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REPRESENTATION OF RURAL COMMUNITIES IN TELEVISION
NEWS BROADCASTS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF GHANA
TELEVISION (GTV) EVENING NEWS BULLETIN IN 2004.
BY
AFUA AMANKWA SARKODIE
A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, IN FULFILMENT OF
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF AN MPHIL IN
COMMUNICATION STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON MAY 2009
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CERTIFICATION
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF GHANA
The undersigned certify that he has read, approved and recommended to the
School of Communication Studies this thesis entitled:
REPRESENTATION OF RURAL COMMUNITIES IN TELEVISION NEWS
BROADCASTS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF GHANA TELEVISION (GTV)
EVENING NEWS BULLETIN IN 2004, in fulfillment of an M. PHIL in
Communication Studies.
-N·CL'
PROF. KWAME KARIKARI
(SUPERVISOR)
DATE: 3 I ·~·_··0·-..:.<-;.·1·J·)-···~·'7J":.·1t'tfC+O
DECLARATION
! do acknowledge that I have used information from other sources, which have
been duly recognized. Aside from this I, Afua Amankwa Sarkodie, state with
---- ._
academic honesty that everything else in this thesis is my original work.
This project has never been presented either in whole or in part for any purpose
anywhere.
I am solely responsible for any errors in the work .
....~..M...~ .
AFUA AMANKWA SARKODIE
DATE: ~.~I.~.,.l.q.9'., .
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DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my dear departed mother who taught me that there isn't
anything like "too much education."
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to the staff of Ghana Television for the support they gave me. They
gladly gave their time and resources to the success of this work.
I remain forever indebted to Prof. Kwame Karikari of the School of
Communication Studies, whose guidance and rather harsh criticism helped bring
out the best in me. His insistence on thoroughness clearly reflects in the quality
of this research.
Of course other lecturers of the School of Communication Studies were most
generous with their knowledge and time whenever I needed it.
I also appreciate the roles played by all my friends who encouraged me never to
give up. In this regard I must make special mention of Dr. Tanimu Osman,
Frempomaa Debrah, Ruth Maafo and Afua Yeboah for understanding.
And ultimately, to the Most High God, to whom I am eternally grateful. his Grace
has been sufficient unto me.
AFUA AMANKW/\ SARKODIE
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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 ,
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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.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION i
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT ...................................•.................................. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF CHARTS , .ix
Chapter One
Background to the Study
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Problem Definition 6
1.2 Objectives 7
1.3 Rationale of Study 7
1.4 Significance 8
1.5 Hypotheses 9
1.6 Operational Definitions 9
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Chapter Two
Theoritical Framework
2.0 Introduction 11
2.1 Gatekeeping theory 11
Chapter Three
Literature Review
3.0 Introduction 19
3.1 Related studies 19
Chapter Four
Methodology
4.0 Introduction 27
4.1 Content Analysis 27
4.2 In - depth interview 28
4.3 Study Setting 29
4.4 Period of Study 30
4.5 Sampling Procedure 30
4.6 Content Categories 31
4.7 Interviews 31
4.8 Data Collection Instruments 32
4.9 Data Analysis 32
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Chapter Five
Data Analysis & Presentation
5.0 Introduction 33
5.1 Number of News Stories 33
5.2 Number of Stories - 1s1 quarter 36
5.3 Origin of Story - 1SIquarter 38
5.4 Number of Stories - Last quarter 40
5.5 Origin of Story - Last quarter 42
5.6 Portrayal of Rural Residents - 1st quarter 44
5.7 Portrayal of Rural Residents - Last quarter 46
5.8 Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - 1st quarter 48
5.9 Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - Last quarter 50
5.10 Subject Matter - 1st quarter 52
5.11 Subject Matter - Last quarter 54
5.12 Newsmakers - 1st quarter 56
5.13 Newsmakers - Last quarter 58
5.14 Stories with Pictures and Voice - 1st quarter 61
5. 15 Stories with Pictures and Voice - Last quarter 65
5.16 Placement of Story - 1st quarter 68
5.17 Placement of Story - Last quarter 70
5.18 Test of Hypotheses 72
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Chapter Six
Discussion, Recommendation & Conclusion
6.0 Introduction 74
6.1 Summary of major findings 74
6.2 Discussion 76
6.3 Limitations 79
6.4 Recommendation 80
6.5. Conclusion 81
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX "A"
APPENDIX "8"
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LIST OF TABLES
Number of News Stories (Table 1) 34
Number of News Items - 1st quarter (Table 2) 36
Origin of Story - 1st quarter (Table 3) 38
Number of News Items - last quarter (Table 4) 40
Origin of Story - last quarter (Table 5) 42
Portrayal of Rural Residents - 1st quarter (Table 6) 44
Portrayal of Rural Residents - last quarter (Table 7) 46
Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - 1st quarter (Table 8) 48
Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - last quarter (Table 9) 50
Subject Matter of Stories - 1st quarter (Table 10) 52
Subject Matter of Stories - last quarter (Table 11) 54
Newsmakers - 1st quarter (Table 12) 56
Newsmakers - last quarter (Table 13) 59
Stories with Voice - 1st quarter (Table 14) 61
Stories with Pictures - 1st quarter (Table 15) 61
Stories with Voice -last quarter (Table 16) 65
Stories with Pictures -last quarter (Table 17) 65
Placement of Story - 151 quarter (Table 18) 68
Placement of Story - last quarter (Table 19) 70
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LIST OF CHARTS
Number of Bulletins - 1st & last quarters (Chart1) 35
News Items at 7pm - 1st quarter (Chart 2) 37
Origin of Story - 1st quarter (Chart 3) 39
Number of News Items - Last quarter (Chart 4) 41
Origin of Story - last quarter (Chart 5) 43
Portrayal of Rural Residents - 1st quarter (Chart 6) 45
Portrayal of Rural Residents - Last quarter (Chart 7) 47
Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - 1st quarter (Chart 8) 49
Occupations associated with Rural Residents - Last quarter (Chart 9) 51
Subject Matter of Stories - 1st quarter (Chart 10) 53
Subject Matter of Stories - Last quarter (Chart 11) 55
Newsmakers - 1st quarter (Chart 12) 57
Newsmakers - Last quarter (Chart 13) 60
Stories with Voice - 1st quarter (Chart 14) 63
Stories with Pictures - 1st quarter (Chart 15) 64
Stories with Voice - Last quarter (Chart 16) 66
Stories with Pictures - Last quarter (Chart 17) 67
Placement of Story - 1st quarter (Chart 18) 69
Placement of Story - Last quarter (Chart 19) 71
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CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.0 Introduction
Most African countries have most of their populations resident in rural areas;
Ghana is no exception to this situation. According to the 2000, population census of
Ghana, about 60% of Ghana's population is resident in rural areas, with the remaining
40% in urban areas. These figures are no different from the United Nations population
figures for Ghana (1996) which put Ghana's rural population at 64.9% and urban at
34.8%.
It is this 64.9 percent who mainly provide the backbone of the economy, which has been
described as agriculture - based. This is because rural residents are mostly farmers and
fishermen. Despite their important contribution to the economy, their standards of living
and the level of development in their communities and attention given to their needs
have not been at pace with those of urban dwellers.
Cities and district capitals continue to enjoy most of the country's infrastructure, such as
better roads, health facilities, housing projects, and good educational institutions.
Attempts have been made by governments to bridge this gap but the situation is far from
being equal. These unequal levels of development between urban and rural
communities greatly contribute to the never-ending problem of rural - urban migration.
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The media's coverage in Ghana has been largely urban centered. In the print media for
instance circulation in rural areas is lower than the urban areas. Figures available from
the Oaily Graphic, the largest selling newspaper, show that circulation is between 85,000
to 100,000 copies daily, with 72% distributed in urban areas.
Accessing the media however is one of the important requirements for development of
communities. C.M Mercado (1992:14) defines development as a "process of providing
disadvantaged people in a community the opportunities to realize and improve their
knowledge, attitude and skill to utilize, sustain and improve the quality of their lives and
the society where they belong". This definition implies that people need knowledge and
information to make progress and informed decisions.
In this regard, radio has played a very significant role, especially with the introduction of
community radio and the liberalization of the airwaves.
Television, (which is the focus of this study), even though an equally if not more powerful
medium has not been as helpful and useful to rural communities as opposed to urban
areas, not even the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBG) which has a mandate to
serve all Ghanaians.
Indeed the GBC decree (NLCD 226, 1968) states that, among other objectives, the GBC
is obliged to:
prepare in the field of culture, education, information and entertainment
programmes reflecting national progress and aspirations.
broadcast the programmes prepared in the main Ghanaian languages and in
English and such other foreign languages as the Corporation may determine.
However this does not happen and as Twumasi (1980) observes, because the news is
largely urban based, whatever information percolates into the village is for the most part
urban oriented and is filtered through interpreters. The entry of private television stations
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has not changed or altered the situation much. Metro TV, TV3, TV Africa and Crystal TV
are all products of the liberalization of the airwaves, but the trend of marginalisation of
rural communities has not changed. This according to the Audience and Research
Department of GBC could be due to the fact that television still remains largely an urban
medium.
An urban medium in the sense that its coverage of news is mainly elitist and centers on
the presidency and the executive, with most of the news stories coming from urban
areas, especially Accra. Besides this Ken Amankwa, Deputy Director General, GBC
maintained that televison sets are not exactly common in rural areas. He claims that
figures available form the Research Department of GBC indicates that there are about
three million television sets in the country with an average of about 40 - 50 TV sets in a
town of about five thousand residents.
Indeed, until as recently as February 2002, GTVevening news was solely in English.
With the introduction of news in Ghanaian languages as part of the package for GTV
evening news, the assumption was that, rural residents who do not understand English
could now have the opportunity to listen to the news in their own languages.
Indeed the opportunity has come, but even though the news can now be heard in
familiar Ghanaian languages, the news is hardly about rural communities and their
issues unless the news is connected to officialdom.
It is however interesting to note that in the year under study, coverage of rural news
increased dramatically in the last quarter of the year as opposed to the first quarter of
the year. The reason is obvious, because the latter part of the year marked the
beginning of election campaigning and subsequent election. From the tapes reviewed for
this study it appeared during the last quarter of the year rural communities assumed an
almost immediate importance to GTV and indeed to all other TV stations. Of course it
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will not be farfetched to deuce that this sudden interest in rural communities by GTV was
largely if not solely due to the fact that the presidency, and indeed all political leaders
were seriously beating a fast track to the villages to canvas for votes. It is also
interesting to note that even in these times when rural communities were supposedly
having their fifteen minutes of fame, the news stories rarely centered on the people
themselves and their issues. These stories centered on the visiting elites.
Ms. Lucy Brown, Head of News, GTV admits that indeed this has been the pattern and
that the station is quite aware of this imbalance in its news coverage. She claims that
since 1983 the trend has been to try and balance news coverage to reflect all groups in
the country. Now the awareness is that people would rather hear about themselves and
experiences they can identify with.
This provision of balance still remains a pipedream, as there is evidence on the ground
that the situation is far from improving.
Ms. Brown indicated that 80% of news stories in the regular news line up of GTV are
centered on officialdom, about the presidency and the elites. Stories from rural areas are
featured on weekends; usually Sundays when there is little or no news about the
executive.
