University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh GHANAlAN NEWSPAPER PORTRAYAL OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DAlLY GRAPHIC AND PUBLIC AGENDA BY ELIZABETH KWAKYE THIS DISSERTATION [S SUBM[TTED TO THE UNIVERS[TY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF M.A. COMMUNICATION STUDIES. OCTOBER 2010 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh With the exception of the quoted refercnces and acknowledged sources , l herebydeclarethat this dissertation is the resu lt of my own research work undenaken unde rthe supervision of Dr. Audrey Gadzekpo and Ms Sarah Akrofl-Quarcoo al the School ofConuttunication Studies at the University of Ghana, and that it has not been presenlc dtoanyotherexamining body forlheaward ofanolherdegree MsSarah--AkrofiQuarcoo (Student) (Supervisor) o".?J:/o.'f:}"" II . o University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Each time the opponunityofexpressing appreciation presents itself. I gladly do so by initially saying Glory be 10 Godtbe father almighty; the creator of heaven and earth. It is through His Grace that this dissertation has seen the light of day. I am profoundly indebted to my main supervisor and academic mentor, Dr. Audrey Gadzekpo. She was strictly instrumental in taking me through difficult moments of this dissertation writing. Her sense ofhospilality and how casily appro achablc she was, served as my source of motivation and encouragement I should be immensely grateful to Mr. Benson Osei. Tutu in ensuring thai this piece of work comestofruilion. Forhisunbelievablepatienceandassistance,lsayGod bless him. My heartfelt thanks goes to my friends who urged me on till the completion of this task. They made me understand that no mattcr how hard it was, it certainly was going to end well sooner than later. To my cherishcd and beloved family. I say well done in making me who I am, most especially Mr. and Mrs. Denson. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION First and foremost, I would like [0 dedicate this work to Almighty God for His Mercy and Grace which has seen me through the best oftimes and the darkest oflhe hour. Secondly, to my loving and caring Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kwakye for their valuable guidance and prayers, I say thank you. Finally, I should be grateful in dedicating this work to Mr. and Mrs. Denson, for their unflinching support and words ofencouragemcnt throughout my program. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh important 10 include in their daily reporting. Research has shown that the major obstacles of persons wilh disabilities include biases, prejudice and discriminations. This study sought 10 examine how the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda framed issues conceming persons with disabilities, the prominence given to issues concerning persons withd isabilitiesandthetype ofsourcesmosllycitedinstoriescoocemingpersonswithdisabilities The study content analysed 72 issues of the Daily Graphic selected through simple random sampling and census approach and 46 issues of Public Agenda. The period covered January to June 2010. h was established that there wns little coverage on persons with di sabi lities in both the Daily GraphiC and Public Agenda. Thus. 1.06 percent of the stories in the two sampled newspapers covered disubi lity issues whi le 98.94 perce nt oflhe stories covered non- disability issues. Despite the little coverage given to d isability issues. the tone fo r most of the disability stories was positive (82.2 percent from Daily Graphic and 77.8 percent from Public Agenda). Besides the inadequate media coverage on disability issues. both. newspapers do not give prominence to such slories. The study concludes that even though news coverage by Daily GraphiC and Public Agenda newspapers arc largely not stereotyped, there are still some media reprots which create nc:gativeconnotation about persons with disability. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ... 1 1.0 Background .. ... .... ... ...... .. ... . ..2 1.1 History of the Disability Act. . .. . .4 1.2 Issues of Disability in Ghana ... 1.3 Media Representation of Disability . . .. 7 1.4 What the Media should do ..... . . .............. 10 I .S Statement of the problem .... . . ........ 11 1.6 Study Objectives ... . ... 12 1.7 Research Questions . . ....... 13 1.8 Significance of the Study ... . ... 13 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction . .......... 15 2.1 Theoretical Framework ... ... 15 2.2 News Value Theory .. . .. ....... 15 2.3 Framing Theory . .... 18 2.4 Related studies . . .. 20 2.5 PonrayalofPersons with Disability in Films ... . ....... 22 2.6 PonrayalofPersons with Disabilities in TcJevision .. . .23 2.7 Portrayal of persons with disabilities in Newspapers ... . ..24 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEAUC li FINDINGS 4.0Introduclion ........... ......... .. . ......... ... . .. ... .... 35 4.1 Coverage of disability issues . . .. . ....... .. . . ... .... .......... .3 5 4.2 Coverage of Disability byNewspapers .. . ..... . . . ....... 36 4.3 Coverage on Disability by Story Treatment.. .........3 6 4.4TypeofSloryby Newspaper .... . . ............. 37 4.5 Placemem of Disability Stories ... ...... . ·············· ................ 38 4.6 Placement of Story by Newspaper .. . ···· · .. ...... . ........ 39 4.7 Size of Disability Story .. ... ........... .. ... . . ....4 0 4.8 Size of Disability Story by Newspaper .. . . .... .4\ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.9TypeofDisabilityMentionedinStory. ..: ... .. . : .. ..... .. . ....... . .. . ..... .... .42 4.10 Newspaper by Type of Disability MentIOned m the Story ..... . . .. .42 4. 11 Main Subject of Disability Slory . . . . ... .43 4.12NewspaperhyMainSubject o fDisabilit y Story . . ... 44 4.13 Tone of Disability Story .... . .. .45 4.14 Tone of Disability Story by Newspaper. ... ..46 4. 15 Stereorypes in Disability Stories . . . ... 46 4. 16 Frequency Distribution o f Type of Stereotype ... . .... 47 4 . 17Stereoly~by Newspaper .. . ... ... 48 4. IS Sources Ciled .. . ... 49 4.19 Newspaper by Sources Cited in Disability Story ... . ......... 50 C HAPTER F IVE: DI SCUSSION OF FIND INGS 5.0Introduction... . .. 52 5.1 How much coverage are Daily Graphic and Public Agenda giving to issues of Persons with Disabililles?..... . . .52 5.2 What Spaces and Sizes are given to Stories and Features concern ing Persons with Disabilities?... . . .. 53 5.3 Which types of Frames Characterize Stories about PWDs? ... . .. . .. .......... 55 5.4 What Sources are Cited in the News concerning Persons with Disabilities? .. . ...... ....... 57 5.5 Conclusion ... . ... ... .... .. ..... . 58 5.6 Limitations of study.. .. . . ....... 59 5.7 Recommendations... . ............6 0 LIST OF TABLES Table I : Coverage of disability Issues by Newspapers . ....... 36 Table 2: Treatment of Storylitem on Disability ..... . . .... .. ... 37 Table 3: Type of Story by Newspaper. .. ..... .. ........... 38 Table4: PlacementofSlories ... .. ...... . ...... . . .. . ............. 39 Table 5: Newspaper by Placement of Story .. . . . .... 39 Table 6: Size of Disability Stories ... . .... ... .. .... . . .. . . ......... .. .40 Table 7: Size of Disability Story by Newspaper. . . ... ... . ·· .. .... ... .... .41 Table 8: Disability Covered in Story ...... .. . . . ... . ..... .. ..... ... 42 Table 9: Newspaper by Type of Disability .... . . . ... ... . 43 Table 10: Newspaper by Main Subject ofDisability ........ 45 Table II : Tone of Disability Story by Newspaper. . . . ........ ... .... .. . 46 Table 12: Stereotype by Newspaper ... .. .. ... . .... . . .. .. . · .. . ...... ... .48 Table 13: Frequency Dislribulion of Sources Cited . . .. . .... .. .. 50 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh U ST OF CHART Chart I: Total Coverage on Drsability . .... . . . .... 35 Chart 2: Main subject of discussion ..... . .44 Chart 3: Showing the overall Tone of Disability Stories in both Newspapers .. ..45 Chart 4: Stereotypes in Daily Graphic and Public Agenda Newspaper ..... . ......... 47 Chart 5: Cluster barchart of Source by Newspaper ... . .... .51 vii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background Persons with disabilities are more often than not discriminated against by society. They are often excluded from meaningful involvement in society, often left to fend for themselves. and generally stigmatised by the communities they find themselves in (Selby, 2009). Women with disabilities experience a high incidence of sexual abuse, including rape, incest, and sexual molestation in their everyday lives, due to their extreme vulnerability. Not long ago a blind woman, who was reported to have become pregnant as a result of rape, was unable to identify the man responsible for her pregnancy due to her disabi lity (Selby, 2009). Selby (2009) notes tbat people Iivingwithdisability,duetopoverty and discrimination, tend not to send their wards to school, sometimes with the reason that just as they did not gain anything from the little education they had, educating their wards would be a waste of resources and time. The children of such persons with disabilities therefore grow up to have no vocation or profession to help improve upon the family's economic conditions. This ultimately causes most people with disabilities to end up as burdens on s ociety. The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls for respect for and observance of human rights for all without discrimination, Ghana is a signatory to this and several of the UN instruments. Despite the Convention, the disabled in Ghana continue to experience discrimination in various aspects of their lives. The Convention is a major milestone in the effort at promoting, protecting and ensuring full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for persons with disabilities. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh AdditionaJ ly, when the Convention is implemented, it will mark an important development in the pursuit of equality for persons with disabilities. The Convention 'would also be the first legally binding treaty to clearly set out the obligations on states to avoid discrimination against persons with disabilities. The recognition of the convention would, therefore, be a commibnent on the part of the Ghana government to invest in persons with disabilities Besides, the convention would serve as the ultimate protection for persons with disabilities l and wQuld help in thesensitisation of positive attitudes towardsperso ns with disabilities . J.ll-listoryoflheDisabilityAt:linGhaoa The year 1981 was declared by the UN as the International year of the disabled. Before the celebration of the international year of the disabled, there was no legislative protection of persons with disability in Ghana. Therefore, there was the need for a national pol icy on disability, and the UN called upon all nations to come up with a legislative piece that will protect the rigbtsofpersons with disability. Bascd upon this, the organisations of persons with disability under the directio n of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) along with partner organisations such as Sight Savers, Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Centre for Democratic Development (COD) etc, all came together to ensure that the government comes out with a disability acl. The pressure had to be mounted on goverrunent for decades. 