Representation of Rural Communities in Television News Broadcasts: A Content Analysis of Ghana Television (GTV) Evening News Bulletin in 2004.
Date
2009-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
The aim of this study was to research into how rural communities in Ghana are
covered and represented by a Public broadcasting television station, Ghana
Television (GTV). The study also sought to establish whether there exist a fair
balance between the volume of news coverage given to elitist/urban news as
opposed to news of, and about, rural communities in the year 2004.
The researcher mainly used content analysis as the method of data collection
and systematic random sampling was the sampling technique used. A total of
101 tapes, comprising 1353 news items constituted the total sample size for the
study.
The study showed that generally, GTV's evening news was biased towards
urban or elitist based news as against news from rural areas.
The study also revealed that the electioneering campaign of 2004 had an impact
on the rate and level of coverage of rural news. Indeed, coverage of rural areas
greatly increased in November 2004, which was the run - up to the December
2004 elections.
On the other hand coverage of rural areas declined to an all time low in late
December 2004 and January 2005; this was the period after the general
elections. After the election, the attention of the news shifted to urban Ghana , mainly Accra where all the concentration was about who has won or lost the
election.
The research brought into focus the fact that news stories, even though they may
originate from rural areas are seldom about rural people. In other words, the
newsmakers in such news items were often officialdom, political figures and
elites in general.
The study also found that very little prominence was given to news items from
rural areas. Indeed, for the period reviewed, only one news item from a rural area
made it to the headlines of the news.
The study found out that news of and about rural communities, its people and
livelihoods were not considered headline making news. In cases where this type
of news was given any prominence at all, it only served to reinforce stereotypes
of rural people being poor, dependent and suffering.
Description
MPhil.
Keywords
Television News Broadcasts, Ghana Television (GTV)