For GTV, the explanation is that they make up for their lack of rural news by being the
only television station with regular documentaries on rural communities, but even then
the focus is not on the people but the projects being undertaken by government or non -
governmental agencies.
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Ms. Brown also indicated that sometimes it is simply a matter of who pays the piper
calling the tune. GTV is government owned and depends heavily on government funding
so they are obliged to give prominence to their benefactors.
How does an assertion like this reflect on the indices of news values and worthiness as
outlined by White (1950) and Galtung and Ruge (1965)
White lists nine factors which influence the selection of news items. These are labour,
accidents and disasters, crime and vice, human interest, national, political and
international.
Galtung and Ruge mention time span, intensity or threshold, value, clarity/lack of
ambiguity, cultural proximity or relevance, consonance, unexpectedness, continuity,
composition and socio-cultural values of the receiving society as indices that affect the
selection of news items.
If these are indices for deciding news worthiness, then rural communities do need to
receive more attention than has been given them.
Or is it the case that rural communities do not have stories that have these indices, or
are rural residents and their stories not news worthy.
These are questions that need answers and television stations owe it as a responsibility
to provide us with some answers.
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1.1 Problem Definition
Boafo (1987) defines rural news as "reporting and writing news with a rural perspective.
It is news and other related materials gathered and packaged mainly in the rural areas
as opposed to the so - called rural news written for ruralities in urban areas by urban
dwellers and with urban biases."
He adds, "Rural news is news that informs and educates urban cities and governments
about the needs, aspirations, problems, successes, joys, values and general life of the
rural dwellers. In turn it informs and educates rural dwellers about government policies,
ideas and such other factors they might need for survival, progress or improved living
standards."
Boafo's definition shows that giving prominence to news of and about rurai communities
is of immense importance to national development. Despite this the practice at GTV as
indicated by Ms Brown has been to give prominence to the presidency and the executive
as opposed to rural communities.
This study will therefore attempt to study the seeming imbalance in news coverage of
urban vis a vis rural communities. It will also study why officialdom or elitism always gets
the edge over rural residents and their lifestyles. The study will also look into the kind of
coverage given rural communities if and when they are featured. These issues will be
studied against the backdrop of rural news coverage in the first and last quarters of an
election year and how the electioneering process impacted on rural coverage.
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1.2 Objectives
The study is intended to achieve the following objectives:
1. How often were news items of and about rural communities covered by GTV in
January to March as opposed October to December, 2004 and the reasons why.
2. How rural communities are portrayed in the news.
3. What are the constraints faced by GTV in its coverage of rural news.
1.3 Rationale of the Study
Communication is a necessary tool for development of every community, rural or
otherwise. Television is one of the most effective means of mass communication. This
study is important because over the years, news has centered on urban areas and the
executive arm of government. This study is important because it attempts to examine the
principal issues that contribute to this situation.
It also addresses the effects of this situation on development as posited by Okuma
(1993) in her study of rural women in Nigeria. She observed that development
communication has been practically accepted in all developing countries to be an
integral part of development planning and that access to media, as well as other forms of
communication is an indispensable prerequisite for development and social change in
communities. Ngugi (1995) also sees communication as sine qua non to development.
He sees it as the systematic utilization of appropriate communication channels and
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techniques to increase people's participation in development and to inform, motivate and
train rural populations or people at the grass root levels in a community."
Mass media messages have the potential and capacity of promoting specific
development objectives in communities, such as increasing food production, adult
literacy, public health education, family planning and other aspects of development.
Access to media is imperative for every community's development. It is there fore a
matter of course that rural communities are given equal access and adequate coverage.
1.4 Significance
The significance of this study would be evident in the fact that:
Media houses would find the information useful in improving their coverage of
the country's communities.
Reporters assigned to cover rural areas would hopefully begin to actually
focus on the people themselves and not the activities of officials when they
visit the rural areas.
Policy makers, governing and regulatory bodies of GTV may also begin to
ensure that all groups are given adequate coverage. Improved rural coverage
will also mean that policy makers will receive more information to guide their
policy decisions for development.
The study would hopefully provide some inputs for students and
practicing journalists who are considering rural reporting as a career change
by highlighting reasons, benefits, and insights into the necessity and
importance of giving stories from the rural communities more prominence.
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Finally the study would add and contribute to the pool of knowledge and
research on media coverage of rural communities.
It would also serve as a basis for further investigation and research into
into the issue.
1.5 Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were tested.
1. That it is likely that news reports by GTV is predominantly urban based and
centered on the elite in the society.
2. That it is likely that rural residents would be given stereotypic images and
portrayal of poverty and agriculture - based lifestyles.
3. That the increased amount of rural news during the last quarter of
2004 was due to the elections
1.6 Operational Definitions
These definitions pertain to this study and the purposes thereof.
(1) Representation: How much coverage, voice and presence is given rural
communities by Ghana Television in its newscasts.
(2) Rural - A rural area refers to places outside regional and district capitals, where the
lifestyle pertains to agriculture and simple quiet living. These are areas with a population
of 5000 or less and any other place designated as such.
(3) Population - The number of people living in a particular rural area vis - a - vis the
amount of average given them by television news reporting.
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(4) Urban area - This refers to the regional and or any other place designated as such.
(5) Rural News - News that comes from places outside regional or district capitals.
(6) Urban News - News coming from regional capitals.
(7) Political/Elitist News - News that has to do with politicians, government officials
and the presidency.
(8) Press/Media - In this study it refers to television.
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CHAPTER TWO
THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
2.0 Introduction
This chapter attempts to provide a theoretical underpinning to the issue under study.
This study as mentioned earlier is to examine the coverage of rural news or its lack
thereof. The fact that 2004 (the year under study) was an election year is also going to
be used to draw a relation between the coverage of rural news as relates to the
elections. The study will also attempt to draw a link between the amount of coverage
given to rural communities and how it may relate to the promotion of the development of
rural communities.
Because this study borders on why news about rural communities rarely make it to the
news line up of GTV, the researcher chose the gatekeeping theory as the theoretical
framework in which to place the study.
2.1 Gatekeeping theory
The term gatekeeper was introduced into the English language in 1947 by Kurt Lewin, a
social psychologist and applied to the communication field by David Manning in1950.
Since then it has been used in studies in the mass communication process especially
with regard to any action that involves choosing or rejecting some potential news items
for publication. Even though presently, the gatekeeper's role seems to be limited by
technological advances (like internet, which ensures that the public have access to
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almost every kind of information that interests them) the gatekeeper still plays a very
important role in the selection and placement of what news stories the public get to see,
read or hear about.
The thrust of this study would therefore attempt to examine what goes into the selection
or non-selection of news items by editors. This study will specifically look at the
supposed selection of news about political figures and the elite over news from rural
areas. It would also examine what factors inform news editors in their selection of news
items.
Lewin (1947), in studying food habits, pointed out that food comes to the family table
through what he called "channels." To change food habits would be the equivalent to
changing the food that moves through the channels. Certain areas within these
channels where decisions are made then function as gates. Lewin's gatekeeper work is
most distinctly embodied in the following statement:
"The constellation of the forces before and after the gate region is decisively different in
such a way that the passing of the unit through the whole channel depends to a high
degree upon what happens in the gate region." Understanding the functioning of the
gate also involves understanding the factors that determine the decision of the
gatekeeper.
White was the first to study the role of the gatekeeper in a media environment. He
chose the telegraph editor of an American non-metropolitan daily paper as his
gatekeeper in one of the first clinical studies of the principle applied to a new medium.
The study of White focused on one wire editor and the movement of wire service stories
through his gate. It focused on why certain stories were rejected instead of why the ones
used were chosen. This telegraph editor was in charge of the selection of national and
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international news that would appear on the front and jump pages of the paper, and his
selection was final. Therefore, according to White, the telegraph editor may be the most
important in this instance.
However in the case of GTV, the news editor as indicated by Ms. Brown may not be the
single most important person in the decision making process but s/he still wields a lot of
influence. Subsequent studies have expanded the concept of gates as well as the
elements that influence the flow of news to include not only the editor but reporters,
ownership and all those who affect the flow of news at one point or the other. (Gieber,
1960)
White listed nine factors which influence the selection of news. These are labour,
accidents and disasters, crime and vice, human interest, national, political and
international.
Galtung and Ruge (1965) also outlined certain criteria that inform the choice of news
items. These are time span, intensity or threshold, value, clarityllack of ambiguity,
cultural proximity or relevance, unexpectedness, continuity, composition and socio-
cultural values of the receiving society.
Gieber (1960) also wrote: "The source must decide whether the information is sufficiently
important to his interest group and community as a whole. On the other hand, the
reporter must judge whether the information has some value according to the perception
of news".
Unlike White who limited the identification of the gatekeeper to the editor, Gieber
expanded it to include press associations or anyone segment of the news editorial staff.
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Westley and Mc Lean's (1957) model effectively explains the role of the gatekeeper.
(See model on attached)
Here 'C' plays the role of he gate keeper, it occupies the critical position of accepting
information from the sender 'A' (the advocate).
'C' refines the information and sends it on to the audience which is 'B' (behaviour agent
or the individual receiving the information). The most important critical feature is that 'C'
serves as agent for 'B' by selecting the effects appropriate for 'B's satisfaction.
'C' also translates these messages into symbols that can be understood before
transmitting them via some medium to B.
It also means that the model incorporates all persons and things who are involved in the
flow of news. The model depicts communication as an organic process in a dynamic
environment.
Dimmick (1974) terms gatekeeping an "uncertain theory"; he based his discussion on the
observation that gatekeepers are uncertain which events are to be defined as news. He
contends that it is the receiving society that eventually makes the decision. Dimmick
also considers available space and traditional news values as factors affecting the
gatekeeping process.
Mc Quail (1986) adds that bureaucratic pressures from within the newsroom control
news and news policy. He maintains that the audience is not necessarily the whole
body of potential readers (viewers) of the medium, but they are more significant for the
communicator.
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Davison et al (1977) point out that individual reporters even on local stories often
determine the subjects or the angles to the subjects about which they write even if they
are assigned by a superior.
GTV has reporters in rural areas, but whatever gatekeeping functions they may exercise
ends after their stories are filed and sent to Accra. These stories are referred to as
"orphaned stories" because the reporters are not in Accra to fight or insist on their
placement so they could be and are often ignored. (ref. Ms. Lucy Brown)
Epstein (1973), whose work has mainly been in television, cautions that any attempt to
separate effects of news processes itself is difficult. He adds, "It is not possible to
determine, simply by historical research or content analysis, systematic distortions in the
images of events presented in the media without first independently establishing the
actual course of the events.
Epstein advocates beyond research to finding out the cause of the situation and
suggesting ways of improving it.
In another dimension, Epstein also submits that producers and house rules in media
organizations also affect the gatekeeping process. He points out that whatever initiative
the newsmen may have is mitigated by the fact that it must meet the expectation and
policies of the producer if their story is to get on air. Eventually he fulfils the needs of the
organization. Epstein writes:
"The analogy becomes even more strained if it is argued that even though newsmen
have no distinct sphere of control over their material in the process, news decisions are
still made on the basis of professional values - that is standards that lie outside the
organization - rather than according to the dictates of the organization, whether they be
executives or correspondents, share certain outlooks on what constitutes news stories
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and will act according to these concepts even when actions conflict with the interests of
the organisation that employs them."
