The Media-Democracy Paradox in Ghana

W.S. Dzisah

Description

This original new book researches into the praxis of this democracy and its media, delving into Ghana’s evolvement, media practice, leadership aspirations, pressure group politics and ethnic and tribal cleavages. Written in accessible language it will provide valuable source material for readers interested in the development of a democratic culture.

A rich data source for students, scholars and researchers on both the African continent and in the diaspora, it examines the growing influence of social media in political discourse and provides an insightful analysis on debates surrounding political communication and its implications for strengthening democratic culture. Its intention is to challenge the intellectual rigour of scholars, academics, researchers and students. The analytical frames it offers are to generate intellectual discourses. 

Provides an overview of the history of the press in Ghana and how that has shaped the current media landscape, and draws attention to the growing influence of social media in political messages and debate.  The historical analysis of the political situation of Ghana and its relationship to the press is informative, comprehensive and stimulating to read.  Ideas discussed are revealing and relevant to current discussions on the contributions of the media to the growth and development of democracy in Ghana in particular – and in Africa as a whole.

The unusual and highly original comparative analytic approach used here is in dealing with the media-democracy paradox through comments and analysis that challenges the orthodoxy of western idealism.  The discussion of media and democracy, with private and state media operating side-by-side in a multiparty democratic setting regulated by a constitution, adds significantly to the wider field of knowledge on the media and democracy.

Primary audience will be academics, scholars, researchers and students – undergraduate and postgraduate – in the humanities and social sciences. Of particular relevance to those in media and communication studies, political science, journalism, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, and historians whose research interests include Ghana.  Also relevant to those with an interest in democracy and development, to media advocacy institutions and policy makers, and to media development experts.

Preface vii

Acknowledgements xii

List of Abbreviations xiii

1. Theorizing Media and Democracy 1

2. Media Ownership and Control 31

3. The African Perspective of Media and Democracy 48

4. African Governance System and Democracy 67

5. The Early Press, Nkrumah and Nationalism 86

6. Military Adventurism, Democrats and the Media 100

7. Media and Communication Ethics 115

8. Monopoly to Pluralism: Radio and Television 134

9. Social Media and Democratic Elections 149

10. Conclusion 166

Bibliography

Sujets

• Media Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• África
• Theory
• Politics
• Journalism
• Democracy
• Africa
• Media
• Communication

