Issues of Credibility in Radio News: Sunyani Residents' Perception Of Sky FM And Radio Bar News Bulletins

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine Sunyani residents' perceptions of Sky FM and Radio BAR news bulletins. Specifically, it was to determine which of the radio stations' news bulletins listeners perceived as more credible. The measures of credibility used were objectivity, fairness and balance. The study also sought to find out whether factors such as style of news presentation, importance of news and a listener's gender influenced credibility and preference of the news bulletins of the two radio stations. A combination of research methods, a survey, focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews was used to obtain in-depth information that answered the questions posed in the study. While the survey measured the spread of views, the focus group discussions and individual in-depth, interviews provided data to mostly support and occasionally challenge the survey findings. Findings showed that Sunyani residents perceived both stations' news bulletins as credible. Sky FM news bulletins were, however, perceived as more objective, fair and balanced while on the whole Radio BAR news bulletins were perceived as more credible or believable. Analysis also revealed that objectivity, fairness and balance were not major issues listeners considered in judging the credibility of the news bulletins of the radio stations. They rather found the style of news presentation a more important issue to consider in judging the credibility of the news bulletins.