Epstein argues that while newsmen have certain shared values of what constitutes
news, it does not follow that these news values will prevail when they run counter to the
structural constraints and logic of the organization. In answer to his own question: "Do
news organizations lend themselves to any sort of systematic analysis?" he concludes:
"While any given news decision, when taken alone, may seem idiosyncratic, it is still
possible paradoxically, for the total output of an organization to be largely determined by
general rules, routines and policies."
Oonohew and his associates (1965) expand the use of information beyond the news
media and point out that all social organizations depend to some extent on information
use and its control. He says if mass communication involves control of information and
knowledge, then in light of the way decisions are made in a modern pluralistic society,
the study of the gatekeepers who execute control decisions in the knowledge flow is
especially urgent.
Processes within mass communication may be viewed within a framework of a total
social system made up of a series of subsystems whose primary concerns include
control of information with an interest in gaining other social ends.
Questions then arise, according to Oonohew (1965), of how such controls are exercised,
where in the process they occur, and what the consequences of these controls are for
the overall social system. He notes that media make up subsystems that cut across
source and audience subsystems and for the social system as a whole.
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Gatekeeping then functions as a form of knowledge control. Its functions extend beyond
selection to include shaping, display, timing, withholding and repetition.
Brown (1980) advocates a return to the original concepts of Lewin, in which gate
keeping mirrors the perceptions of society. He focuses on Lewin's idea that gate
sections are governed either by impartial rules or by gatekeepers, with the power to
make decisions or to transfer, but that the power is independent from other regions and
ranges of impartial rules. For his study, Brown used a single social issue and traced it
over a period of two years in two news magazines.
Bagdikian (1973), in his famous RAND study speaks of the restraints on gate keeping
imposed by mechanical functions. His study touches on points salient to the concept of
gate keeping citing Breed's study (1960) of social influence in the news as a
"benchmark". Badgikian writes, "Policy is exerted in effective ways; editorial executives
control assignment of stories, which is the most crucial decision in journalism. They
decide whether a finished story will be used or not, and if used what emphasis and
length."
Continuing his emphasis on restraints on the gatekeeper, he writes:
"The gatekeeper, though he seems to perform like one, is not a valueless machine
operating in a vacuum. His decisions, resulting in the printing of most stories seen by the
public, reflect his personal as well as his professional values and all the surrounding
pressures converging on him."
Sigel (1973) however takes issue with Badgikian's assertion that there is a minimum of
bureaucracy. "Most news results from choice, not decisions," he writes and adds that the
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stories are choices of many decision makers who choose what stories get prominence
and which does not.
These choices, says Sigel, are the result of internal politics. The final gatekeeper strives
for ideal balance among the many news items available. Oddly, he observes that
ownership plays a minor role in editorial gatekeeping. In Sigel's view, news selection is a
continuing battle of prestige among editors and reporters.
He figures that for these editors and reporters, where their story is placed reflect their
standing on the bureaucratic ladder. The intrinsic values of the news and the receiving
society take a secondary role.
Battidam (1986) also seems to support this view generally, he writes:
"The editors and publishers play the unique role of determining what we should read and
see and why one particular news story should make the front page or be the lead story
in a news broadcast etc".
Black and Bryant (1992) also contend that editorial policy is another form of gatekeeping
and that the New York Times and the New York Oaily News are examples of media
houses with different editorial policy.
The New York Times, they write, prides itself "in the thoroughness and attention to
detail of its substantive reporting by playing down the sensational and the deviant in the
interest of propriety, taste and standards" while the New York Oaily News "emphasizes
the sensational and the bizarre as a matter of policy".
Subsequent studies into the theory have shown that the journalist's self- perception as
the person who decides what people need to know is deeply ingrained. Indeed, it has
been suggested that the identification and dissemination of what is worth knowing is the
journalist's most basic and vital task in a democratic society. (Janowitz 1975)
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CHAPTER THREE
LITERATURE REVIEW
3.0 Introduction
This chapter attempts to provide context and background for the study by giving insights
into related studies into the problem under study. Not a lot of research has been
conducted into this problem in Ghana, however experiences and similar studies from
other environments would be used.
3.1 Related studies
Loveland (1977) in a study conducted on how the American mass media covered the
Indian society found that the publications of the mass media were written for an urban
elite. She concluded that the mass media are, with their limited content and urban
orientation, more class-media oriented than mass-media oriented".
Semmel (1976) in a similar study compared four newspapers in their coverage of news.
He realized that each paper was largely confined to events in large metropolitan centres
particularly the capital cities of targeted countries. It tended to focus on the activities of
individual elite groups and government agencies in the countries reported about.
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He adds that the coverage "show a pronounced elite slant". "Countries such as
England, Soviet Union, France, Japan, Italy, West Germany and Israel dominated the
news. He explained that since these same countries ranked among the leading political
and economic powers in the world, the elite U.S. press tended to give them more
attention thereby neglecting "central Africa, Northern Africa, parts of Latin America,
Micronesia and the Scandinavian"
This can be likened to the situation where elites are given more and positive coverage
than rural communities at GTV.
In a study on "Community development" Ernst Sandra (1972) analyzed the type of
community development coverage in three newspapers representing different levels of
interest: national, metropolitan and small town newspapers respectively.
Ernst found out that community development coverage was oriented only towards the
city audience with virtually no participation from the countryside. The researcher
considered this to be quite a limitation on the press.
Likewise, Bernigan Frances (1979) noted that the flow of information from the cities to
the rural areas was inadequate and lopsided, and so a vice versa approach must be
adopted to generate an exchange of ideas.
In her view, until recently the approach of development communication had been the
marketing approach called "Persuasive Communication". The media were used to
support development initiatives and directions, thus, encouraging people to support
development projects.
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The approach was one of extortion, highlighting benefits to be derived from community
projects and urging people to take advantage of them.
This suggests that in situations where rural communities are covered, the emphasis is
not on them but projects being undertaken by government as happened during the last
quarter of the year under review, where rural communities were given maximum
exposure because there was a sudden urgency to commission as many rural community
projects as possible.
In place of this kind of coverage, Frances suggests that there is the need to continue to
use a communication approach to inform and point out the reasons why central
development projects are being done.
But this kind of assertiveness is difficult to achieve in a state owned media house like
GTV.
In Gadzekpo's "Is there a place for the state owned media in a constitutional
democracy?" she found out that governments, including constitutional regimes have
always attempted to have some control over state-owned media to probably ensure that
their policies and programmes are given adequate publicity devoid of criticism and
critical mindedness.
Karikari however provides another angle to the same issue in Africa: the press and
democracy. He writes: The sordid record of state monopoly over the media has
provoked the widespread rejection of state participation, as regards the ownership of the
press." He says, "A few commentators do not only consider this unavoidable, they even
propose retaining some measure of state control - including licensing."
At the macro level Gunaratne (1982) in an analysis of reportage of the Third World in the
Australian press noted that in spite of the international clamour for a new more just and
efficient world information and communication order in reporting the third world, the
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press carried less favourable news less development news that was not political or
crime/accident related.
In a study by Potter (2002) he analyzed the web pages of 471 radio stations. He
realized that almost 80% of his respondents would have preferred to listen to
programmes about them and experiences that relates to them but instead only 26% of
actual programming was community based.
This assertion was confirmed by Ms. Brown who indicated that studies conducted by the
Audience and Research Department show that the station would be regarded in a better
light if they had more news items and programmes about rural communities. After all as
Schramm puts it (1964) puts it, even the urban dweller would still like to hear news about
his roots.
Napoli (2002) in a study on minority media tried to look at the coverage of Hispanic and
Black America. He noted that there were no specific programmes designed for and
devoted to these groups. He also noted that in situations where these minorities are
mentioned, it often has to do with crime and drug related issues. This is akin to the
situation where rural communities are often associated with disease, poverty, ignorance
and substandard forms of living.
He writes, "The diversity principle extends in part, from the traditional democratic theory
notion of a well functioning or market place of policies in which citizens' abilities to
participate effectively in a democratic process are contingent upon their abilities to
consider a wide array of ideas and viewpoints from a wide array of sources."
He adds, "The availability of content targeting minority interests has long been perceived
as an important means of providing such content diversity." As noted by the Federal
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Communications Commission, "It has long been an established policy of the
Commission that the Commission that the American systems of broadcasting must serve
significant minorities among our population."
Napoli further argues that exposure to diverse points of view is particularly vital within
the context of minority media so that greater cultural understanding and social cohesion
can be achieved.
Economics, he notes, also playa role, because as is often the case of minorities have a
smaller income, and therefore the trend of the media is to address the higher income
groups who can patronize what they have to offer.
Could this be the case that because our rural residents mainly engaged in substandard
economic ventures, they are not considered a profitable interest?
Schramm (1964) agrees with Napoli (2002) that this situation must be rectified.
Commenting on the role of the media in development he writes, "To achieve
development people must be informed, persuaded, and educated. Information must flow
not only to them but also from them, so that they may participate in the acts and
decisions in nation building. Information must flow within all levels of society."
Communication can aid government in its development projects by making people aware
of their grassroots and how they can aid it in providing facilities to increase their
productivity, live healthier lives and participate in their own development so as to be able
to share in the benefits of modern life.
Schramm adds, "In almost all developing countries, the urban dweller usually has his
roots in the rural area and the mass media, should make him aware of his responsibility
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towards his village and also origin by giving him coverage to problems and
achievements of the rural areas. This can help bridge the gap between the traditional
Africans living in mud - hut villages, virtually and their urban compatriots. The mass
media can therefore be said to be performing their role fully in the act of nation building
by assisting in information flow from the capital to rural areas and vice versa. When
people in rural areas are aware of government's goals and policies they can contribute
their quota to the social, economic, and political changes taking place in the country.
Again it is only by making the government and city dwellers aware of the events and
happenings in the rural areas that they can be helped in their transition to
modernization."
In a country like Ghana, which is predominantly agricultural, efforts would be made by
the mass media to draw attention to issues affecting farmers, fishermen and women who
are largely concentrated in the rural areas. This suggests that the media should
endeavour to create an atmosphere for development by focusing attention on problems
and goals for development.
Editors owe it a duty and responsibility to select and give prominence to news items with
a rural prospective.
And to the professional journalists in African countries who are tasked to cover rural
areas, it should be a matter of social responsibility. Indeed what is journalism if it is not
devoted to social development of ones nation?
Okigbo (1992) contends that journalists need not necessarily report only positive stories
from such areas. "Negative stories on such events such as crop failures, natural
disasters, epidemics, can also serve the cause of development if they point the way to
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avoidable mistakes, human errors or administrative inefficiencies and suggest how
future occurrences can be avoided."
Kasoma (1992), in a bid to give guidelines for rural reportage, identifies four categories.
They are:
(1) The reporting done by the town journalist who reports the village to the town.
(2) The reporting carried out by the town journalists when reporting the village to the
village.
(3) That performed b y the village journalist who is reporting the village to the town and
finally.
(4) That undertaken by the village journalists when reporting the village to the village.
In the fist category the journalist is stationed in a town or an urban area and reports what
goes on in the rural area to urban dwellers.
This happens when the reporter accompanies a government official who is invited to
commission a government project in a rural community. Here the emphasis is on
officialdom. This in fact is the practice of television news coverage in Ghana today.
The second category is made possible in communities where rural or provincial
newspapers exist.