1t was in December 2000, that the government of Ghana signed into effect the National Disability Policy. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Since policy documents are not binding on anybody, the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) had to pllsh for an act on disability. Throllgh the Sllpport of donor agencies such as the Danish Association of the Blind (DAB), the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFO) organised a series of workshops which led to the drafting of a legal document on disability. This draft was forwarded to the Ministry of Justice where it was further developed. The ministry also passed on the drafted policy to cabinet for approval. After approving it, cabinet submined the bill to Parliament for adoption. On June 23, 2006, Parliament passed the Disability Act (Act 715). On August 9, 2006, the president assented to it.makingitlaw.2 The 2006 Persons with Disability Act (Act 715) of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana has 12 mainobjectives3. These are: I. To educate Ghanaians on the rights, potentials and responsibili ties ofbo th society and persons with disabilities 2. To generate and disseminate relevant information on disability 3. To create an enabling envirorunent for the full participation of persons with disabilities in national development 4. To ensuce access of person with disabilities to education and train ing at all levels 5. To facilitate the employment of persons with disabilities in all sectors of the economy 6. To promole disability friendly roads, transport, and housing facilities 2 An interview wilh Vaw Oforj·Deblllh, Nalional President of Ghana Blind Union ) hrtp://www.gfdgh.orgldisabiJify'%20situation%20in%20ghana.html [Retrieved on August 2010] University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7. To ensure access of persons with disabilities to effective health care and adequate medicaJrehabi litationservices 8 To ensure that women with disabilities enjoy the same rights and privileges as thcir male counterparts 9. To ensure that law enforcement personnel in cases ofarres!, detention, tria1 and confinement of persons with disabilities take into account the nature of their disabilities 10. To encourage full participationofPWDs in cultural aClivities II.To ensure access of person with disabilities to the same opportunities in recreational activities and sports as other citizens 12. To promote Community Base Rehabilitation Programs (CBRP) as a means of empowering and ensuring the full participation of persons with disabili ties in society. 1.2 Issues of Disa bility in Ghana The World Health Organisation (2004) estimated that there are about 1.8 million people living with disability in Ghana. This is about 10 percent of the country's population. The disabilities are physical, sensory and intellectual. The causes are varied, ranging from accidents, disease, malnutrition, poverty. trauma and ignorance. As a result of the way the society is organised, many of the people with disabili ties are systematically excluded from active participation within the society4. According to the acting Chief Psychiatrist of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, "four years after Ghana passed the United Nations (UN) conventions on the right of 'http:" .nrM'M"i-0rr University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), there is still discrimination and stigmatisation against personswithdisabilitiess. Jacqueline Slikker(2009) ina stUdy on the disabled in Ghana was of the opinion that it is attitudes that disable. According to Slikkee (2009:13) "if other people did not react with horror, fear. anxiety, hostility or patronizing behaviour towards PWDs, then there would not be aproblem."Slikker(2009) argues that there is a vicious circle whe rebydiscriminationand prejudice create the sense of being disabled, which leads to further discrimination and prejudice. Slikker (2009) further explains that, in Ghanaian society, pregnancy and birth are highly regarded as a blessing and are characterised with high expectations. There is no reason a fami ly can give to explain why a child is born with a disability except that the anger of the gods has been visited on them. In typical traditional communities i n Ghana crocodiles and snakes are considered to have some special powers and any cruelty agains tthem can leadto the individua! giving birth to a child with a disability. To protect themselves against giving birth to a child with a disability, in some communities, pregnant women are subjet:ted to various kinds of taboos. For example, a pregnant woman is not allowed to eat eggs for the reason that the child might develop hydrocephalus (big head). Any child born with any defect is seen as a violation of such traditional belief systems and the family will often be maltreated and looked down upon by the rest of the community. Also, the birth of a child with a disability within a family can lead to divorce and family disintegration. ~::':;~I:~bility still suffer discriminalion, says acting thief psychiatrist: Dai/yGrQphic, Wednesday,) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Disability in Ghana is also s~n as a result ofwilchcraft, sorcery, "juju" and magic. Due to these beliefs, assets in some traditional communities are viewed with mixed feelings. Many people believe that parents can spiritually exchange any part ofLhe chil d's body with money such that the exchanged part of the child will become defective. Consequently, a rich family with a person with a disability is labelled "sikaduro" Guju money). Through these belief systems. a majority of Ghanaians have labelled PWOs as social misfits and oulcasts. Persons with "mental retardation", as it is called amongst most Ghanaians. are the hardest hit victims of this type of negative labelling (Slikker, 2009). Two ethnic groups, the Ewes and the Gas, refer to them as "asolowo" (idiot or fool) and "buluus" (reduced mental abilities), respectively. The Akans label persons with learning disabilities as "nea wanyin agya n'adwene ho" which means "feeble minded." These label s are all very offensive and dehumanising. Persons with Down 's syndrome in Ghana are believed to be children given by the river gods, and hence they call them "nsuoba", meaning water children. There are many stories about children with mental disabilities who are "given back to the water" (Slikker, 2009). Traditionally. morc focus has been placed on finding out and obviating the causes of disability and less on improving the living conditions of PWDs. This has resulted in the marginalisationofPWDsand their exclusion from enjoying equal opportu nities in all spheres of life. In Ghana, the general treatment offered to PWDs has, at best, been to treat them as perSOns deserving to benefit from the charity of others (Slikker, 2009), Coleridge (1993) emphasises that human behaviour and attitudes can be influenced. On one hand, the process of ani tude change has to start with PWDs and their attitude towards University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh themselvesandtheirdisability, sincesocietyisnotJikelytochangebehaviourWllessPWDs make the fLrS( move. If PWDs are able to stand up for their own rights and see themsclves in a positive manner and as being capable of contributing to society, in lime the society will also start to see them in Ihis way. The issue for PWDs, therefore, is ultimately onc of self- esteem, of refusing to accept the role of victim in which society puts them. On the other hand , self-esteem cannot be seen in isolation from the social environment. If the social is the way in which PWDs will see themselves. 1.3 Media Represenl&tion of Disability Adams (2006) explains that media plays a pivotal role in today 's culture and it is where much of the public get the infonnation that fonns their opinions and values. Mass media such as television, radio, newspapers and tabloids therefore have incredible significance in influencing how people perceive and fonn opinions about various issues and groups of people. In many countries broadcasters are now very conscious of the importance of ensuring diversity so they often portray amix of gender and race on-air and on-screen in a bid to ensure that programmes adequately renectsociety as a whole (Lisa Ad ams,2006) As media scholar Gitlin (2003:327) explains, "The mass media are, to say the least, a significant social force in the fonning and delimiting of public assumptions, attitudes, and moods of ideology." When it Comes to media representation of disability, the media plays a strong role io influencing how the public thinks about disability and ho wtheyviewpcople University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh with disabilities. This is particularly significanl when taking into consi deration the fact that in many parts of the world, people with disabilities are largely invisible as they face large institutional, architectural, occupational and attitudinal barriers that make participating in society and public life more challenging. Therefore, media portrayals of disability playa significant role in forming or swaying the public's opinion about disability issues and influence cultural represenrations of people with disabilities (To dd Gitlin, 2003: 327}. It is difficult to calculate exactly how many disabled people feature in mainstream programmes in Ghana. However, as Lisa Adams (2006) argues, many producers would acknowledge that they have never even considered casting adisabl edactor, looked out fora disabled expert or contributor, filmed an interview in the street with a disabled member of the public, or deliberately widening the composition ofa studio aud ience to include the disabled. In the early 1990s, Paul Hunt surveyed the portrayal of disabled people on television in the United KJngdom and found that they fell into one of II different categories. 