Social media and radio news production A study of selected radio stations in Accra

Abstract

The study investigated social media use by two radio stations in Accra (Peace FM and Citi FM), employing cyber ethnography, interviews and documents analysis as well as the Technology Acceptance and Technology Appropriation models. The research revealed that social media has been useful in enhancing journalistic tasks of news gathering, sourcing, news reporting, news editing, and public engagement or interactivity. However, the point of departure in terms of the appropriation of social media by the two radio stations lies in the area of news dissemination. The study also found that the incorporation of social media into radio news production has not subverted traditional patterns of news production and distribution. Rather, social media complements radio news production, with the resultant effect being the evolution of a radio-social media news ecology. Members of the ecology (radio stations, social media and audience) inter-relate and interdepend on one another in the area of content production and usage. What is, however, significant is that the two radio stations do not have any documented policies to help tackle credibility issues associated with some social media content.