News Media Logic and Democracy: Strange Bedfellows in Political News-making Practices of Private Radio Stations in Ghana

Abstract

Although radio has historically been the most widespread media in Ghana and much of Africa, little is known about its news-making practices in political news. Given the rise of mediated politics in an emerging democracy like Ghana, radio's role in enabling communication between political actors and citizens has grown even more pertinent. Drawing on news media logic, described as the imperatives which guide news production, this paper investigates political news production practices through analysis of 17 semi-structured interviews of Ghanaian journalists, politicians and civil society experts. It reveals an emerging trend in political journalism where Ghanaian private radio stations are fast adopting news media logic, characterised by a commercialisation and lack of professionalism, both identified as detrimental to democracy. These practices raise concerns about the media's power in excluding certain political views which do not conform to its logic, thereby providing audiences with a limited reality of the political space. If the sustenance of democracy partly lies on the media providing citizens with accurate information that reflects the range of actors in politics, then attention needs to be paid to these production practices which present limited political content to citizens.