10 of which were negative. These included the disabJed person as "pitiable and pathetic", as " incapable", as "a burden". Hunt found also that disabled men aged between 25 and 40 were much more likely to be represented than other disabled people, despite the fact that disabled women outnumber disabled men. lntellectual disability has all too frequently (and disproportionately) been linked in programmes with vioient crime, even t hough there is no evidence to support this mis-portrayal (Lisa Adams, 2006). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Lisa Adams (2006) suggests that in portraying persons with disability in the media. it is important that producers, presenters, journalists and the like ask themselves four basic questions: Does the portrayal patronise the disabled person? Does the portrayal victimise the disabled person? Does the portrayaJ demonise the disabled person? Does the portrayal normalise the disabled person, that is, does it regard disabled people in the same way as everyone else? (Lisa Adams, 2008). There have been some critic isms about how the med ia portray persons with disabi lities in Ghana. A Ghana News Agency Feature by Samuel Osei·Frempong titled 'Crushing the Disabled in the Ghanaian Media' explained that not 100 long ago, a television slation showed on its screen a Nigerian comedy titled 'Mr lbu', with the popular Nigerian Actor, John Okafor, as the lead actor. In this comedy, many scenes sought to portray persons with disabi lities as indecent, wild, mischievous and not good enough to be lovers. Inane of the scenes, after having chatted with a lady on a commuter bus with the inlent ion of taking the wooing furthe r, the main character changes his mind on seeing that the lady has difficulty in walking and brutally ignores her. In another scene, his hopesofhavin ganideal womanwere dashed when the would·be-wife suffered a fit. The role played by a person with growth problems as a troublesome and mischievous son of Mr lbu, clearly depicted the person with disability as violent6 • • wwwmodc:mghana cQm Wednesday. 29 Seplember2004 University7 of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.ghAccording to Osei.Frempong , the Ghana National Association of the Deaf protested against Ihe humilialion of the disabled by the Nigerian movie depiction, argui ng that although the portrayal might have generated laughter and fim, it ridiculed a group of persons and does not portray the deaf and for that matter persons with disability positively. Disabled bashing and ridiculing is often found in hip life music and in the pronouncements of certain presenters on FM stations. The negative implications for the disabled person are that the abuse has been under·estimated and it undermines the Iittleopportunily they have to be taken seriously by the larger society. It also saps their self-confidence and esteem leaving a larger psychological scar on especially younger disabled persons. The idea of being helpless and must be taken care of or being sexless or abnonnal creates the assumption that the disabled person is not approved of. Osei-Frempong further argues that these ideas had in the past and even now fed the ideology of extremist groups that had sought to eliminate them. 1.4 What the Media shou ld do EU4Journalisis (2003-2009) explained media pluralism as measures that ensure citizens' access to a variety ofinforrnation sources,opinions, voices, among others. in ordertoforrn their opinion without the undue influence of one dominant opinion-forming po wer. Since Ghana is now in a media plurali stic era, it is reasonable to expect that persons with disabi lities will be empowered through the variety ofslories the media co ver. The media has the ability to set the agenda and give voice to the marginalised or persons with disabilities. According to Black et of (1993) journalists can provide an enli ghtened outlook T ww,", modemghaM S9m (20011) 10 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh about people who are often regarded as afflicted or handicapped. News organisations can improve the coverage on the disabled by considering various reportingaltemati ves such as first person narratives, pholoessays and series reponing Black et al(l993) slate thai it is important for journalists to report continuously on a wide array of disability issues ranging fTOm how well society treats those with disabilities from the job market to barrier-free public buildings. In this type of reporting. journalists should examine their language and images in stories, to prevent unfair, stereotypical portrayals of the disabled. Beyond this, news organisations should ensure that their daily reporting includes persons with disabilities in lheirroutine coverage ofaJl eve nts, whether interviews with stock brokers.schooi programs, and athletic competitions (Black el ai, 1993). The print media should also hold themselves accountable in this res pect. taking the initiative in hearing, promoting, practising to ensure lhat individuais with di sabilities are represented within the news organisation, and their voices are regularly heard in the decision making process. For example. tenns such as "the disabled", ' 'the blind" and "the cripple" must always be avoided precisely because they focus entirely on the disabilit y and dehumanise the people referred to in this way (Black etal, 1993) 1.5SIatementoftbeProbiern The Ghana Journalist Association Code of Ethics ( 1994) in its Preamble specifies that joumalistsshould have a high sense of responsibility without infringing on the rights of individuals and the society in general. Moreover, aniele 5 subsection 3 of the Ghana JoumaJist Code of Ethics also lays emphasis on the right of the individual and hwnan dignity \I University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh by stating that: "A journalist should guard against defamation of character and not to give derogatory names to Persons with disabilities" (GJA Code of Ethics, 1994). Furthermore, the Print Media Guidelines, Ghana (2003), article 11 'a' and 'b', stale that, the press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to a person's race, ethnicity, colour, religion, gender or to any physical or mental illness or disability. The press must also not originate material, which encourages discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, physical illness or disability. This means that. the media is best suited to help change perception by disseminating infonnation and educating the citizenry. This is because the media has the ability to set the agenda and frame issues in ways that empower the disadvantaged or persons with disabilities. It is for this reason that this study is interested in interrogating how the media portrays persons living with disabilities. The study seeks to analyse the content of the Daily Graphic and the Public Agenda to determine how the two newspapers portray persons living with disabilities. 1.6 Stud)' Objectives This study specifically aimed at analyzing media portrayal of persons with disabilities by the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda with the view of determining the prominence attached to issues concerning persons with disabilities. It focuses on the extent and nature of coverage accorded to persons .With rsabilities in comparison to that of issues concerning persons withoutdisabiJities wIth sperfic reference to January to June 2010 . It also sought to establish 12 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh whether PWDs are stereotyped (bow they are framed) in stories concerning them. The study sought to address the following objectives' I. To examine the how much coverage the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda are giving to issues of persons wilh disability. 2. To examine the space and size given by the two papers to stories of persons with disability. 3. To detennine the types of frames which characterise stories bout PWDs 4 To detennine the sources cited in the news concerning persons withdisa bilities. 1.7 Researcb Questions More specifically the study also sought to find answers to Ihe followingquesti ons. I. How much coverage are Daily Graphic and Public Agenda giving 10 issues of persons with disability? 2. What spaces and sizes are given to stories and features concerning persons with disabilities? 3. Which types of frames characterise stories about PWDs? 4 What SOUlCes are cited in the news concemingpersons with disabilities ? 1.8 Signilicanceofthe Rescarch Media advocacy is the process of disseminating policy-related information through the communications media, especially where the aim is to effect action, a change of policy. or to alter the public's viewofan issue'. I hnp-ffwww rnOles oomlpuhljlj-bnlth·"DfWlnpr4ia/media_advns;acy. Relrievcd on August 2010 13 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Looking at how the media report on issues can influence poJicy-maken and encourage social change. This research would be used as an advocacy tool to lobby the media to improve on bow they can report on disability issues and also to add to literature on media portrayal of persons with disabilities which is scarce in Ghana University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0lntroductioD This section reviews literature on studiesconducled on persons withdi sability in generai and media ponrayal of persons with disabilities in particular. The section is in two parts· theoretical framework and related studies. The essence of this review is to provide a theoretical basis for an informed study and analysis of the subject matte r.ltthereforesccksto discover theoretical frameworks that explain the rationale of newspaper publications on issues of disability and the mechanisms to ensure fair publications by Ghanaian newspapers. 