Abstract:
Media coverage of female politicians has been observed to portray women with gender
frames that are negative. This study investigated the coverage of female parliamentary
candidates in the 2016 election in Ghana. The Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times
newspapers were analysed to determine the frequency of media coverage of female
parliamentary candidates as well as prominence given by the media to female
parliamentary candidates. The study also content analysed how the Daily Graphic and
the Ghanaian Times Newspapers framed female parliamentary candidates in their
reportage. `In all 90 publications from both the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times
newspapers were selected for the study. The Daily Graphic newspaper was made up of
59 stories and the Ghanaian Times made up of 31, bringing the total number to 90
publications. The editions spanned from July 1, 2016 to December 7, 2016. The study
found that in terms of overall distribution of frequencies of coverage of parliamentary
candidates, the two newspapers gave less coverage to female parliamentary candidates.
The study also revealed that the two national newspapers selected for the study within
the period of July 1, to December 2016 did not fare well in the area of prominence to
the coverage of female parliamentary candidates during the 2016 parliamentary
election. The papers published only two female parliamentary candidates’ stories on
their front pages, thus one each. The findings established that both the Daily Graphic
and the Ghanaian Times newspapers framed the female parliamentary candidates
stereotypically based on the descriptions of female parliamentary candidates in their
reportage. The study is underpinned by the framing theory (Goffman, 1994), the Agenda
Setting theory (Walter Lippmann, 1992) and the Liberal Feminist theory (Betty Friedan,
1963). The study also recommends to Civil Society and gender based organisations to
institute Award Schemes for Media houses or Journalists who cover more activities
aimed at increasing the participation of women in politics
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Communication and Media Studies, Faculty
of Foreign Languages Education and Communication, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Communication and Media Studies)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JULY, 2020