The third type is the one done by a rural reporter for town dwellers. According to
Kasoma "Most of the people who live and work in the urbanized areas in Africa fell the
need for news from home"
The last category is when a rural based journalist reports for and about the rural people.
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Kasoma's attempt at providing some sort of guide for the coverage of rural news is
aimed at rescuing the situation in our TV stations.
These suggestions by Kasoma, even though useful, do not serve as a panacea to the
problem.
Editors need to apply fair judgement based on sound journalistic principles in their
selection of what stories make the news.
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CHAPTER FOUR
METHODOLOGY
4.0 Introduction
This study is an analysis of the frequency and content of rural news stories, which
featured on the evening news bulletins of GTV in 2004. The study covers the first quarter
(January to March) and last quarter (October to November) 2004.
Content Analysis and in-depth interview methods were the research methods used.
This chapter therefore presents a description of the various steps and procedures that
were employed to collect the data.
4.1 Content Analysis
Berelson (1952) defines content analysis as a "research technique for the objective,
systematic and quantitative description of the manifest contents of communication."
Kerlinger (1986) defines content analysis as a "method of studying and analyzing
communication in a systematic, objective and quantitative manner for the purpose of
measuring variables."
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Content analysis was used as the main research method because it provides an
objective view of events and minimizes researcher bias. Content analysis also provides
an accurate representation for a body of messages which allows for easy quantification.
This method also aids precision, as conclusions drawn would be based on content
reviewed. That is why Krippendorf (1980) defines content analyses as a "research
technique for making replicable and valid references from data to their context."
An added advantage in using content analyses is that the material or text to be used is
readily available. This saves time and cost.
One limitation though, is the fact that content analyses studies only content and
therefore cannot draw meaningful contexts in the relationship between these contents
and the perception of audiences about these contents and the influence and
consequences of these contents on audiences. (Epstein 1973).
4.2 In - depth Interview
This kind of interview is defined as a give-and-take verbal exchange in which one
person, the interviewer, attempts to elicit information or expressions of opinions or belief
from another person or persons (Maccoby and Maccoby, 1954, quoted in Oenzin,
1987:103)
Lindlof (1995) simply defines it as a conversation with a purpose.
In-depth interviews with the news editor of GTV as well as regional reporters of the
media house under study was used to elicit information and responses from these news
editors to put the study into some context and perspective. It also helped in situating the
numbers and figures from the content analyses within some sort of framework. This was
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be done by using opinion, knowledge and experience type questions. The in - depth
interviews were used to translate the research objectives into specific questions that
tapped a conceptual domain in the researcher's theory of gatekeeping.
The interviews also produced responses that bore on the hypotheses posited.
The researcher employed the use of a general interview guide to provide some form of
guidance and uniformity in the process.
While the researcher acknowledges that interviews are generally subjective, strenuous
attempts were made to balance or offset this subjectivity by the stringent nature of the
content analyses provided.
4.3 Study Setting
Ghana Television (GTV)
Ghana Television is a state owned broadcasting house. It airs for about 20 hours a day.
It has three major news bulletins a day. These are the 2pm, 7pm and 10:30pm news
bulletins. The 7pm or evening news is their principal news bulletin which lasts for about
an hour with business, weather and the news in local languages as part of the package.
GTV's news stories are mostly straight news items mainly from and about the capital,
political and social elites.
GTV was chosen as the setting because it is state owned and is obliged by law to cover
and reach the whole country with programmes in languages that are familiar to the
citizens of the country (NLCD 226).
It also has the widest territorial spread, reaching over 90% of the country.
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4.4 Period of Study
The period chosen for this study is January to March and October to December 2004.
These are the first and last quarters of the year 2004.
The idea behind choosing these periods was to help the researcher establish whether
the pattern of rural news coverage bears some relationship to the political calendar of
the country. The amount of coverage given to rural communities in the first quarter of the
year when there was little political activity was compared to that of the last quarter of the
year which formed the peak of political campaigning in the run up to the 2004 elections.
The last quarter marked the period when a lot of rural communities were inundated with
visits from officialdom and political party representatives who all form part of the elite.
The approach was to observe whether the news would dominantly be about visiting
government officials, political party functionaries or about the rural communities these
individuals visited.
4.5 Sampling Procedure
The universe of the study was limited to all evening news bulletins of GTV for the
periods covering January to March and October to December 2004.
A sample size of 101 news tapes, which comprised of a total of 1353 news items were
chosen for the study.
The sample size represents about 56.1 % of the total number of evening news bulletins
for the days that were sampled for the period under study.
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The method that was used to select the sample was the constructed week method.
Using a calendar starting from Monday 5th January 2004, subsequent days for the
period were chosen by choosing every other day in the week for the months under
study.
4.6 Content Categories
The content categories are as follows:
(a) Frequency of mention of rural news
(b) Predominant images associated with rural communities
(c) Placement of rural news items
(d) Subject of rural news stories
4.7 Interviews
The researcher conducted personal and in-depth interview with the news directors, news
editors and regional correspondents of GTV. This was important because the editors
and directors are the ones who are responsible for deciding what stories get selected as
news items, their placement and what is rejected. The interview with the news editor
was conducted using the face - to - face approach or one - on - one approach with the
researcher acting as the interviewer.
Telephone interviews were used for the various regional correspondents. This was
intended to save time and money, in that the researcher did not need to travel to the
various regions to interview the correspondents.
The researcher however acknowledges that telephone interviews did not give the
.researcher the opportunity of eliciting more elaborate responses from the respondents
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because of cost considerations and the fact that the researcher will not be face to face
with the respondents.
4.8 Data Collection Instruments
A coding frame (see appendix) was used to serve as a guide to help elicit relevant data
for the analysis. A coding sheet was developed for this purpose. Some of the variables
that were studied included placement, representation, focus and origin of story among
others. Other data like story setting, date of broadcast and type of story were also
coded.
A general interview guide was also used to help in getting detailed responses and
explanations from the news editor and regional reporters.
4.9 Data Analysis
The univariate analysis was used to measure the variables. To enable the researcher do
this, the variables - placement, direction, occupations associated with rural people were
analysed to find out for instance if the 2004 elections played a role in the amount of
news coverage given to rural communities.
After coding the variables, the data were computerized, after which the findings were
descriptively analysed. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used in the analysis.
Data representation methods such as frequency distribution tables, pie charts,
histograms and other graphical presentations were used to provide comprehensive
summaries of the data.
Details of these findings are presented in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
5.0 Introduction
This chapter presents and discusses the findings of the study. This is designed to
provide or present answers to the research questions, which were posited at the
beginning of the research. The findings are generally supported by tables, graphs
figures and the interviews conducted with reporters and editors.
5.1 Number of News Stories/Bulletins
The researcher had a universe of 183 days, spanning the first and last quarters of 2004.
Out of this, the researcher randomly selected 89 days (47%) for the study.
The first question the research attempts to answer is whether GTV news items are
predominantly from urban areas and are about the elite.
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Table 1: Number of News Stories - 1st and Last Quarter 2004
Type Urban Rural Foreign sports Business Total
Frequency 823 106 274 55 95 1353
Percentage 60% 9% 20% 4% 7% 100%
Evaluation
A grand total of 1,353 news stories were used for the study. Again out of this total, only
106 of these news items were from and or about rural communities, this represents
about 9% of the total, on the contrary 823 news items were from urban areas, this is a
60% representation of total number of news items analysed for the study. This shows
that more than half of all news stories for GTV news are from and about urban dwellers
and the elite.
The combination of sports, business and foreign news totaled 424 news items,
representing a total of 31%.
The chart below shows the general tendency for the news to be of and about urban
areas and their inhabitants or the elite.
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Chart 1: GTV News Bulletins at 7pm - 1st and Last Quarter 2004
DUrban
• Rural
• Foreign
• Sports
• Business!
Chart 1 presents an overview of the all news stories and how they were distributed in
the six months under study.
The researcher attempts to break this down into the first and last quarters of 2004 for a
more comprehensive analysis.
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5.2 Number of stories - 1st Quarter
Table 2: No. of News Items at 7pm - 1st Quarter2004
Type Urban Rural Foreign Sports Business Total
Frequency 387 38 148 43 86 702
Percentage 55% 5% 21% 6% 12% 100%
The first quarter of the year spanning January to March, 2004 followed the same pro
urban news pattern as described above.
The quarter recorded 387 urban news items, representing 55% of the total number of
702 news items that were viewed for the study. This is more than half of all news items
for the first quarter. This is in contrast to 38(5%) which represents the number of rural
news items that were viewed. This represents just about a third of the news stories. This
is against the background that 60% of Ghana's population reside in rural areas. (See
Table 2.)
Chart 2 demonstrates this point.
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Chart 2: GTV News at 7pm _1st Quarter 2004
500
400
~300
a3
-&200<1>U-100
o -.~~~~~~~~~~~-4~~~~~~~~
Urban Rural Foreign Sports Business
Type
Even in situations where the news were from urban areas, the concentration was
towards Accra as opposed to the other Regional capitals for instance. This assertion
was supported by more than half of the regional reporters interviewed. Some of the
reasons they gave for this imbalance included a belief that urban residents had access
to and understanding of the news than rural residents.
Other reasons included lack of space and airtime, similar stories being aired or a an
agenda against a particular rural news reporter
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5.3 Origin of Story - 1ST Quarter
Table 3: GTV News At 7pm (Origin Of Story) - 1st Quarter 2004.
Accra Reg. Dis. Rural Com. Others Total
Source Capital Capital
233 96 58 38 277 702
Frequency
33% 14% 8% 5% 40% 100%
Percentage
Evaluation
For the first quarter for instance, there were 233 news items from Accra, representing
33%, this was followed by 96(14%) news items from all the other nine(9) regional
capitals combined. District capitals had 58(8) news stories and only 38 stories,
representing 5% came from rural communities. This is captured in the chart 3.
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Chart 3: GTV News at 7_pmOrigin of Story 1stQuarter 2004
.Accra
cRego Cap .
• Dis. Cap .
• RuralComm.
aomers
Even though this marked the beginning of an election year, it appeared there was no
immediate need to focus a lot of attention on rural communities.
The concentration was still on urban areas especially Accra and other regional capitals,
with little news and information streaming in from rural communities.
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5.4 Number of Stories - Last Quarter
The last quarter of 2004 however saw quite an increase in rural news coverage, with
November posting the highest of 41 rural news items for the period.
Table 4: GTV No. of News items at 7pm - Last Quarter 2004
Type Urban Rural Foreign Sports Business Total
Frequency 436 68 126 12 9 651
Percentage 67% 10% 20% 2% 1% 100%
Even though urban news items still dominated the news landscape, with 436 news
items, representing 67% of the total news items of 651 news items that were reviewed
for the last quarter, there had been an increase in rural coverage. The quarter recorded
a total of 68 rural news items, representing 10%, almost double the amount of rural
coverage for the first quarter, which had 38 (5%) rural news items. See chart 4
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Chart 4: GTV News at 7pm _4th Quarter 2004
2% 1%
20%
II!l Urban
I!!l Rural
• Foreign
10%
!ill Sports
o business
Almost all the respondents interviewed agreed that the increase in coverage in the last
quarter of the year was as a result of the elections. Indeed one correspondent insisted
that, such has been the trend every election year.