2.1 Theoretical Framework Several theories from the fields of mass communication could have been used but for the purpose of this study two were chosen. The first one is the News Values Theory which is basic to all news reporting and the second one is the Framing Theory which examines how disability issues are packaged in the two newspapers 2.2 News Value Tbeory The journalistic profession has a fonnalised list of attributes or what others have called conventions that indicate vaJues considered as key in news reporting. These attributes are woven into the process of news reporting and thus what news valueth eoryexplains Negrine (1989:137) observes thai Every. newspaper wh~n it reaches the reader is the result of a whole series of selectlOns as to what Items shall be printed, in what position they shall be printed, how much space each shall occupy, how they should be framed and what emphasis each shall have. There are no objective standards here. There are conventions. IS University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh McQuaii (2000) writes that news values are criteria applied by journalists and editors in news organizations to determine whether or not to carry particular items of news .Hepositsthatthe lislofnews values serves as reference in the socialisation and training ofj oumalistswho consequently invoke the values in grading and categorisation of stories. events and personalities in the daily practice of news selection. Some of the values emanate from values and beliefs held by tbe society. On any given day therefore, many stories compete for the news hole yet only a few of them can fit the space available in the newspaper. Politics and the economy have been found to rate as premium in lIle hierarchy of news. But even where politics is concerned, the number of politically-relevant events in any given day is quite overwhelming. This then explains why the news values criterion is important when considering the issue of media representation of persons with disability. Cohen and Young (in Kisuke, 2004) argue that far from being a random reaction to random events, the selection of news is a logic of particular ways of working and ofa shared set of criteria of what makes stories neWSWOr1hy. The Missouri Group (2005:5) stresses that "relevance, usefulness and interest are broad guidelines for judging the news value of any event, issue or personality." They also note that in selecting what to publish,joumalists look for more specific elements, and the most important being impact, conflict, novelty, prominence, proximity and timeliness in each potential story. Gahung and Ruge (cited in Kisuke, 2004) who define news values as the criteria of relevance and interest to the news public, add to this list intensity, rclevance, consonance, predictability,e lite persons and elite 16 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh nations. Galtung and Ruge's (Kisuke, 2004) study of foreign news in the Norwegian Press ledtothefirstclearstatementofthenewsvaluesthatinfluenceselection. They hypothesized iliat events would become news the more they fitted certain organisational as well as cultural or ideological criteria. According to Croteau & Hoynes (2003), selection of the front page news is not a haphazard process but is rather one that results from a crucial decision-making process involving editors from different news desks. They contend therefore that the newsworthiness criteria used to se]cct stories for a page are "timeliness of ast ory, impact on the c orrununity of readers, and prominence of the participants in the evenls" (2003: 127) Kisuke(2004) states lhatnews va]ues cannot be separated from the socia I contexts in which newspapers operate thus, the soc ietal values of elitism and gender dimensions, for example. have a bearing on how news values are applied in practice. She argues that rather than mirroringsociety.joumaiismconstrUctstherepresentationoflhatsocial reality in the process of mediating social meaning to readers usingalreadycstablished news values criteria. Story selection affects source selection and the two go hand in hand. Co nsequently,selection of news sources would depend on story values ensuring that source s selected add value to the news they speak to. Kisuke (2004) argues that more often than not, journalists tend to select sources they have successfully used in the past with qualities such as suita bility,rcliability, trustworthiness, authoritativeness and aniculation. Thus she argues that the relative status of people in the news is one of the elements of media logic (Kisuke, 2004) . I7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Kisuke (2004) aIso found in her study on the coverage ofPWDs that elite 5o urces,especially from a certain category of professional politicians, were thejoumalist's preferred choice for the front-page stories rather than news conceming persons withdisabili ty. Her findings are in support of Tudunan (1978) who developed the idea of 'news net'. According to Tuchman, the news net has a very tight weave at places where power is concentrated. Kisuke (2004) posits that besides being territorial and topical, the news beat is asocial setting, a network of socialrelationsinvolvingreportersandsourceswhofrequcntparticularplaces. 2.3 Framing Theory In communication theory and sociology, framing is a process of selective control over media content or public communication. Framing defines how a certain piece of media content or rhctoric is packaged so asto allow certain desirable interpretatio ns,whilerulingoutothers. According to Heath (2006), framing is actually a metaphor that compares message construction to drawing a border around a painting or picture. The frame helps define the meaning of the message by focusing attention on particular elements and by excluding competing, distracling, or contradictory elements. Framing draws upon the notion that message producers are involved in the construction of social reality and that message meanings are negotiated, not absolute; thus framing theory falls within postmodem and relativist perspectives. This approach suggests that media practitioners frame situations or problems in ways that are favourable 10 clients. Framing thus might be compared to the practice pejoratively refcrrcd to as spin doctoring (Healh 2006). IS University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Framing theory, however, is one of the most visible extensions of agenda-setting theory. Originally proposed by Ghanem et al (1991), the concept holds that entities can create a media frame to convey a central idea in a chosen context. In other words, they can stage the idea and plan the format in advance. Robert Entman (1993) advanced the framing idea to include highlighting certain elements within the frame - in essence, including the most salient ideas to the targeted audience In news writing, framing has become a focus of reporters or journalists interested in reporting and in how dominant social themes or ideas are used to shape the way news is presented by the media. "A news frame is a central organising idea for explaining events that use various symbolic and framing devices which support the main idea" (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989:3). Gamson (1993), for example, suggested that the media routinely use metaphors, catchphrases, exemplars, depictions, and visual images that culturally resonate with audiences. These framing devices represent conventions for telling information and help media workers arrange seemingly disjointed events into a meaningful, organised interpretive package. Meanwhile, fami liar frames provide mental maps to help audiences make sense of daily events. In a way, news framed byjoumalists may affect leaming, interpretation, and evaluation of issues and events and how the audience reflect and mirror these frames made available to them, for example, in disability issues. On an individual level the consequence of framing may be altered attitudes about an issue based on exposure to cenain frames. For example, at the individual level , news frames affect how a person thinks about an issue eith erpositively 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh or negatively. Altbe societal level. news framesaffeet how the soeiety views an issue either positively or neg.ati\"cly (de Vreesc. 2005:52) Baran and Davis (2003) criticised the framing theory by explaining that framing theory is hiehly flexible and open-ended. and due to this, jownalists sometimes write news or frame issue which they think will resonate with the public .... ithout considering the effect on them. Baran and Davis argue that framing precludes casual explanations and assumes individuals make frequent framing errors. This devalues individuals' abilities to decipher information by news report~rs. If disability issues are framed to empower persons with disabilities, it can lead to positive attitudinal change, on the other hand if disability issues are framed to disempower PWDs., it can lead to discrimination against them 2.4 Related Studies Several studies have been conducted on how disabilities are portraycd in the media and tbe general strands of these studies lookal howdisabilit)" is portrayed in the films. televisions, newspapers and also how PWDs they are stereotyped. Hunt (1991) conducted a survey in the United Kingdom and identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray persons .... ith disability. These stereotypes were PWDs as: • Being piliable or pathelic: Persons with disabilities are ponraycd in the media as being weak so that the non-disabled public can sympathize with them • An objeel of curiosity or violence: Persons with disabilities arc often subjeci 10 violent abuse by non-disabled people and this is frequentlyrenected in the 20 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh media which contribute to disabled being portrayed as totally helpless and dependent on non--disabled persoDs. Sinister or evil: Persons with disabilities often portrayed on television fictions etc as being criminals or monsters The su per cripple: Persons with disabilities are assigned super human abilities. Blind people for example are portrayed as having extremely sensitive hearing As atmosphere: Persons with disabilities are sometimes included in the storylines of dramas etc to enhance a certain fee lings, usually one of menace, mystery or deprivation Laughable: Persons with disabilities have been a source of amusement for non-disabled people. Their own worst enemy: Persons with disabilities as self pitiers who could overcome their difficulties if they wou ld stop fccli ngsorry for themselves, think positively and rise to the challenge. As a burden: Persons with disabilities are helpless and must be "cared" far by non-disabled peaple. NonsexuaJ:Personswithdisabilitiesbeingperceivedassexuallyinactive. Being unable to puticipatein daily life: Persans with disabilities are rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community; as students, as teachers. as part of the work-force or as parents. 21 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.5 Portrayal of Persoll s with Disability in f il ms Byrd and Elliott (1985) conducted a study of feature films in the United States to detcnnine whether people with disabilities were included and. if so, how they were presented. 