Abstract:
This study examined the news stories Ghanaian Times newspaper published on its front
pages from 2015 to 2019. The study aimed at establishing the dominant news types, the
news actors and the setting of the front page stories.The variables were based on the fact
that the Ghanaian Times, as astate-owned media with a constitutional obligation of offering
equal facilities and opportunities to all to express divergent views and opinions, will do
just that. The gatekeeping theory and framing theories undergirded the study. To achieve
the objectives of the study, qualitative content analysis was used to gather data for the
study. Also, an interview was used to gather additional data to validate findings from the
content analysis. Thematic analysis was used in handling the data especially in coming up
with the themes and corresponding frames with regard to the focus of the study. Results
showed a skewed coverage for political news, the elite and urban settings.The newspaper,
in the exercise of their gatekeeping function, ended up with unfavourable coverage towards
rural folks, the masses and even other non-political news. This may be because coverage
on political issues and the elites boost sales and the newspaper depends on sales to cover
its operational cost. As a result, the newspaper failed to uphold its constitutional obligation.
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 fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Media Studies)
in the University of Education,Winneba
JULY, 2020