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5.5 Origin of Story - Last Quarter
Even though the number of rural news items rose in this quarter, the distribution in terms
of origin of the news stories did not change much.
Table 5: GTV News at 7pm (Origin of Story) - Last Quarter 2004
Source Accra Reg. Dist. Rural area Other Total
capital capital
Frequency 224 123 89 68 147 651
Percentage 34% 19% 14% 10% 23% 100%
Evaluation
As per the table, Accra still maintained its lead in terms of origin of news stories, with
224 news items. This figure represents 34% of total news coverage for the last quarter,
this figure even though relatively less than the amount for the first quarter still speaks to
the trend of more urban related news as opposed to news from and about rural
communities.
Needless to say that about 93% of the urban news items were about elites especially
political leaders, officialdom and government officials.
Chart 5 below shows the distribution of the origin of news items for the last quarter:
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Chart 5: GTV News at 7pm (Origin of Story) - Last Quarter
oAccra
IReg.
ICap.
I Rural comml'
I Others .
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5.6 Portrayal of Rural Residents - 1st Quarter
One of the objectives of the study was to find out how rural communities were portrayed
in the news. To do this the researcher looked at
• occupations that were associated with rural residents and
• subject matter of the news items that came from rural areas.
• the people who made the news (newsmakers) in the rural areas
On how rural residents were portrayed, the categories included rural residents as poor,
dependent, suffering and ignorant.
Table 6: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural Residents) - 1st Quarter
2004
Type Poor Ignorant Suffering Dependent Other Total
Frequency 10 0 12 17 7 46
Percentage 22% 0% 26% 37% 15% 100%
Evaluation
It was apparent that more often than not, rural residents were portrayed or presented as
being dependent. This was evident in the use of phrases like, "until the NGO provided
these bore holes, the people had no means of potable water" and "the minister advised
that government was no longer provide all the needs of the people, communities are
now expected to initiate self help projects for their own betterment". This was the trend
in the first quarter.
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Chart 6: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural Residents)- 1st Quarter 2004
Other
Dependent
Cal>>-. Suffering
I--
Ignorant
Poor
o 5 10 15 20
Frequency
As shown in the chart above over half (63%) of the rural news items portrayed rural
residents as dependent and suffering, twenty two percent (22%) portrayed them as poor.
However the researcher did not find any stories that purposefully portrayed rural
residents as ignorant.
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Most of the pictures that came with the rural stories also fed into the perceptions
captured above. The pictures showed for instance, rural communities at gatherings or
durbars waiting for/on one benefactor or the other to come and commission one project
or the other.
More often than not these benefactors included non - governmental organizations,
government officials and philanthropists. Projects that were being commissioned or
initiated by these benefactors included schools, hospitals, bore holes,
telecommunication among others.
5.7 Portrayal of Rural Residents - Last Quarter
The last quarter followed more or less the same trend.
Table 7: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural Residents) - Last Quarter
2004
Type Poor Ignorant Suffering Oependen Other Total
t
Frequency 8 0 16 34 15 73
Percentage 11% 0% 22% 46% 21% 100%
I ~valuation
In a similar fashion to the first quarter, the last quarter had over half (79%) of the news items
reviewed portraying rural residents as suffering, dependent and poor.
"~9ain a phrase like "the people appealed to the government to provide them with ..... " showed
this kind of trend.
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And like the first quarter, there were no news items portraying rural residents as ignorant. The
chart below illustrates this observation
Chart 7: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural in Residents)
Last Quarter 2004
10 -~--------------------4
5
Type
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5.8 Occupations Associated with Rural Residents - 1st Quarter
To provide context and meaning to the images and portrayal that was given to rural
communities and the residents, the research tried to establish a relationship between the
occupations that were predominant in the rural news stories and the images that were
associated with these stories. Some of the occupations were farming, fishing, artisanship
and small scale businesses.
Table 8: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) - 1st Quarter 2004
occupation Farmers Fishermen Artisans Small Scale Other Total
Business
Frequency 20 5 11 18 9 63
Percentage 32% 8% 17% 29% 14% 100%
Evaluation
For the first quarter, over 30% of the rural news items portrayed the residents as
farmers, twenty - nine percent (29%) of rural residents were apparently involved with
small scale businesses and less than 20% were perceived as being artisans.
The chart below shows that about 61% of rural resident were involved with some form of
small scale business. This is because the farmers were also portrayed as small scale
farmers who were still using traditional methods of farming.
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Chart 8: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) - 1st Quarter 2004
[;J Farmers
• Fishermen
DArtisans
DSma11 S.B
• Others
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5.9 Occupations Associated with Rural Residents
- Last Quarter
The last quarter had almost the same trend.
Table 9: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) - Last Quarter 2004
Type Farmers Fisher Artisans Small S. Other Total
men
Frequency 36 3 11 19 7 76
Percentage 48% 4% 14% 25% 9% 100%
Evaluation
With the last quarter, almost half, i.e. 48% of the stories portrayed rural residents as being
involved in some form of farming activity, this represents a 16% increase from the first
quarter, which had 32% as farmers. Twenty - five percent (25%) were represented as small
scale business owners; this is a slight decrease (4%) from the first quarter which had 29%.
Both the first and last quarters had figures of less than 10% representing the fishing
community in rural areas.
The chart below is a presentation of how the various occupations were allotted in the last
quarter.
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Chart 9: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) Last Quarter 2004
9%
III Farmers
25%
48% III Fishermen
III Artisans
III Small S.B
• Other
4%
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5.10 Subject Matter - 1st Quarter
The subject matter of news report shows the focus of the story: it also shows the
journalists' own understanding and appreciation of an issue. This is why the researcher
looked at the issues that were discussed in the news items from the rural communities.
First Quarter
Table 10: Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matter of Stories) - 1st Quarter 2004
I
Type Political Economic Chieftaincy Land Labour Health Religion Education Other Tota[
I
Frequency 8 19 2 0 0 10 1 8 10 581
Percentag 14% 33% 3% 0% 0% 17% 2% 14% 17% 1001
e % II
Evaluation
Just about a third of the stories for the first quarter, i.e. 33% had to do with economics;
some of the themes for this category included rural farming activities, small scale
business enterprises. There was an equal distribution between education and politics,
14% apiece. On education, the stories leaned towards provision of schools and
educational tools for basic schools especially. The political stories centered on
government activity and projects on education in rural communities.
Health issues which were raised in the reports had to do with education and eradication
of diseases such as malaria. Provision of health facilities and HIV education by NGO's
also featured quite prominently.
And as shown in the diagram below, labour and land issues did not appear to be a
favourite subject matter for reporters, there was virtually no news reports on these
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subjects. Even though chieftaincy and religion made a showing, there was very little to
show for it, both subjects averaged just about 2.5% in the first quarter.
Chart 10: Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matter of Stories) 1st Quarter 2004
20 -.~~~~~~~~~~-=~==~~~~---~---.
18 --1--'-----'--1
16
14
o~c 12
Q)
::J 10
C"
Q)
J..
LL 8
6
4
2
o
Type
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5.11 Subject Matter - Last Quarter
The last quarter of the year had the same trend with slight changes.
Table 11: Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matters of Stories) - Last Quarter 2004
Type Political Eco. Chie Land Lab Health Religio Edu. Other Total
f Dist. our n
Frequency 24 31 2 0 4 15 0 6 10 92
Percentag 26% 34% 2% 0% 4% 16% 0% 7% 11% 100%
e
Evaluation
As was shown in the first quarter, small scale economic activity dominated the news in terms of
focus. Like the first quarter, a third of the news stories had economic themes, however in
this quarter a lot of the economic activity were of women groups who had come together to
form small scale business groups. These women were more often than not engaged in
traditional soap making, tie and dye making and other similar industries.
As noted earlier political coverage had increased during the last quarter, by more than 10%,
subjects of interest during this quarter was predominantly based on political party activity
(campaign) in rural areas.
Health as a subject matter had almost the same amount of volume as in the first quarter; there
was only a 1% decrease in this quarter. The only difference in this quarter was that
coverage of health centered on sod -cutting and commissioning of health facilities for rural
communities.
~s can be deduced from the graph below, coverage of education in this quarter suffered a 50%
decrease from the first quarter. It decreased from 14% in the first quarter to 7% in the last
quarter.
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Chieftaincy and labour issues had total of 6%. Religion and land disputes had virtually no
coverage at all.
Chart 11:Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matter) Last Quarter 2004
~e 20 --
u
15 --
~
10
5
Type
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5. 12 Newsmakers - 1st Quarter
Newsmakers make the news; more often than not the newsmakers determine the focus
of the story. The researcher attempted to see who made the news in the few times that
rural areas were covered in the news.
First Quarter
Table 12: Rural News at 7pm (Newsmakers) _1st Quarter 2004
Type Gov Chie Dis. Rural ReI. Farme Fisherm Arti Small Others Total
fs Off. Res. Ldrs rs en Scale I
I
Frequenc 27 4 19 8 2 4 0 0 0 2 64
I
Y
Percenta 41% 6% 29 12% 3% 6% 0% 0% 0% 3% 100% I
ge % I
Evaluation
During the first quarter of 2004, close to half of all rural news had government officials as
newsmakers. These newsmakers included the President, Vice President, the executive,
the legislature, judiciary, and other such government bodies. Even though the news
traffic to rural communities was quite slow in this quarter, officialdom seem to have
dominated whatever little coverage that was given to the rural communities.
Twenty - nine percent (29%) of the news stories had district officials as newsmakers.
These district officials still form a part of government/officialdom. This means that 70% of
rural news stories had some government official as the newsmaker. This provides a very
interesting analogy since studies have shown that people prefer and are interested in
news of and about themselves (Potter 2002).
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This also proves Brown's assertion earlier than most times it is simply a situation of the
piper calling the tune.
Chart 12
Rural News At 7pm (News Makers)
1st Quarter 2004
30
25
~
e(J 20
~ 15
C"
E 10
LL
5
o
Type
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The chart above shows that only 12% of rural news covered had rural residents as
newsmakers. This represents a negligible fraction of total rural news coverage in the first
quarter. This trend suggests that coverage given to rural communities was not generated
out of a need to cover rural news but rather it was the need to give coverage to
government activity in these rural communities.
5.13 Newsmakers - Last Quarter
The last quarter followed more or less the same trend, like the first quarter; close to half
of all the rural news items had government officials as newsmakers. This means that
even though the news may have been about rural people, they did not make the news.
Those who made the news were government officials visiting rural areas. Twelve
percent (12%) of the news also had district officials as the centre of attention. Even
though this figure was a decrease by more than half of the first quarter, it was still
significant.
Chiefs as newsmakers however more than doubled in this quarter, this was due in part
to the increased political activity in the rural areas. Political party representation at rural
events like festivals and durbars had increased quite substantially.
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Table 13: Rural News at 7pm (News Makers) - Last Quarter 2004
Type Gov. Chiefs Dis. Prof. ReI. Farmers Fishermen Small Other Total I
Off. Adm. In Leaders S.B
rural I
Frequency 43 14 11 0 4 1 0 0 19 92 I
I
Percentage 47% 15% 12% 0% 4% 1% 0% 0% 21% 100% I
Chart13 provides a pictorial representation of the situation of the situation during the last
quarter.