1be 8uthorsaskedthefollowing.researchquestions: \\'hat percentage of feature films depicted disability? Did one disability receive mon:attention than another? Were women or men depicted as having a disability? J)ld film critics evaluate filmsdepictingdisabi litypositivelyorncgat ively? Ofw 1,051 films they studied, 120 (slightly more than II percent) included people with disabilities. with psychiatric disorders being represented most frequently. The authors also found a much larger number of films with negative ponrayals of people with disabilities ~9S) than posilive portrayals (22). Le\'ers (2001) conducted a study using a sample of21 selected Hollywood films to provide a greaterunderstandingofho'v\ pcrsons with psychiatric disabilities nredepicted and trcated in the Hollywood films. The researcher wanted to identify stcrtOtypes and 8S!tOCiated icons used to portray psychiatric disability and also examined any changes in that portrayal over the cOW"Seofa five dccade span of time. Levers used ethnographic content anaIysiswhic;:h rnulted in an annotatcd filmography, providing a thick description ofrele\'ant aspects each film and multiple case studies of how psychiatric disability has been depicted by way of an iconography of "madness" and stereotypes of "mental illness" in mainstream mass market movies. The fmdings of the study were that persons with psychiatric disability were poruayedasiconographyof"'madneu"andstereotypeof"mentalillncss··. HealsofoWldtwo 22 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh additional stereotypes which were used 10 portray persons with psychiatric disability as artistic and creative genius 2.6 Portrayal of Persons with Disabilities in Television Slibbe (2007) conducted a study al Chikushi Jogakuen University in Japan. The study was designed 10 investigate the attitudes of young people towards disabled women in Japan. Stibbe(2007) pointed out that traditionally disabled women have been marginalised and invisible in the Japanese society, often hidden away by shame-fi lled relatives. However, over the last 10 years, there has been an unprecedented increase in disabled female characters appearing in television dramas. These dramas portray disabled women as attractive gainfully employed andsuccessful, often due to the influence ofa non-disabled male character. Fifty Japanese university students wrole four compositions each about fict ional characters, both disabled and non-disabled, of both genders. These 200 compositions were compared across gender and disability lines, and correlated with features of the Japanese TV dramas which were portraying disabled women as attractive, gainfully employed and successful albeit often due 10 the influence of non-disabled male character. Nearly all the students managed to come up with a story that more or less fitted the assigned pattern of disabled women as attractive, gainfully employed and successful, albeit often due to the influence of non-disabled male character. There were three students who failed to create a fictional character at all; instead they described incidents from the ir own lives when they encountered a disabled woman on a bus, train and a restaurantresp ectively. These three accounts all showed some fear or embarrassment. The student on the train was ' too 23 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh frightened to speak or move' when the disabled woman tugged at her skirt. The student on the bus was'a bit scared ofsining by the disabled woman she saw in the bus' andthesrudent in the restaurant was ·nOl brave enough to help' the disabled woman who was having problems ordering her food Vannut (2006) conducted a comparative study on positi\'e image building in Belgiwn and the ~elhcrlands and the main goaJ was to investigate and to compare how the civil society. the media and the government work together to create a positive image of people with disabilities on public television in both the Netherlands and Belgiwn. The sample involved civil society, the government and the public network in Belgiwn and the Netherlands. The srudy was designed &S a qualitative, semi-structured interview with represenlati\"cs of the ci\'il society a ... well as the public network in both countries. Documentation analysis was used to research the role of Belgian and Netherlands govenunent. The research findings on individual responsibility showed that everybody involved should take their own responsibilities but that in praclice some actors are more willing to do that thanat hers. 2.7 Portrayal of Persons "ith l>isahilities in Newspapers eaden et al (1993) conducted a study on nc\\spaper. images and messages on people \\;th disabilities at W&Shington. DC in America. The study reviewed 227 newspaper articles to uncover trends and themes in the articles which reflected subtleties of views tOV'lard pcrwns with disabilities. Maniftst and latent content was used to analyse the 227 articles (the undcrtonc urmood of the article). '[be findings indicated that most articles revealed logical fallacies and did not portray persons \\;th disabilities realistically but rather either as having 24 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh super human characteristics or as deserving of pity. A few articles however portrayed persons with disabilities as competent members of society. Wall (2007) similarly conducted a study at Waikato University, New Zealand on newspaper coverage of people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine how people with disabilities are portrayed in the New Zealand print media and whether or not traditional or progressive modes of representations predominate in coverage. Progressive focus views disability and the problems surrounding it as being located in society's failure to accommodate all members of the population. In contrast, traditional focus views people with disabilities as dysfunctional because of their inability to function in an environment designed by or for people without disabilities. The sample involved intellectual and physical disabilities and persons with all types of disabilities published inthree majornewspapersin New Zealand - The New Zealand Herald, the Dominion Post and the Sunday Slar Times between 1st of June and 1st of August 2006. The articles were contem analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. For each article, aspects such as structure, contenl,terminoiogy, sources used and attributes assigned to the people with disabilities were analysed as a means of determining whether an article was positive, negative or neutral. The findings of this study showed that the traditional focus dominated more than the progressive focus. Also, within the New Zealand print media, disability was generally portrayed in a positive or neutral manner. 25 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER TKREE METHODOLOGY This chapter outlines the methods used in gathering data for the study. It gives a brief overview of the profile of the newspapers selected for the content anruys is. It also discusses the sampJe size. sampling procedure, and the data collectionapproac hesused in carrying out the study. Since the purpose of the study was 10 identify the mediapo rtrayal of persons with disability in the two newspapers (Daily Graphic and Public Agenda) content analysis was used in carrying out the study. 3.1 Quantitative Content Ana lysis This study involved quantitative and qualitative description of communication content of two newspapers. Content analysis was therefore deemed as the most appropriate method to use. According to Stemler (2001), content analysis is a systematic replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding. Kerlinger(2000) also defines content analysis as a method 0 fstudying and analyzing communication in a systematic, objective and quantitative marmer for the purpose of measuring variables. Wimmer and Dominick (2003), argue that content analysis can be applied in describing communication content, testing hypotheses of message characteristics, comparing media content to the '·real world", assessing the image of particular groups in society and in establishing a starting point ror studying media effects. Also, the findings ofa particular 26 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh content analysis are limited to the framework of the categories and the definitions used in iliatanalysis. Content analysis was the most appropriate method for this study since it served as a useful tool for analysing tbe portrayal of persons with disabilities that were comm unicatedthrough the Daily Graphic and the Public Agenda. The objective and systematic analysis of such stories helped in assessing the importance the two newspapers attached to portraying persons with disabilities and how committed they were in helping to reduce discrimination against persons with disability. Analysing the content of the two newspapers sampled for this study systematically also helped to detennine the importance the reporters and editors attach to portrayaJ of persons with disability. 3.2 NewspapcrSeleclion The study looks at Daily Graphic and Public Agenda because they provide comparative analysis between state-owned newspaper and a privately-owned newspaper that concentrates on empowering the marginaJised. The Daily Graphic is a state-owned newspaper which is aimed at empowering readers and consumers with reliable and credible information. On the other hand Public Agenda is a privately-owned newspaper, which is sponsored by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISO DEC) and mandated to give voice to the voiceless 3.3 Profile of Doi/y Graphic The Daily Graphic was established in 1950 by the Daily Mirror Group of London. By 1962, the then government of the Convention Peoples' Party, pressurised management and bought 27 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the company as a statutory corporation and made it a state-owned newspaper. The Daily Graphic is published six times a week (Monday to Saturday) by Graphic Communications Group Limited. It is now managed by a board and a managing editor who were appointed by the National Media Commission, in consultation wi th the President of Ghana. This is in line withChapterl2,ArticJe 168 of the Constitution of Ghana. Apart from the Daily Graphic. the Graphic Communications Group Limited also publishes other newspapers like The Mirror. Graphic Sports, JulTior Graphic. Showbiz. Graphic Advertiser, Graphic Nsempa and Graphic Business. Priding itself as the biggest selling newspaper since 1950, the Daily Graphic has sections on world news, inside Africa. features, editorials,genderandchildrcn,poiitics, regionai news,mctropo litannews, business, sports, letters, and educational issues. The Daily Graphic has about 50 journal ists all over the 10 regions of Ghana and the newspaper is abJe to circulate about 100, 000 co pies each day to the 10 regions of Ghana. (Public Relations Department, Graphic Communication Group Limited) 3.4 Profile of Public Agenda The Public Agenda is a private and bi-weekly newspaper and was established in Accra