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789382372
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2020 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2020 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2020 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy edited: MPS
Production manager: Laura Christopher
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN 978-1-78938-236-5
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-238-9
ePub ISBN 978-1-78938-237-2
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Theorizing Media and Democracy
2. Media Ownership and Control
3. The African Perspective of Media and Democracy
4. African Governance System and Democracy
5. The Early Press, Nkrumah and Nationalism
6. Military Adventurism, Democrats and the Media
7. Media and Communication Ethics
8. Monopoly to Pluralism: Radio and Television
9. Social Media and Democratic Elections
10. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Preface
My desire to write a book on Ghana’s fledgling media-democracy paradox was on the cards for almost a decade. There was pressure from academic friends, students, mentors, sponsors, my siblings and family to add what they considered to be an intellectual discourse to the evolving sociocultural, socio-economic and sociopolitical developments that had gripped a nascent multi-party constitutional democracy such as Ghana.
At no point in the history of Ghana had the media enjoyed such freedom of the press and the atmosphere, which enabled it to play an important role as a watchdog of the society than the post-1992 era. It is on this basis that I was persuaded to provide a deeper understanding of how the media assisted the democratic architecture to inform and educate the citizenry, and also be both the watchdog and guide-dog over those holding political office in particular, and political parties in general. This book, therefore, deals with the media-democracy paradox in Ghana. It concerns itself with the genial myths of multi-party constitutionalism and the media’s role in safeguarding this new arrangement that saw a consultative assembly rather than a constituent assembly deliberate on a new constitution. The fruits of these deliberations culminated in the erection of the 1992 Fourth Republican amphitheatre in Ghana.
In the main, the book sets out to explain how the country’s most influential media outlets have aided and continue to aid Ghana’s nascent democracy. Ghana, since 1992, has had seven presidential and parliamentary elections, the most recent being the 7 December 2016 elections. The eighth general elections will be held on 7 December 2020. But the continuous success of Ghana’s democratic journey has made the country a cynosure of all eyes within the democratic bowels of the Global North. The most striking feature of the success of Ghana’s democratic experiment has been its ability to stay focused on the path of constitutional stability, particularly coming on the heels of a long spell of military rule.
The media’s activism in contributing to democratic development in Ghana must be anchored to their critical independence as the ‘Fourth Power’ through pluralism and diversity (Curran et al. 2009; Ansah 1991). In this case, theories of the media must be seen as important cogs in the wheel of any meaningful democratic development. Models of democracy show that the media are the bedrock on which any meaningful democratic practice could be deemed viable or irrelevant in a given society.
In this regard, it is significant to note how the private-state ownership and control structures have assisted in enhancing the political and democratic public sphere. Within this context, the constitutional spine given to the media as enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992 constitution has been a positive development in insulating them from governmental control. Issues of democratic accountability, ownership and how the media have influenced electoral processes since 1992 are crucial, debatable issues that should engage the minds of academics, political actors and readers in general. Clearly, the media’s support for democratic growth and its promotion of pluralism and diversity within the political and democratic public sphere continue to engender debate and discussion.
Attempts to find definite answers to key questions within these debates and discussions tend to even question the relevance of western-dominated theories, their genuineness and their relevance to Africa and Ghana as they deal with media and democracy. The basis of this scepticism could be found in the archetypical presentation of the normative theories as well as their reconsiderations as the main theoretical formulations on which media and democracy can thrive in any part of the world. Arguably, this hypothesis, with emphasis on western liberal perspectives, is at times at odds with the variants in the African context, particularly Ghana.
It must be noted that the relative success of the ‘third wave’ democracy in Ghana, after the one-party governments, followed by the military dictatorship (Carothers 2002), since its inauguration in 1993, has significantly changed the political discourse of the prior demands for political participation and contestation, to those of crystallizing democracy through ‘good governance’. The gladiator-fashion of the media’s engagement with perceived political opponents must not be identified as mainly a manifestation of the feud-mentality that is characteristic of Ghanaian politics (Heller 2009; Owusu 1986). The media has been the vehicle for the political combatants to fulfil their objectives over the years.
From 1993 to 1997 most of the opposition parties in Ghana boycotted parliament, leaving only the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and its partners in the Progressive Alliance (PA) to control the legislature. The major opposition parties did not participate in the 29 December 1992 parliamentary elections after losing the 3 November 1992 presidential elections. They accused the governing party, which transformed itself from the military government of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) into a political party, of vote rigging. In this boycott, 95 per cent of the Members of Parliament (MPs) were representatives of the ruling NDC, which was the major partner in the Progressive Alliance. The remaining five per cent of the Members of Parliament came from the minority partners in the alliance, namely the National Convention Party (NCP) and the Egle Party (Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere Party) with two independents.
It has to be noted that since the 1992 parliamentary boycott that ended after the first term of the constitutional government in January 1997, a landmark event in Ghana’s post-independence history, the private media eventually assumed the label ‘opposition media’ as against the state-owned pro-government media. Therefore, the contribution of both the state and private news media to the emerging democratic evolution needs to be explored. What made it even more compelling at the time was the absence of private radio and television in the period 1992–94, leaving the private newspaper media as the alternative to the state-owned media.
The expansion of the frontiers of freedom of expression and the re-establishment of constitutional democracy has thrown up some useful dynamics worthy of debate. The dynamics of changes being experienced have also spawned a large numbers of actors in both the media and politics. Given that the media in Ghana is either state-owned or private, the subtle control of the state-owned media by successive ruling governments, therefore, places a heavy responsibility on the private media to hold the government to account not only as the ‘Fourth Power’ under the separation of powers, but also, because of its unique role, as the watchdog for society. It became a potent force and operated unofficially as the opposition outside parliament. In order to fill the political void created by the opposition parties’ boycott in the first four years, the privately owned press assumed the role of an opposition group. The boycott ended after the first four years of the first term of constitutional rule in 1996, a landmark event in Ghana’s post-independence history when the opposition parties contested for political power and duly took their seats in parliament.
Importantly, after the 2000 and 2008 elections there were leadership changes in Ghana. The electoral victory of J. A. Kufuor and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2000 and the subsequent change of reins of government in January 2001 was the first time in its history when a constitutionally elected government was replaced by another one through the ballot box. The second and third of such transfers of power were in January 2009 and 2017 respectively. In these cases the incumbent governments of the NPP and NDC were replaced by the J. E. A. Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) that won the 2008 elections, followed by the victory of the NPP in 2016 culminating in another transition in January 2017. How the media helped in the political communication process, resulting in the electorate replacing one constitutional government with another, is worth discussing.
Furthermore, any intellectual discourse involving media and democracy hopefully can provide the synergy for explicating the various notions, theo