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Chart 13: Rural News at 7pm (News Makers)- Last Quarter 2004
50
45
40
35
~
0c 30
Cl>
:J 25
C"
Q)
l- 20 -
LL
15
10 -
5
o -
Type
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5.14 Stories with Pictures and Voice - 1st Quarter
It is possible to determine the importance or relevance of a story by the pictures and
voice that come along with it. The researcher therefore attempted to gauge the degree of
importance associated with the rural news item by establishing whether the rural news
items came with voice and pictures.
First Quarter
The tables (14 &15) below indicates that almost all the stories from both the first and last
quarters of and from rural areas had voice, while all the stories came with pictures.
Table 14: Rural News at 7pm (Stories with Voice) - 1st Quarter 2004.
Yes No Total
Type (Voices)
Frequency 32 6 38
Table 15: Rural News at 7pm (Stories with Pictures) - 1st Quarter 2004.
Yes No Total
Type (Pictures)
Frequency 38 0 38
Percentage 100% 0% 100%
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Evaluation
In the first quarter, more than 80% of the stories came with voice; however the voice was
given to the newsmakers who were rarely rural residents.
Even though all the sampled rural news items came with pictures, most of the pictures
and images were of newsmakers and in instances where the pictures dwelled on
residents, they were images of rural people as poor, suffering, and dependent on outside
help.
Charts 14 & 15 capture the situation as explained above.
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Chart 14: Rural News at 7pm on (Story with Voices) 1st Quarter 2004
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Chart 15: Rural News at 7pm Story with Pictures 1st Quarter 2004
40
35
30
~ 25
0
t:
Q)
:::::I 20
C"
Q...).
LL 15
10
5
0
Yes No
Type
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5.15 Stories with Pictures and Voice - Last Quarter
Table 16: Rural News at 7pm (Stories with Voice) - Last Quarter 2004
Type (Voices) Yes No Total
Frequency 51 17 68
Percentage 81% 19% 100%
Table 17: Rural News at 7pm (Stories with Pictures) - Last Quarter 2004
Type Pictures Yes No Total
Frequency 68 0 68
Percentage 100% 0% 100%
Evaluation
The trend did not change much in the last quarter of the year. As can be seen from
Table 16, more than 80% of rural news items came with voice; however there was a
slight increase in the number of news items as opposed to the first quarter. As regards
pictures, the last quarter was a reflection of the first quarter.
Indeed, all stories came with pictures which were representative of the coverage that
was given them. This is shown in the chart 16 & 17 .
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Chart 16: Rural News at 7pm Story with Without Voices - Last Quarter
2004
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Chart 17: Rural News at 7pm (Story with and without Pictures)
Last Quarter 2004
4 0 --+---- ..--.--~------~·I
20+-~---------j
Yes No
Type
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5.16 Placement of Story - 1st Quarter
Hiebert, Ungrait and Bohn (1985) contend that "placement of a story on the front page
of a newspaper as the cover article in a magazine or the lead story in a TV newscast can
have significant influence on the number of persons who read or see it".
So to enable the researcher find the degree of prominence and importance given to
stories from rural areas, the researcher adopted the placement of rural stories as one of
the measures to test how news items from rural areas were handled at GTV.
The categories for placement of stories were into 1S 2nd, 3rd\ and other stories as shown
below.
First Quarter
Table 18: Rural News at 7pm (Placement of Story) - 1st Quarter 2004
Type lSI story 2nd story 3rd story Other Total
Frequency 1 2 3 32 38
Percentage 2% 5% 7% 86% 100%
Evaluation
In the first quarter of the year under review, there was only one occasion when a rural
news item took the first spot or made headline news. This was a news item from the
Nsein Traditional area, when the Regional Minister inspected progress made on the
Presidential Special Initiative. Apart from this there were only five other occasions when
rural news items made the second and third positions in the news line up. This means
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that for the whole quarter less than a fifth (15%) of rural news items made it to the first
three slots in GTV's evening news bulletin.
The chart below accurately captures this situation.
Chart 18: Rural News at 7pm (Placement of Story) 1st Quarter 2004
01 st Story
rtl2nd Story
o 3rd Story
oOther
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5.17 Placement of Story - Last Quarter
Table 19: Distribution Table on Placement of Story - 4th Quarter 2004
Type 1st Story 2nd Story 3ra Story Other Total
Frequency 0 7 8 53 68
Percentage 0 10% 10% 80% 100%
Evaluation
The last quarter of the year followed more or less the same trend, with more than 80% of
all rural news items taking the 4th or much later slot in the news line up.
This shows that more often than not news from and about rural areas are not given as
much prominence as urban related news.
This suggests that cumulatively speaking, for both quarters just about 20%, which is a
total 21 stories out of 106 rural news items, made it to the first, second and third
positions in the news line up. See graph below:
This assertion was supported by a number of the regional correspondents spoken to
who asserted that often times they are unhappy with the way their stories are treated.
They said that even though they appreciated the need for some editing to be done on
the. stories, it is disappointing to see one's story turned upside down or totally missing
from the national news line - up.
This assertion is however contested by the editors who insist that choice and placement
of stories are based primarily on national interest, content, order of importance and the
editor's view.
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Chart 19: Placement of Story - 4th Quarter 2004
~
so::
~ 30 -+------------~-----=...---'-·~~I
C'"
Q)
~
LL
o
1st story 2nd story 3rd story Other
Type
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5.18 Test of Hypotheses
Three hypotheses were posited:
1. That it is likely that news reports by GTV are predominantly urban based and
centered on the elite in the society.
Using analysis from the content reviewed for both first and last quarters of the year
studied, it was obvious that the first hypothesis posited above held. Indeed of all the
news items reviewed less than 10% came from rural communities. Also the news
appeared to be centered around officialdom and the elite in general. In the first
quarter for instance, more than 40% of the news makers were government officials.
This was also the trend in the last quarter where close to half (47%) of the
newsmakers were still government officials.
2. That it is likely that rural residents would be given stereotypic images, portrayal of
poverty and agricultural - based lifestyles.
This assumption made by the researcher proved to be the case as supported by the
content studied. Of the number of occupations listed close to half of all news items
portrayed rural residents as farmers. Again over 70% of rural news items reviewed
showed rural residents as poor, suffering and dependent.
3. That the increased amount of rural news coverage during the last quarter of. 2004
was due to the elections.
After reviewing the content the researcher recognized that the 2004 elections did
affect coverage of rural news.
Even though it was obvious that rural news coverage was generally low for both
quarters, coverage of rural news for the last quarter was double the amount of
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coverage for the first quarter. That is to say, during the last quarter which was the
period for the electioneering campaign, coverage was 10% as compared to 5% in the
first quarter.
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CHAPTER SIX
DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
6.0 Introduction
This chapter makes a critical assessment of the findings made in the preceding
chapter. The chapter will also present a detailed discussion of the findings, as
well as draw meaningful and relevant conclusions from the data gathered.
The researcher will also attempt to make some recommendation based on the
findings gathered and the conclusions drawn.
Finally, the limitations associated with the study will also be discussed.
6.1 Summaries of Major Findings
Generally rural news coverage in the last quarter of 2004 was better than the first
quarter of 2004.
From the sample size of 702 news items reviewed for the first quarter, only 38 news
items were of or from rural areas. This represents a mere 5% of all news items reviewed
for the period. Comparatively, coverage of rural news items doubled in the last quarter,
making up about 10% of total news coverage for the quarter. Indeed out of the 651 news
items reviewed for the quarter, 68 of them were rural news items.
Rural residents were given the same stereotypic images in both the first and last
I. quarters. Well over half of all rural news items in both quarters portrayed rural residents
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as being poor, dependent or suffering. In the first quarter for instance, over 70% of the
news items fell into these categories. Likewise in the last quarter, over 80% of all rural
news items analysed portrayed rural residents as either poor, dependent or suffering.
This was buttressed with occupations, pictures and images that were associated with
residents of rural communities. Some of the predominant occupations associated with
these stories were small scale farming, fishing and artisanship.
Again the representation of rural residents as dependent was evident in the focus and
subject matter of the stories covered. More than half (50%) of the rural news stories
focused on development projects that were being undertaken by NGO's, donor countries
and the government. This trend of coverage inadvertently feeds to the assertion that
rural residents are poor and dependent and can do little or nothing for themselves
especially without external help.
Generally it appeared that stories from rural areas were given very little prominence and
preference over urban news items. Out of a total of 1353 news items reviewed for the
period, only 106 were from rural areas, this represents less than 10% of all news items
analysed. This shows a general disinterest in rural news.
Also in instances where rural news items were chosen, they were pushed to the latter
part of the local news in favour of elitist news from the urban areas.
In situations where rural news items were given some prominence, the newsmakers
were more often than not government officials, chiefs and district administrative officials.
This pattern was evident in more than 70% of the rural news items analysed for the
study. This implies that the stories rarely focused on the ordinary rural man or woman
and the issues they might find relevant.
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However it was interesting to note that almost more than 80% of all rural news items
came with voice and all the news items came with pictures, but again the voice was
given to the newsmakers who were mostly not rural residents. The pictures that came
with the story also reinforced the stereotypic perceptions associated with rural residents
(as discussed above).
6.2 Discussion
The findings of the study raise a number of vital questions for discussion.
Among them are issues such as:
• How often news of and about rural areas are covered and reported by the
nation's main television station (GTV)?
• What images are associated with stories from rural areas
• Whether the politics of the nation has anything to do with trend of coverage of
news items
It was realized from the study undertaken that news from rural areas were hardly
covered by Ghana Television, and that the only times that rural news played a prominent
role in the news was when the presidency, the executive and government administrative
machinery were in the news. And as Boateng (1996) puts it ... it is common knowledge
that the state -owned media tend to show a clear bias in favour of the government of the
day in their news coverage and editorial opinions. This is in keeping with the old adage
that he who pays the piper calls the tune, except that in this case the money used really
belongs to the state and not the government of the day.
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It is probably because of such purported biases that people like Wereko 8robbey (1996)
can throw out challenges such as:
If anybody can tell me the last time they heard a GBG news commentary critical of, or
written by a well known adversary of the government, I shall take of my tarzan's loin
cloth. Fact is that it will never happen and I shall be spared the 'black bushes.'
Such harsh criticism should put enormous pressure on state owned media like GTV to
stray away from the penchant to cover news that is mostly of government and other
parastatals. GTV needs to realize that rural residents or communities form more than
60% of Ghana's population and as such are entitled equal if not more coverage from the
so called nation's station.
The medium of television continues to playa very important and powerful role in our
lives. It is therefore necessary for television stations to exercise a certain amount of
circumspection and responsibility in whatever stories they may choose to report.
It was obvious from the study that almost all the news items from and about rural
communities had practically the same stereotypic images. These images often
represented rural people as poor, suffering and dependent on the largesse and
magnanimity of government, NGO's and donor bodies. The images also represented a
people who lived simple lives which is characterized by small scale farming, petty trading
and artisanship.
This kind of representation or portrayal does not do much to educate and inform the
average urban viewer about the real issues or way of life of people living in rural
communities. Indeed such images rather feed and into the stereotypic but not
necessarily correct impressions urban residents may have formed about rural
communities. This is not to say however that these images are totally misrepresentative
of life in rural areas, as much as these images do reflect some aspects of rural living, it is
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also important for these reports to also focus on the triumphs and success stories that
can come from these areas.