in November 1994 by the integrated Social Development Centre (IS0DEC) two years after Ghana's return to constitutional rule. It initially ran as two separate publications - the Public Agenda, published on Mondays and the Weekend Agenda, published on Fridays. The founders established the papcr to take on relevant issues of development that were often ignored by ''the profiHlriven state-owned media" as well as the private media. Its mandate 28 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh was "to give voice to the voiceless and to work for democracy" (Status of Ghana's Fiscal Oecentralisation,2009:8) In 2005, the newspaper underwent re-branding as a way of rediscovering its purpose of establislunent in order to operate as an advocacy and development newspap er.ltprosecutes this agenda by focusing on trade, health,education, women and children and h wnanrights issues'. The 12 page newspaper, published by PA Publications, appears on the stands on Mondays and Fridays at a price of one Ghana Cedi (GH¢ I). It is also available on the web through www.ghanaweb.comlPublic_Agenda. The Public Agenda's readership is defined as an upper-class readership consisting of technocrats, bureaucrats, policy makers, academia, and civil society and so on. This is beeause the paper fights for the vulnerable and themarginalisedl(l. On March 15.2006. the Help Age Ghana gave an award 10 the Public Agenda for being the print media with the highest reportage on rights and policy issues impact ingonolderpersons. The paper was also adjudged the best human rights newspaper for 2005 at the 11 th OJA Awards held in May 2006. In January 2009, it received the National Peace Honours Award for presentation of unbiased political analysis and editorials that promoted peace during the 29 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh national elections of 2008. It a1so received an award from the Ghana Federation of the Disabled in 2009 for promoting the rights of the disabled. 3.5 Population and Sample Size Busha and Harter (1980), defined population as any set of per SODS or objects that posses at least one common characteristic. Fraenkeland Wallen (2002),alsorefe r to population as the larger group to which one hopes to apply the results ofhislherfindings . The universe for this study was the entire publication of the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda from January to June 2010. Therefore, the universe oflhe study was exactly 190 publications. Over the period of six months under review, the Daily Graphic published 144 issues and the Public Agenda published 46 issues. Therefore a total of 118 issues (72 for Daily graphic and 46 for Public Agenda) were selected from the universe of 190 publications. 3.6 Sampling Procedure Samples were drawn from publications of the Daily Graphic and the Public Agenda from January to June 2010. The year 2010 was chosen so as to have an understanding of the current nature of coverage of persons with disability after the passage of the 2006 Disability Act of Ghana. Due to this, convenience sampling method was used to select the months for the study. Selection of the dates of publications of Daily Graphic under study was done using a simple random sampling approach. Therefore, with the exception of Sundays, when there are no 30 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh publications. all the omer days oflhe \\cek had an equal chance of being selected. Thus, for eachv..-eek, lhreedays were selected through the baJlol method . In all, 12 dates were selected for each of the six months:. representing Daily Graphic 's January to June 2010 publication. On the hand. the Public Agenda is bi-weekly newsp..'pcr which gives it 8 smaller universc. The: six-month period recorded a total of 46 issues of the Public Agenda. Considering the population oftm Public Agenda. the: researcher adopted the census method by coding all the 46 publications from January 2010 to June 2010. Thtrefore. a total of 11 8 publications were conlan analysed out of the universe of 190 publications of Daily Graphic and Public Agenda forlhe period of six months. The sample is representative enough for the purposeoflhe study because as Berelson (1952 : 144) noted. "A small, carefully chosen sample of relevant content will produce just as valid result as the analysis of a greal deal more and the eXJX'nditUTeofmuch less time and effort " 3.7UoitorAnalysis A unit of analysis is the smallest element of the phenomenon of interest in <1 wnten! analysis. According to Wimmer and Dominick (2003), a unit of analysis in wrinen content might be a single ,",,'Oro or symbol, a theme or an entire article or story. The units of analyses should be operatIOnally defined in such a way that it is c!ear what will beincludc:d in theanalys is and what will not The broad unit of analysis for this study consisted ofe:very strliaht ne\\s Item, feature, editorial, lettc:rs to lhe editor and foreig,n news in which disability issues were ment loneciin 31 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the 118 issues sampled. More specifically, every disability issue mentioned in the stories constituted the smallest unit thai was content analysed to answer the researchque stions. 3.8 Coding The coding of the content categories was made up of the following units of analysis: Type of story: This determined whether the story was slraighl news, editorial, feature article, orlencrtotheeditor. Type of disab ility mentioned in the story: This determined the type of disabi lity mentioned in the stories concerning persons with disability, for example, visual impairment, which describes a condition in which a person has loss of vision for ordinary li fe p urposes.Itisthe generic term used by some individuals to refer to all degrees of vision loss. Hearing impairment which refers to a profound degree of hearing loss that prevents understanding speech through the ear. Hearing impaired or hearing loss are generic terms used to indic3te any degree of hearing loss-from mild to profound. Intellectual disability describes a permanent condition that affects the way individuals take in, retain, and express information. Persons with Disabilities is a general term used fora functional limitation that interferes with a person's ability, for example, to walk, lift, heal, or learn. It may refer to a physical, sensory. ormentalcondition ll . Placement of story: lhis determined where the story concerning persons with disability was placed, whether in tbe front page, back page, centre spread or any ot hcrinsidepages. I' The Seuetariat of the African Decade or Persons with Disabilities (SADPD). 2008 J2 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Size of Disability story: This determined the space apportioned to the story concerning personswilhdisability. Coding was for full page, Ihree-quaners ofa page, halfofa page, one third ofa page, one quarterofa page or smaller than one quarterofa page Main subject of tbe story: This determined whether the main emphasis of stories conceming persons with disability was social,political oreconomic.etc. Tone of the story: The tone of an article will be coded as either 'positive' or 'negative' towards persons with disabilities. The coding decision is based on the swn of explicit statements per article that have a qualitative dimension and that could be thematically referredlotopicsconcerningpersonswithdisabilities. lnthisstudy, the headline and the Jead of news stories are rendered significant in deciding whether the tone of the news story is overall negative or positive. News head lines are known to pOSSeSS the capacity to influence the way information is processed by readcrs and thercby bias the ways a tcxt is understood, for example by indicating the most jmponant aspects of a text (Gunter, 1997, p. 40). That is, jftheheadline and the lead features a negative argumentlstatement, and the body of the anicle contains both, pro and con argwnents, the article will still be coded as 'negative' due to its negative headline. Type of stereotype: This determined whether the stories conformed to stereotypes identified by Paul HWlt(l990)_ as Pathetic or pitiable, an object of curiosity of violence, sinister or evil, the supper cripple, as atmosphere, laughable, their own worst enemy. burden, non- sexuaJ,unabletoparticipateindailylife. 33 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Sources cited in the stories : This delennined the sources cited in the stories concerning persons with disability, for example whether it was from organisations of persons with disabilities, individuals with disability or individuaJs without disability. 3.9 Data Analysis The data analysis comprised manual coding of completed Coding Guide. The Statistical Package forSociaJ Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The anaJysed dala were presented in the fonn of frequency tables and simple percentages 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.0Introduc:tion The purpose of this study was to find out the extent and nature of portrayal of persons living with disabilities by the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda. Ultimately, this would help to establish whether coverage discriminates against persons with disabilities or empowers them Data was collected through quantitative content analysis of the sampled issues of the Daily Graphic and the Public Agenda. Data obtained from the content analysis of the sampled issues is reported in the form of tables and the findings analysed statistically and descriptively. The method of data analysis included coding the data from the manual coding sheets into the SPSS data variable format, inputting the data onto the SPSS coded sheet and then running frequency distributions and cross tabulalions 4.1 Coverage of Disability Issues Cbartl: Total Coverage on Disability There were a total of 5,559 stories from the 131 issues of the Daily Graphic and Pllblic Agenda taken as sample from Ghanaian newspapers. Of the S,SS9 stories, 59 stories (1.06%) 3S University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh were on disability issues and 5.500 stories (98.94%) w~reon non-disability issues. Indeed. both newspapers (Doily Graphic and Public Agenda) put together gave little co"c:ra.g~ on disability issuts as compared 10 the total repon on non-disability issues. 4.2 Cove.