ghana media democracy

8/4/2019 Ghana Media Democracy

1/28

Ghana : Media and

Democracy in 50 Years of

Independence

By

Her Excellency Margaret Ivy Amoakohene,Ghana High Commissioner to Canada


2/28

INTRODUCTION

There is a veritable connection betweendemocracy, political participation, and goodgovernance.

Similarly, there are linkages betweenjournalism (the mass media) and politics inthe Gold Coast (colonial Ghana).

The press played a seminal role in the

struggle for independence, which ultimatelyresulted in the liberation of the Gold Coastfrom colonialism.


3/28

INTRODUCTION

Throughout Africa, the mass media

have played a useful role either to

ensure the practice of democracy or tosafeguard it against abuse.

This presentation focuses on the

interface between the mass media and

democracy in Ghana since theattainment of independence in 1957.


4/28

INTRODUCTION

It attempts to examine this relationship

from regime to regime beginning with

Dr. Nkrumahs CPP Government. Continues through the

unconstitutional years of Flt Lt J. J.

Rawlings PNDC.

Touches on other short-lived regimes

until President Rawlings NDC and

President Kufuors NPP.


5/28

INTRODUCTION

The presentation highlights the role of the

media towards safeguarding democracy

under each regime and the responses ofthe various political establishments.

It examines the interface between the

media and politics and how interactions

between the mass media and politicalactors impact on democracy.


6/28

GHANAS DEMOCRACY

Ghanas democracy is a hybrid of the

North American and British

Westminster models combiningconstitutionalism, participation and

representation at both the national and

local levels.

It operates a system in which the massmedia are both actors and facilitators.


7/28

GHANAS DEMOCRACY

Ghana has a democratically electedgovernment headed by a President andhas, since 1992, had four such

governments - bracing up for the 5th. It has, for the first time in the countrys

history, also had a smooth changeoverfrom one political party to anotheroperating within the same Constitutionand the same Republic.


8/28

GHANAS DEMOCRACY

Ghana has a 230-member multi-party

Parliament with a very strong Opposition.

It has an independent Judiciary and otherindependent constitutional bodies:

Electoral Commission

Commission on Human Rights and

Administrative Justice

National Media Commission


9/28

The Role of the Mass Media in

Democracy Open up channels of communication

to enable public access to governmentand its structures, and to engender

public involvement and discussion ofgovernment activities.

McQuail (2000) provides a list ofmediation roles or functions that themass media have been known orperceived to play in society.


10/28

ROLE OF MEDIA

The media are seen as a window on

events and experience, a mirror of

events in society and the world, afilter or gatekeeper, a signpost,

guide or interpreter, a forum or

platform for the presentation of

information and ideas and as aninterlocutor or informed partner in

conversation (McQuail, 2000, p. 66).


11/28

ROLE OF MEDIA

Ensure good governance and government

accountability through the provision of

adequate and accessible information, which

is a sine qua non of democracy, economicgrowth and consumer choice.

By providing and facilitating the flow of

information, the media constitute an

important component of the politicalprocess in democracies.


12/28

ROLE OF MEDIA

The media educate through the provision ofnews and information;

Provide entertainment;

Bring societies, social institutions andcultures closer to each other through newscoverage and the provision of information;

Perform watchdog roles over Governments,

their agencies and institutions as well asover society and its institutions;

Usually set the agenda for debate anddiscussion on issues of importance.


13/28

The Media in Ghana

The history and development of themass media in Ghana are inextricablylinked to the countrys political history.

Under colonialism, the newspaper wasintroduced and used more as apolitical tool to link the centre to theperiphery than as a tool for thedissemination of information (Anokwa, 1997;Ansu-Kyeremeh & Karikari, 1998).


14/28

The Media in Ghana

During the struggle for independence,

newspapers were used to organise and

galvanise the people to fight to liberate the

country from colonialism (Ansah, 1991a).

Immediately after independence, they

became tools for political mobilisation,

organisation and education, and weapons

for the total liberation of Africa, but laterused as tools for suppressing dissent (Wilcox,

1975).


15/28

The Media in Ghana

The role of the mass media in Ghana has

today transformed from the freedom fighter

of the early newspapers to the watchdog

role assigned by Ghanas 1992 Constitution(Article 162 (5)).