On the issue of politics and rural coverage, it was most enlightening to find out that the
highest number of rural news items were recorded in November 2004, which had 41
rural news stories. The researcher gathered that this was the period for the most
intensive political campaigning. This period was the run up to the December 7, elections
in 2004.
All of a sudden it appeared that rural had assumed an inexplicable importance on the
coverage calendar of Ghana Television. Needless to say that at this time almost every
political figure who mattered was trooping to these villages to solicit for votes. Even
during this period, it appeared once again that the focus was not on the communities
and their problems but on the politicians and their campaign messages.
Naturally December and January had the least number of rural news items. January
posted five (5) rural news items, representing a 9% out of a total of 181 news items that
were analysed for the month of January, as opposed to 101 news items from urban
areas. December had the second lowest number of rural news items, posting just nine
(9) stories. This period was after the elections and political activity had gone down
drastically and obviously so had the interest in coverage of rural communities.
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6.3 Limitations
Like all other such academic exercises this study had its limitations.
The method of research chosen even though useful could not give an all round
interpretation of the issues. This is because as posited by (Epstein 1973) content
analyses studies only content and therefore cannot draw meaningful contexts in the
relationship between these contents and the perception of audiences about these
contents and the influence and consequences of these contents on audiences. In other
words this study would have been complete if the researcher had for instance conducted
a survey of viewers or rural residents to gauge their reaction to the way in which rural
communities are portrayed on television.
Another limitation was access to information. Even though the information or the tapes
that were meant to be used for the study were available, it was still difficult for the
researcher to get a stand by video equipment to view the tapes. This shows that GTV is
quite under equipped.
Again the researcher faced quite some difficulty in reaching all ten regional
correspondents for the in - depth interviews. It was just impossible and the researcher
had to finally settle for six out of the ten correspondents with the idea that the six will be
representative of all ten regional correspondents.
Despite these limitations, the researcher firmly believes that the study has given enough
and substantial exposition and insights into some of the issues raised.
The researcher expects that the study will be of immense benefit to the management of
Ghana Television.
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6.4 Recommendations
The study brought to life a lot of engaging issues, in the light of these findings the
researcher has made a few recommendations.
There is no doubt about the potential of mass media to affect and influence the thinking
and social conscience of a people. Television plays an even more powerful role in this
regard. In other words television can and should be used as a tool to educate and inform
its viewers.
Indeed studies have shown that people who live in urban areas prefer to hear stories
from their hometowns and traditional areas, so it is incumbent on a nationwide television
station like Ghana Television to increase their coverage of rural communities. Needless
to say this kind of coverage should be a true reflection of rural living, that is to say such
stories should be a mixed bag of good and not so good aspects of the everyday lives of
these people. After all one picture they say is worth a thousand words, that is why it is
imperative for the right images to be shown.
It is also essential for GTV to use a novel idea such as the news in local languages,
which effectively addresses the language barrier (English), as a means of bridging the
gap between rural and urban news reportage.
This idea of 'who pays the piper calling the tune' should be a thing of the past. Article
1(b) of the Broadcasting Standards published by the National Media Commission states
that;
... broadcasting stations shall endeavour at all times to reflect and promote national
development in their programmes and other output.
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Ghana Television should be able to get to the place where its news items are purely
based editorial decisions that reflect the true interest of its viewers.
Short of having a formula that effectively works out what percentage of the news should
be from and about rural areas as against those from the urban areas and about the elite,
regional correspondents could be given a say as to how their news reports are treated
by the gatekeepers or editors in Accra.
If possible regional correspondents should de-link coverage of political figures from
original stories that actually talk about rural residents and their issues.
It is hoped that these recommendations will go a long way to influence these issues
which have been presented.
6.5. Conclusion
The task of the researcher for this study was to find out how rural communities are
portrayed or represented in the news. The study also investigated the percentage
balance of coverage of urban/elitist news as against coverage of rural areas and
residents.
Ghana Television's evening news bulletin for 2004 provided the content of study for this
research. Thousand three hundred and fifty three (1,353) tapes were reviewed for this
purpose.
In - depth interviews were also conducted with regional correspondents of GTV across
the country to complement the findings of the content that was analysed.
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It was clear from the findings of the study that the majority (about 90%) GTV's evening
news bulletin in 2004 was based on and about urban elites. There was also a strong
presence of news about central government, officialdom, political figures/stories.
News from rural areas formed less than 10% of the evening news broadcast. About a
third of the 10% rural news stories were concentrated in the last quarter of 2004, which
was the lead up to the general elections in December 2004.
However from mid December to January 2005, there was a sharp decline in news items
and stories from rural communities. After the elections, the attention of the station has
obviously shifted to the fallout from the elections.
The researcher also established that in cases where the news was rural based it was
rarely about the livelihoods and personal stories of the people; the emphasis was on
government officials, district level appointees, visiting elites and government projects.
In the few stories that centered on rural inhabitants, they were portrayed and
represented as poor, suffering and dependent on aid from central government, foreign
missions and benevolent organizations. The researcher found this stereotypic casting in
nearly all the news items reviewed.
The tapes reviewed also showed that even though most rural news items had images
and voice accompanying it, the images were of the newsmakers, who were visiting
elites, and the voice (sound bite) belonged to the same group of people.
The general conclusion drawn form the content studied was that news from rural areas
and about rural residents were not considered as headline making news.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asante, C. The Press in Ghana: Problems and Prospects, University Press of America,
Maryland U.S.A, 1966
Black, J. & Bryant, J. Introduction to Mass Communication. (3rd ed) USAWim. C. Brown
Publishers, 1992
Boadu - Ayeboafo, Yaw, Serving the State vs. Serving the Public: The Role of State
Media in a Democratic Society. A paper delivered at a round table discussion organized
by COD: 1998
Bernigan, F.J. Community Communications, the Role of Community Media in
Development. Unesco, 1979, NO.9
Boafo, S.T.K. Ghana's Press under the PNDC. Performance under Confinement
Gazette. Vo1.35, 1985
Breed, W. Social Control in the Newsroom. In W. Schramm (ed.), Mass
Communications. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1960.
Brown, Richard M. The Gatekeeper Reassessed, a Return to Lewin. Journalism
Quarterly, 1980, 595 - 601.
Davison, W. P and Fredrick T. C (ed.) Mass Communication Research, Major Issues
and Future Directions. New York: Praeger, 1974
Dexter, L. A. and White D.M. People, Society and Mass Communication. New York: The
Free Press, 1964.
Dimmick, J. The Gatekeeper: an Uncertainty Theory. Journalism Monographs,
November 1964.
Donohew, L. Publishers and their Influence Groups. Journalism Quarterly, 1965, 42, 112
-3
83
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Donohew, L. Newspaper Gatekeepers and Forces in the News Channel. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 1967, 31, 61 - 68
Epstein, E.J. News from Nowhere. New York: Random House, 1973
Ernst S.W. Baseball vs. Brickbat: A Content Analysis of Communication Development.
Journalism Quarterly, 1982, Vol.49, 88
Gadzekpo, A. Is there a place for the Media in a Constitutional Democracy? lEA
Gieber, W. Across the Desk: A Study of 16 Telegraph Editors. Journalism Quarterly,
1954,61 -68
Gieber, W. How the Gatekeepers View Local Civil Liberties News. Journalism Quarterly,
1960,37,199 - 205
Gunaratne, S. Reporting the Third World in the 1970s: A Longitudinal Content Analysis
of Two Australian Dailies, 1982, Gazette Vo1.29, 27
Hiebert, R. E., Ungurait, D. F. & Bohn, T.W. Mass Media IV: An Introduction to Modern
Communication, New York: Longman Inc., 1985
Kasoma F. p, Publishing a Rural Newspaper in Africa. Harare: WACC & Baobab 1992
Katz, E. & Lazarsfeld, P. F. Personal Influence. New York: The Free Press, 1960
Karikari, K. Africa: The State of the Media in Ghana. Ghana Journalists Association &
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Accra, 1995
McQuail, D, Toward a Sociology of Mass Communication. London: Collier, Macmillan
Ltd., 1968
Melkote, S, Modernisng Styles of Life, Communication for Development in the Third
World, Newsbury Sage, 1991
Moemoka, A Perspective of Development Communication in Tony Nnaemeka, Egerton
Uveighara & Didi Uyo (eds) Philosophy & Dimensions
Okigbo, C. The Print Media and National Development in Africa in module on
Development Communication, 1982, ISSER
84
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Multilingual Glossary for Human Settlement Terms, UN Centre for Human
Settlement (Habitat) 1992, Nairobi Kenya
Schramm, W. The Nature of News. Journalism Quarterly, 1949, 26, 259 - 269
Schramm, W. Communication Change in Developing Countires. Stanford University
Press, Palo Alto, California, USA, 1964
Westley, Bruce H. & Maclean, M.S. A Conceptual Model for Communications Research,
Journalism Quarterly, 1957,34,31 - 38
Wereko Brobbey C. The Fourth Republic of Ghana will last for a Hundred Years. True or
False? Accra: Anansesem Publications, 1996
White D. M. The Gatekeeper: A Case Study in Selection of News. Journalism
Quarterly, 1950, 27, 383 - 390
Whitney D. C. & Becker, L.B. Keeping the Gate for Gatekeepers: the Effects of
Wire News. Journalism Quarterly, 1982, 59, 60 - 65
85
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CODING GUIDE
1. Media organization
2. Type of Bulletin
3. Date of Broadcast
4. Duration of Broadcast
5. Number of types of stories in Bulletin
a. Urban
b. Rural
c. International
d. Other
6. Origin of Story
a. Accra
b. Regional capital
c. District capital
d. Rural community
7. Does the story come with pictures?
a. Yes
b. No
8. Does the story come with voice?
a. Yes
b. No
86
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9. News makers
a. Government officials
b. Chiefs
c. District administrative officers
d. Professionals in rural areas
e. Religious leaders
f. Farmers
g. Fishermen
h. Artisans
I. Small scale business operators
j. Other
10. Focus of story
a. Development projects
b. Politics
c. Chieftaincy
d. Agriculture
e. Health
f. Education
g. Land/forestry
h. Foreign aid
i. Other
11. Occupations associated with rural residents in news item
a. As farmers
b. As fishermen
c. As artisans
d. As small scale business operators
e. Other
12. Portrayal/images of rural residents
a. As poor
b. As ignorant
c. As suffering
d. As dependent
e. Other
87
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13. Subject matter of stories
a. Political
b. Economic
c. Chieftaincy
d. Land disputes
e. Labour
e. Health
f. education
g. religion
14. Placement of story
a. 151 story
b. 2nd story
c. 3rd story
d. Other
88
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (EDITORS)
1. Do you have a news editorial policy?
2. If yes, what does it say about rural news coverage?
3. If no, why not?
4. Apart from your editorial policy, what else informs the selection of news items
5. How do you prioritize news items?
6. Specifically, what are the criteria for selecting rural news?
7. When is rural news a priority story for the headline?
8. What are the sources of rural news?
9. Do you have a regular stream or supply of rural news items from your
correspondents in these areas?
10. How come that in the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items from rural
communities than in the first quarter of the year?
89
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11. What do you think accounts for the unfair balance between the amount of urban
based news as opposed to rural news items?
12. Is there some sort of pressure, even if subtle, to squelch rural news in favour of
political or elite related news?
13. Will there ever be a situation where there will be an equal balance between rural
and urban/elitist news?