-a~t' of Disability by Newspapers Table 1: Cove-rage ofJ)isability Is~ues by Nenspapcr ~ --~Number of I To tal Number o{_ ·- ~f"npaper ID isability Stories I NOD-disability story Total Daily Grophic 32 - 0.65% 4844 99.34% 4876 100%. I Public Agenda 127 i 3.95% 1656 1 96.04% 683 1 100% 1 Total 59 1.06% 5500 98.94% 5559 100% Table one shows the lotal number of disability and non-disability news reported by the Daily GraphiC and the Public Agenda respcclively. The table indicates that the Daily Graphic rlC\\"SpaperdevotedO.65 pcrcent(32 storics)oul of the totaJ of4876 story i tems on disability. Also, the Puhlic Agenda devoted 3.95% (27 stories) out of 683 story items on disability. On the other hand, the Daily Graphic devoted 4.844 stories (99.34%) 10 non-disability stories and the Public Agenda devoted 11 total of 656 stories (96.04%) to non disability stories. The finding from table one above sho .... , that both newspapers devoted little coverage 10 issues relating 10 disabilities, although the percentage of disability issues covered in the Public A~ndo was more: than the Doily GraphiC. 4.3 Coverage on Dlsabiliry by Story Treatment From Table (wo it is seen that majority of stories on disability issues in the two news papel'1 sampled were straight news storin. accounting for 46 slonn (78.0%) oul of the total number 36 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of stories on disability. Letters to the editor and foreign news accounted for two stories (3.4%) each. The feature category had five stories (8.5%) and the opinion category accounted for four slOries (6.8%). The findings. therefore. show that together, the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda did more of routinised than enterprise stories on disability. That is, close to half of the stories were routinised (46 in 59) and only five were features or enterprise stories, with the others coming from extcmaJ contributors. Table 2: Treatment of Storylltem on Disability TvncofSton'lItcm Frequency Percent Straight news story 46 78.0 Letters to the editor 2 3.4 Feature article 8.5 Opinion 6.8 Foreign news 3.4 Total 59 100.0 4.4 Type ofSlory by Newspaper The findings show that both newspapers recorded highest story type in the "straight news" category, with Daily Graphic baving 25 straight news stories (78.1 percent of the total number of its stories) and Public Agenda having 2 1 straight news stories (representing 77.8 percent of its total number ofstorics). Both newspapers recorded one story (3.1 % for Daily Graphic and 3.7% for Public Agenda) on the letter to the editor section. With the feature article section, the Daily Graphic had three stories (9.4%) and the Public Agenda had two stories (7.4%), 37 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Tablr3:TvpeofStOI") hyNcnspape r ~ewspap('r fypeflf'ilol")/ilcm D:. il) (;raphic Public Agrnda I'ola l SIJ.II!!:ht I\e"\~tory ,5 78!0,0 7i.So,.o 46 78.0% L~·ttcr to the editor 3.1% 3,7tl o :\.4° 0 Feature article 74"0 5 8.5% OpinIon 37°0 4 6.8% FNt"lglIlI':"~ 0', 740,.0 Tota! 32 IUO.~" 27 100.00/. \9 IOO.O°{, Also, the Daily Graphic hed three stories (9.4%) treated as opinions and the Public Agmda had one opmion story (3.7%). The Public Agenda was the only newspaper which recorded two stories on disability issues in the news coded as forei gn, (7.4%) whi le the Daily Graphic did nat record any. Comparing the two newspapers, there ....' as a little difference in their treaunentofslOricson disabilities from the data codcd. With the exception of the foreign stories, the two oe",spapers had most of their stories treated as straight news, the yrecorded the same number of stories in the letter to the editor section, and there was little difference in thefeat~andopinionseclian . .a.SPlacementofDisabi lityStoric\ 1be placement of a story on a givcn page can either confer prominence on the story or bury the: story. The front page is considered the most prominent page of a newspaper followed by Ihc b.lck and centre spread. 38 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Table4: Pla cemenl of Stories Frequ ency Va lid Perce nt Pl ace ment of story 3.4 Front page 8ackpage 3.4 Centre spread 5.1 Any other inside pages 52 88. 1 Total 100.0 In temlS of placement, most of the stories on disabi lity issues in Daily Graphic and Public Agenda sampled were placed on the inside pages (88.1% ). The centre spread had three stories (5.1%) and only two stories (3.4%) were placed on the back which is one of the prominent pages. The front page which is the most prominent page also had only two stories (3.4%) This implies that close to nine in 10 stories (88. 1% ) were placed in pages other than the front, middle and the back page - which ace regarded as the most prominent pages. Thus. the two newspaperspul together gave lin le prominence to issues of disability with oruy four stories on themostpromi nentpages(frontand back)andthereststackedin the inside pages 4.6 Placement of Story by Newspaper Table S: Newspaper by Place men I of Story Newspaper Placement of story Dai ly Graphic Pub!icAgenda Front page 0% 7.4% 3.4% Back page 3. 1% 3.7% 3.4% Centre spread 7.4% 5. 1% Any other inside pages 93 .8% 22 81.5% 52 88. 1% 32 100.0% 27 100.0% 59 100.0% 39 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The fmding from table five shows that the Public Agenda was the only newspaper which had two front page stories on issues of disability. With the back page stories, the Public Agenda had one story and the Daily Graphic also had one story on disability issues. But the twO newspapers devoted most of their stories in the inside page. 1be Public Agenda devoted 22 stories (81.1%) 00 the "inside page" and the Daily Graphic devoted 30 stories (93.8%) to the "inside pages". The findings also show the Public Agenda gave some prominence to issues on disability by placing two stories on the front page and one at the bac kpagc 4.7 Size of Disabili ty Stories Table6:SizeofDilla bilityStories Size of Dillability Story Frequency VaJidPercent Full page ).4 3/4 ofa page 8.5 1/2 ofa page 5.1 I130fapage 29 49.2 1/40fapage lJ 22.0 Less than v.. 7 11.9 Total 59 100.0 The amount of space given to a story can suggest how important the story is and confer prominence on the story item. The study categorised the size of stories into full page, half of a page, three quarters ofa page, one thi rd ofa page, quarter ofa page and Ie ssthanone quarterofapage. Table six illustrates that there were only two (3.4%) full page stories 0 n disabilities found in the sampled stories. Almost SO percent (29 stories) on disability stories were 1/3 of a page. 13 stories (representing 22.0%) were 1/4 of a page. There were seven stories (11.9%) wbichwere Lessthao 114 ofa page. 40 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.8Sit.tofDisabilityStoryby~ewspaper Table 7: Size of Disability Sto~' by Newspaper Newspaper SiLeofDisahility Dail} Graphic Public Agenda L2ufapago: ;17"'0 5.1""0 L30fapagc 43 8~o 15 29 49 2~o lAofapago: [0 l OO.OO~ 100.0% 59 100.0°/0 It is observed from Table Seven that the Daily Graphic did not have any full page story on disabilities; the Public Agenda had two stories (7.4%) on disability which v."Cre full page. The Daily Graphic had two stories (6.2%) which were 3/4 of a page and the Public Agenda also had three stories (11.1%) whieh were 3/4 ora page. Also. the Daily Graphic had. two slories (6.2%) which were 1/2 and the Public Agenda had only one (3.7%) 1/2 page story. The size of story that appeared most in both newspapers "-as the one third on a page. The Puhlic Agenda had almost 56 percent ( IS counts) of stories were of the size of 113 and the Daily Graphic had 14 stories (almost 44%) which were If3. The 114 of a page was the second in me Daily Graphic v.ith 10 stories (31.2%) and the Public A~c"da had three stories (11.1%) which were of the size 114. In addition. the Daily Graphic had four stories (12.S-/o) of size less than 1/4 and Puhlic Ag~nda had three slories (11.1%) of size less than 1f4. Comparing the two newspapers. the size of majority of the publications on disability in the Daily GraphiC and Public Axenda was 113 paged 41 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.9 Type of Disabili l)' Mentioned in Story The study also tried to assess what types of disabilities were mentioned in the stories. The study coded for visual impainnent, hearing impainnent, intellectual disability, physically challenged and per,;ons with disabilities. [t is observed from Table Eight that, the most covered disabilities from the sample of the Ghanaian newspapers was "intellectual disability" which was mentioned in 21 stories (35.5%). Physically chaUenged was the next most covered in 17 stories representing 28.8 percent. Also, persons with disabilities were covered in 16 stories (27.1%), followed by visually impaired covered in three stories (5.1%) and the least covered was hearing impainnent which was mentioned in two stories representing 3.4 percent. Table 8: Disa bility Cove red in Story ~~DY' r.D:::'·-,.:bci:':;t-y-co-ve-uk~'s (2004) assertion that news values cannot be separated from the sociOlI contexts in which newspapers operatc, and that the societal values. beliefs and attitudes have a bearing on how ReW$ values are applied in practice. The less prominence gi\'cn to Issues of disability in the Dally Graphic and Public Agenda could also be explained in tenns ofpromineoccofthe actors involved. !(incc issues of disability are often not about prominent people (Croteau &: Hoynes, 2003). Besides. the less prominence given by both newspapersc:ou1d be explained by considerations such as economics. othttthan news values (see Croteau &: Hoyncs,2003) 54 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.3 Which Type-s of Frames Characterise Stories about rWDs? The results of the anaJ)'!is show that a significant number of stories were not stereotyped; which means thai persons with disabilities wcre not framed to depict stereotypC's in the sampled newspapers. This is in line with what Gamson (1993) suggested that the media routinely use metaphors, catchphrases, exemplars. depictions. and visual images that culturally resonate with audiences. These framing devices represent con\'enlions for sharing information which help media .... orkers arrange seemingly disjointed events into a meaningful , organised, interpretive package. This was also confirmed when the two newspapers ace compared where the Daily Graphic as well as the Public Agenda have more than 64 percent of stories without stereotypes. While this may be true, it is observed from the findings that a significant number of Paul Hunts' stereotypes were pomayed in the two newspapen. That is. 60 percent of Paul Hunts' stereotype categories were found in the two newspapers sampled. In both papers, persons with disabilities were portrayed as bcing a burden (28.57%). unable to participate in daily life tl1U7"/.,), pathetic or pitiable (19.05%), as objects of curiosity or violence (14.29%), sinister or evil (4.76%) and their own worst enemy (4.76%). Of the ::;ix typt:s of stereotypes, two wcremostlyportrayed: the disabled as being buC'ck'tl and not bemg able topa rticipate in their daily life. The disabled being portrayed as burden, as Colin Barnes (1992) explains, encourages the public to (eel pity for peopJe with disabilities, often time sdepictmglhemas in nct:d of the non-disabled population'S help. Thi5 also confinn5 Lisa Adams' (2006) asscnion that, very oft.en in the press. ill articles related to children .... ith disabililics, t hc:child or family member with a disability is depicted as a burden. 