A case study of how students perceive talking point at University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how students at the University of Education, Winneba perceive Talking Point, a talk show programme on Ghana Television (GTV). Factors that motivate students at University of Education, Winneba to watch Talking Point; students’ perception of Talking Point host, guests, and topics; and how Talking Point affects the students were all investigated. Participants for the study were twenty-five students who had been selected using the purposive and snowball sampling procedures. Data was gathered through in-depth qualitative interviews and focus group discussions and analysed using thematic analysis. The Perception theory and the Uses and Gratification theory provided a broad framework for the study. This study found that education and information are factors that motivate students at University of Education, Winneba to watch Talking Point. This finding is contrary to assertions in the literature that entertainment is the primary motive for which people watch talk shows. Although it was found that government exerts some level of influence on Talking Point programme, respondents generally considered panelists and host of the programme to be intelligent and objective. Finally, the study revealed that Talking Point has helped in shaping the thoughts, knowledge base and aspects of respondents’ social life.