Graphic Online, Daily Guide Network and the Chronicle News Online

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which the Graphic Online, Daily Guide Network and The Chronicle News Online covered the Monkeypox disease since its outbreak in Ghana in June 2022. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the prominence the Graphic Online, Daily Guide Network and The Chronicle News Online gave to stories on Monkeypox Disease, to analyze the type of stories published by the three online newspapers on the disease, to identify the sources of stories that were cited by the newspapers, and to find out the dominant frames used by the online newspapers in publishing Monkeypox Disease-related stories. The study was quantitative in nature whereby quantitative content analysis was employed to gather Monkeypox-related stories from the websites of these three online newspapers. Guided by the Agenda-setting and Framing theories, the study revealed that the three online newspapers covered few stories on the Monkeypox disease. The total number of stories covered by the online newspapers within the six months was 30 which indicated less coverage. The majority of the stories covered by the three online newspapers were accompanied by photographs to enhance the understanding of online readers. Additionally, most of the few stories featured, were treated as straight news stories.. It was revealed that the majority of Monkeypox disease related-stories were cited from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), followed by other Media Agencies and Scientists/Researchers. The frame that was most employed by the three online newspapers was the Recorded Cases on Infection and Death frame, followed by Prevention / Safety Measures frame and Government and NGO Efforts frame.