55 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Contrary to past research findings that disabiJity issues generally tend to be covered in newspapers in soft, feature-style stories rather than in harder, more issue-orientated ones (Clogston, 1993),thlsstudy found that majority of the stories were "straight news stories ,'" 78.1 percent for Daily Graphic and 77.8 percent for Public Agenda. Although many of these topics are positive. there are still some topics discussed which create negative connections with disability. As Baran and Davis (2003) asserted, framing is highly flexible and open- ended, and due to this, journalists sometimes write news or frame issues which they think will resonate with the public without considering the effccton them Examining the specific topics journalists choose to cover when reporting on disabi li ty issues is important for understanding how persons living with disabilities are framed for public consumption. It is clear from this study that subjects mostly discuss about persons with disabilities are social. for example, "Gbeogo School for the Dcaf Gets Assistance", "Bank of Ghana Donates to Leprosarium" which still portrays persons with disabilities as in need of the non-disabled population's help. It is clear from the study that the most mentioned disability in the two newspapers was intellectual disability which constituted 35.6 percent of disability stories in the £wo newspapers. In Table Eight where the two newspapers are compared, intellectual disability was highest in the Public Agenda with 10 stories (37.0%) but in the Daily Graphic, the physically challenged and intellectual disability were the highest with e achmentionedin II stories (34.4%). S6 :UI! University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh .,,( ~ Q-' 5.4 What Soul'"cell are cited in the News Concerning Persons with Disabilities?~ ~ t I~~:'" As previously mentioned, a major component of this slUdy has been dClennining the kinds of sources in the disability stories because of their power 10 frame the message about disability issues. In an idea1 world,people withdisahilities should be involved as sources in any news story that concerns them. However, these fmdings indicate that even though people with disabilitiesarenotignored,theyarenotintota)controlofdisabiliIy-relatedstories. A major finding is that, more than 86 percent of the stories had no idcnti fiablesourccwitha disability in it. Thus disability is rarely discussed by the two newspapers (Daily Graphic and Public Agenda) from the perspective of people with disabilities themselves. The two newspaperslogetheroften look at disability through the lens of the non-disabled people. In addition,becausemostissuesonpersonswithdisabilitieshadnosource of disability in them. indirectly, the sampled newspapers were not empowering PWDs to voice their own opinions and concerns, Also because persons with disabilities were not cited in news stories concerning them, the sampled newspapers did nOI value issues of disabilities. As Kisuke (2004) argues, scleclion of news sources would depend on story values ens uringthatsources selected add value to news they speak to. Comparing the two newspapers in the analysis, it was revealed that both of them cited sources which had no identifiable source ofdisabiHty in them. That is, a total of29 stories (almost 96 percent from the Daily Graphic) and 21 stories (representing almost 78 percent from the Public Agenda had no identifiable source of disability in them On one hand, this could mean that jownalists are nOI seeking out people with disabilities for these stories. On theotherhand,it could also mean thatjoumalists are not identifying the disa bilitystatusof 57 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh sources. This is becausejownalists have the tendency to credit and state the disability status of their sources. Therefore it is assumed that the sources cited indisahility stories which did not give the disability starus of sources were from persons without disabilities. Comparing the two newspapers. it is clear from the findings that most of the sources cited in both the Daily Graphic and Public Agenda could not be identified as sources of disability. 5.5 Conclusion This section sums up the key issues that arose out of the study and relates this to the objectives of the research. Two newspapers with similar but different mandate were selected for the studies. Public Agenda newspaper was selectcd to represent the privately-owned newspapers and the Daily Graphic was selected to represent the state-owned newspapers. The study was designed to detennine the kind of coverage the two newspapers give to persons living with disabilities. in achieving the broad aim statcd above,theresearcherhad four main objectives in mind in intelTogating the kind of coverage the sampled newspapers provide on disability - quantum of coverage, prominence. sources cited and fTaming. This study anticipated that, the major obstacles of persons with disabilities included bias, prejudice and discrimination and pointed out that, these categories of persons are marginalised and isolated to a much greater extent as a result of this discrimination. Again, the study was of the view that negative attitudes and perception about persons with disabilities are hcld tenaciously and is therefore extremely difficult to change. 1brough content analysis the study largely established that there was limited co verageofpersonwith disability in the Iwo newspapers with respect to the quantum of news stories. Prominence was not given to issues of disabilities with respect to size, space and placement of news 5& University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh stories. Also, stories on disability issues had no sources of people with disability i nthem, and by so doing the sampled newspapers were not empowering persons with disabilities to speak upon issues affecting them. Contrary to expectation, stereotyping was not central in determining how Ghanaian newspapers (Daily Graphic and Public Agenda) portray persons with disabilities with respect to framing of issues concerning them. Although many of these stories were not stereotyped, there were still some stories discussed which created negative COJUle ctions with disability in the two newspapers 5.6 Lim il at ioDS of Study Due to the researcher' s visual limitation, two people were employed to read the I 18 publications in accordance with her directives prior to the coding. The small number of disability stories realised from the two newspapers does not make possible for generalisation offindings,a]though it provides good insight inlo the media discour sean disability issues. Also, a major problem encountered during the study was the unavailabi li tyofthearchivesof Daily Graphic '$ 72 issues needed for the work on their website. The period that the study covered was rather short. !tcould have covered thewho]e year to getwi derscopc and this would have made the research more representatives of the Ghanaian newspapers and would have made the data more accurate 59 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.7 Recommeodalions The media is one of the key institutions in the public sphere. It was therefore useful 10 interrogate what kind of prominence and characterisation the media would accord persons with disabilities. It isrecommendedthatthefindingsofthisstudybeus ed as a launching pad for further investigations into how Ghanaian newspapers portray persons wi thdisabilitiesand to sensitize journalists on how to provide better coverage on disability. The scope could be expanded to a year and other forms of media like radio broadcast, television, magazines. onlineetccouldbeinc!udedforfurtherstudiestoknowhowlheyalsoportray persons with disabilities. 60 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh APPENDIX I Coding Guide QJ . Newspaper 1 Dai JyGraphic 2. Public Agenda Q2. lssuedate Q3 . Total nwnber of stories on Disability Q4. Headline Q5. Type of story/item I. Straight newsslory 2. Lettertotheeditor 3 Featurearticle 4. Editorial 5 Opinion 6 Foreign news 7. Other ... 61 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Q6. Placementofstory 1 Front page 2. Backpage 3 Centrespread 4. Any other inside pages Q7. SizeofDisabilitystory I. FuJI page 2.3f.page 3. Yzpage 4 YJpage 5. 'h page 6. Lessthan~ Q8. Type of disability mentioned in the story. 1 VisuaJlyimpaired 2. Hearingimpaired 3 Intellectual disability 4 Physically challenged 5. Other .. 62 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Q9. Mainsubjectofdisabilitystory 1. Social 2 Political 3. Economic 4 . Other .. QlO. Tone of story 2. Negative QI I . Any stereotype? 1. Yes 2 No Q12. Type of stereotype (Framing of story) I Pathetic or pitiable 2. AnobjeclofcuriosityofvioJence 3. Sinister or evil 4 Thesupper cripp[e 5. Asatmosphere 6. Laughable 7. Their own worst enemy 8. Burden 9. Non-sexuaJ 10. Unable 10 par1icipate in daily life Il.Other .. 63 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ql3 . Sourccciledinmeslories I Organisation of People wilh Disabiliry 2. lndividualwithdisability 3. lndividualwithoutdisabiliry 4 . Policy makers 5. Other ... 64 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh APPENDIX II Coding8ook Stereotypes in Disabilityslorics Being pitiable or pathetic: Persons with disabilities are portrayed in the media as being weak. so that the non-disabled public can sympathize with Ao object of curiosity orvio)cnce: Persons with diSllbilitiesarc often subject to violent abuse by non-disabled people and this is frequently reflect edinthe media which contribute to disabled being portrayed as totally helpless and dependent on non-disabled persons Sinister or evil: Persons with disabilities often portrayed on television fictions etc as bcing criminals or monsters The !l uper cripple: Persons with disabilities are assigned super human abi li ties. Bhnd people for example are portrayed as having extremely sensitive hearing As atmosphere: Persons with disabilities are sometimes included in the storylines of dramas etc to enhance a certain feelings. usually one of menace, mystery or deprivation l.aughable: Persons with disabilities have been a source of amusement for non-