90
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (REGIONAL REPORTERS)
1. What principles guide your selection of which stories to cover?
2. How often do you originate personal story ideas based on the lifestyles and
concerns of rural communities which you cover?
3. Do your story ideas come from visiting political figures and elites in
general?(newsmakers)
4. How often do you see your stories or rural areas in the news line up?
5. If not often, what do you think are some of the reasons for this?
6. If and when you do see your submitted rural stories in the news line up are you
happy with the way it is treated or placed in the line up?
7. How come that in the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items from
rural communities than in the first quarter of the year?
91
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
8. What do you think account for the unfair balance between the amount of urban
based news as opposed to rural news items?
9. What are some of the constraints you face in your job?
92
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1. What principles guide your selection of which stories to cover?
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general?(news
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4. How often do you see your stories or rural areas in the news line up?
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5. If not often, what do you think are some of the reasons for this?
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6. If and when you de see your submitted rural stories in the news line up are
you happy with the way it is treated or placed in the line up?
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7. How come that in the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items
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8. What do you think account for the unfair balance between the amount of
urban based news as opposed to rural news items?
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9. What are some of the constraints you face in your job?
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (REGIONAL REPORTERS)
1. What principles guide your selection of which stories to cover?
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2. How often do you Origln~te personal story ideas based on the lifestyles
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3. Do your story ideas come from visiting political figures and elites in
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5. if not often, what do you think are some of the reasons for this?
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6. If and when you do see your submitted rural stories in the news line up
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7. How come that in the last quarter 0;,:'2004, there were more news items l~ '-),
from rural communities than In the first quarter of the year?
8. What do you think account for the unfair balance between the amount of
urban based news as opposed to rural news items?
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9. What are some of the constraints you face in your job?
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.., r~.:CCRPO~TE mMJNICATm~S, FAX NO, :233 21 234566 Jan, 28 2Bl?6 01:m Pi
~ENt:RA\' INTERVIEW GUIDI! (REGIONAL REPORTERS)
1, Whet! principles gukiA your selection of which stcrles to covef'?
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b.>. ..w~~ .yv.. M\"'-~ ~(l ..t (~.t._"-~....... 'l::l ('A. J,p,u<Jpf'''''8 V\~VI'
;2, How often do you originate personal story IdGR" bilS8d OJ) thA lifestyle~1
and concerns of rural communities which you cover?
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5. 11'110\ Qften, whll! do you think orc soma of IhB raa~onS for this?
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6. If And M10n you do (joe your uubmltted rural s\orlGs in the news line lIr'
ere you hFlPPYwith tho way It ie treated or placed \(1 tho lin (I up?
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7. How come that 11"1 11mlasl quarter of 2004, lhoro were more new. lterns
from rural oommunltlas than In tho firGt quarter of thy yo;\r?
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p-ot.,:...t.....~' ......~ ,~.._, c:.(l..... ,\-< b2. c......_. ('..£~I~ V\/' .
.,..~~ ~~~,
B Wh::.lt do you think account for thf:l lH\(alr b31G1M:9 betWQen tho amount of
urban based nflWS ac opposed to rurul nwwS ltarns? A--~' ~~~ 1
9. Who! are some of the constrainta you fQCOIn your job?
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (REGIONAL REPORTERS)
What principles guide your sel~btion of which stories to cover?
,~ (D~1V1r~ C ~ [~l ~ '6lf'S /
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2. How often do you originate personal story ideas based on the lifestyles
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and concerns of rural communities which you cover? --,,
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3. Do your story ideas come from visiting political figures and elites in
general?(newsmakers)
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4. How often do you see your stories or rural areas in the news line up?
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5. If not often, what do you think are some of the reasons for this?
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6. If and when you do see your submitted rural stories in the news line up
are you happy with the way it is treated or placed in the line up?
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8. What do you think account for the unfair balance between the amount of
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9 What are some of the constraints you face in your job?
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (REGIONAL RESPORTERS)
1, What principles guide your selection of which stories to cover?
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2, How often do you originate personal story ideas based on the lifestyles
I '\. and concerns of rural communities which you COver?"
.3 Do your story ideas come from visiting political figures and elites in
general?(newsmakers)
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4. How often do you see your stories or (ural areas in the news line up?
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::; If not often, what do you think ars some of the reasons for this?
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6. If and when you do see your submitted rural stories in the news line up are
you happy with the way it is treated or placed in the line up?
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7. How come that In the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items
from rural communities than in the first quarter of the year?
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/:~REG I OHALHEAD-EASTERN FAX NO. : 233-81-23332 28 Dec. 2005 01:
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (REGIONAL REPORTERS)
2. How often do you originate personal story ideas baser: on the lifestyles
and concerns of rural communities which you cover?
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3. Do your sto-ry·-fdeas·-come from visiting political figUl'es and elites in
general?( newsmakers)
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5. If not often, what do you think are some of the reasons for this?
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6. If and when you do see your submitted rural stories in the news line up
are you happy with the way it is treated or placed in the line up"
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7. How come that in the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items
from rural communities than in the first quarter of the year?
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8. What do you think account for the unfair balance between the amount of
urban based news as opposed to rural news items?
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9. What are some of the constraints you face in your job?
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (~DITORS)
C,,--,~ ( IIVCv,. CX· II
1. Do you have a news editorial policy? '1~ r .> c . I G -Cv-~ fR I
; ~ ~~r{ ~ .q-~III
2. ~es, what does it say a.bout rural n('fs coverage?(' ~ ~ ~~tN:J I'
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3. If not, why not?
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4. Apart from your editorial policy, what else informs the selection of news
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5. How do you prioritize news items?
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6. Specifically, what are the criteria for selecting rural news?
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7. When is rural news a priority story for the headline?
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8. w~at are the sources of rural news? 1._
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9. Do you have a regular stream or supply of rural news items from your
correspondents in these areas?
10. How come that in the last quarter of 2004, there were more news items
from rural communities than in the first quarter of the year?
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University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
11.What do you think accounts for the unfair balance between the amount of
12. Is there some sort of pressure, even if subtle, to squelch rural news in
favour of political or elite related news?
13.Will there ever be a situation where there will be an equal balance
between rural and urban/e_lit_is.t news?
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GENERAL INTERVIEW GUIDE (EDITORS)
1. Do you have a news editorial policy? --CE S
2. If yes, what does it say about rural news coverage? ~ (). e-
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3. If not, why not? Lo'-fQvO~' I
4. Apart from your editorial policy, what else informs the selection or news
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items? "Z'~ ~ 'ttew
5. How do you prioritize news items?
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
6. Specifically, what are the criteria for selecting rural news?
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7. When is rural news a priority story for the headline?
8 What are the sources of rural news?
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9. Do you have a reguIar stream or supply of rural news items from your
correspondents in these areas?. ~ LCS
10. How come that in the. last quarter of 2004 ' there were more new~; items
from rural communities than in the first quarter of the year? ,-1
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11.What do you think accounts for the unfair balance between the amount of
urban based news as opposed to rural new~ items? \ d;D lJL.B.t-
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12.ls there some sort of pressur~ eve~tle~ squelch rural nl8WS in ".
favour of political or elite related news? Nu
13,Will there ever be a situation where there will be an equal balance ~
between rural and urban/elitist news? \ dD ~ ~C
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Chart 1: GTV News Bulletins at 7pm - 1st and Last Quarter 2004
DUrban
I_ Rural
I
:_ Foreign
I_ Sports
!
l. Business
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 2: GTV News at 7pm _1stQuarter 2004
Urban Rural Foreign Business
Type
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 3: GTV News at 7pm Origin of Story 1st Quarter 2004
I:JAccra
oReg. Cap.
• Dis. Cap .
• Rural Comm.
5% 8%
I1JOthers
-_ ------ --- ._- -
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 4: GTV News at 7pm _4thQuarter 2004
2% 1%
20%
I----~-~
I\Wl Urban
Ell Rural
• Foreign
10%
EI Sports
o business II
I'
I
I
-~---" ~ ---,------- -~-'- --,_ - ..,-----.__ ---... _I
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 5: GTV News at 7pm (Origin of Story) - Last Quarter
o Accra
I Reg.
ICap.
i
I Rural Cornrn.
IOthers ,
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 6: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural Residents)- 1st Quarter 2004
I-'--~--'-----
I
,
-'" ,.h: 's:: Other l·trw·\Ii ' }-' , --
I
Dependent • L
", J'1' .:
- - "
Q) ,
c.
~ Suffering L., J
Ignorant
I
!"
"
Poor _--
,~ <,
"
J I
o 5 10 15 20
Frequency
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 7: Rural News at 7pm (Portrayal of Rural in Residents)
Last Quarter 2004
40
35
30 - ..----- ..".-~-- ..-.- ..---.------- 1·---------
25 -------.-------.-~-.
---.-----,----:-1
10:------- o-.--.----~-~---.-.----.---
0'
~o0' ~ .~Oy ~~1f~o 't:::.e}" tJ0 O~
,<:$ 0~0° <:l«
",L_ ~ Type,_ ~-_
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 8: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) - 1st Quarter 2004
I-
10 Farmers -I
:/!j Fishermen
I o Artisans
I
10 Small S.B I
l.Others __J
1
l -_
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 9: Rural News at 7pm (Occupations in News Item) Last Quarter 2004
9%
..- -
III Farmers
25% r~ Fishermen
48%
1111 Artisans
iOSmal1 S.B
~qther
I
I 4%I
I
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 10: Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matter of Stories) 1st Quarter 2004
20 -
18
16 -
14 -
~
0c: 12
:C:l>s 10
Ce"
10.. 8 -
LL
6
4
2 -
0
,
Type Ii
__J
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 11 :Rural News at 7pm (Subject Matter) Last Quarter 2004
35
30
25
~
en 20
u
~ 15
5
o
Type
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 12
r---------- -----------~-----------------
-------------l
Rural News At 7pm (News Makers)
1st Quarter 2004
30
25
>.
e(J 20
~ 15
C'"
~ 10
U-
5
o
I
I
LI _ Type------_---- .._- ----
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 13: Rural News at 7pm (News Makers)- Last Quarter 2004
50 ---
45
40
35 -
~
co: 30
(I)
::::l 25
eC"
LL 20
15 -
10
5
0
Type
I
-----_j
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 14: Rural News at 7pm on (Story with Voices) 1st Quarter 2004
_____ - .. I
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 15: Rural News at 7pm Story with Pictures 1st Quarter 2004
,------- - - - -------- - -------- -----
30
~ 25
ec
Q)
:::s 20
C'"
~
11. 15
10
5
o
Yes No
Type
lI _
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 16: Rural News at 7pm Story with Without Voices - Last Quarter
2004
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 17: Rural News at 7pm (Story with and without Pictures)
Last Quarter 2004
80-
60-J--..---
Frequency
40---
20-~· -~-- .-..'-.."_..,.--t--"--.--"-----~ -
Yes No
Type
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 18: Rural News at 7pm (Placement of Story) 1st Quarter 2004
D 1st Story
2nd Story
D 3rd Story
DOther
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
Chart 19: Placement of Story - 4th Quarter 2004
I
I 60
I
50
40 -
o~e
~ 30 -I---~~~~~~~--·~-~-~·~-~·-~-~-~·~~---~--~--I
teT
LL
1st story 2nd story 3rd story Other
Type