Media coverage of female parliamentary candidates in Ghana, case study of the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times newspapers (July 2016 –December, 2016)

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