Ghana of the 1990s, the period of transition

from the Rawlings years of dictatorship to a

democratic republic (Ampaw, 2004, p. 18),witnessed even greater media involvement

in politics.


16/28

The Media in Ghana

The Ghanaian media have vacillated

between intrepidity and cowardice

along a continuum of revolutionary,

confrontational, legitimacy, and

supportive roles depending on the

prevailing political atmosphere.

Their roles determined by the unstable,complex, social and political

environments in which they function.


17/28

In normal times, and on the average, theyhave functioned more like what Donohue,Tichenor and Olien (1995) referred to as

the guard dog. This is a kind of mid-posture between the

watchdog and lapdog concepts, owingprincipally to the uncertainty of theiroperational environment (Boafo, 1985; Anokwa,1997).


18/28

The Media in Ghana

They have tried to play the watchdog role

during most civilian administrations (Boafo,

1988; Blay-Amihere & Alabi, 1996).

They have also had to play the lapdog

role out of genuine fear for their lives

especially during military regimes (Boafo,

1985).


19/28

The Media in Ghana

The mass media have enabled large

sections of Ghanas population to

voice out their feelings especially

through letters to editors and

interactive radio programmes in local

languages.

These allow Ghanas citizens tocontribute to discussions on issues

that affect the society.


20/28

Government-Media Relations

Throughout Ghanas history, relations

between the mass media and government

have varied from regime to regime (Anokwa,1997; Yankah, 1997; Asante, 1996).

Various governments have tended to

excessively control the media and to use

them largely as mouthpieces forpropagating their political agenda (Anokwa,1997; Asante, 1996; Ansah, 1991a).


21/28


Relations were most sour under theregime of Dr Kwame Nkrumah andespecially during the unconstitutional

regimes of military dictators such asGeneral Ignatius Kutu Acheampong andFlt-Lt Jerry John Rawlings.

Conversely, they were more relaxedunder the civilian administrations of DrBusia, Dr Limann and Mr Kufuor.


22/28


During the unconstitutional rule of the PNDC(1982-1992), the media lived under a regimecharacterised by a culture of silence withthe promulgation of the newspaper licensing

law (PNDC Law 211), which madejournalistic work hazardous.

Culture of silence is defined as anti-democratic and anti-freedom of expressioncommunication (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 1999-2001, p.31), a situation that curtails thecultivation and nurturing of freeexpression (p. 33).


23/28


The concept culture of silence - recalls

Dr Nkrumahs belief that the type of free

expression which established

democracies have taken generations to

evolve was beyond the reach of a young

independent country (an emergent

democracy) like Ghana (Nkrumah,1963, p 77).


24/28


During much of Ghanas post-independence history, the mass mediahave been largely under government

monopoly and control (Ansu-Kyeremeh & Karikari,1998).

As a result, the terms state-ownedmedia and government media areusually used interchangeably even by theNational Communications Authority(NCA).


25/28

CONCLUSION

The media are critical to the realisationof the ideals of Ghanas democracy.

They monitor the extent to whichpeoples rights to free speech, freeexpression, free movement, freeassociation, and equal opportunities inemployment and education, amongothers, are respected in democracies(Ansah, 1991).


26/28

CONCLUSION

The requirements of probity, accountability

and transparency in democratic governance

underscore the importance of the mass

media and feedback from the public. Theoretically, Ghanas Constitution in

Chapter 12 and Article 21 makes the mass

media one of the pillars of Ghanas

democracy and an important vehiclethrough which Ghana can establish and

sustain its democratic culture.


27/28

CONCLUSION

The media have been instrumental in

safeguarding Ghanas democratic

principles (Ayee, 2001a).

They have played vital roles in both the

historical and socio-political

development of the country (Ansah,

1991a; Gyimah-Boadi, 1999/2001a & b;Smith & Temin, 2001).


28/28

CONCLUSION

Thus the traditional trio of the

Executive, Legislature and Judiciary,

representing the Presidency,

Parliament and the Courts (Supreme

Court) are, in Ghana as elsewhere,

joined by the Fourth Estate (the

mass media) in importance todemocratic governance.

ghana media democracy

Documents