The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1477-996X.htm

Journalistic
Journalistic ethics and elections ethics
news coverage in the Ghanaian
press: a content analysis of two
daily Ghanaian newspaper 63

coverage of election 2020 Received 13 April 2022

Revised 21 August 2022
Accepted 19 September 2022
Mohammed Faisal Amadu and Eliasu Mumuni
Department of Communication, Innovation and Technology,
Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies,
University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana, and
Ahmed Taufique Chentiba
Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Faculty of Communication and
Cultural Studies, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

Abstract
Purpose – This study investigates the incidence of ethical violations in the Ghanaian press which has
become topical in the wake of misinformation in a charged political atmosphere. Public interest institutions
have questioned the unprofessional conduct of journalists covering election campaigns in recent years. This
study content analysed political stories from two leading Ghanaian newspapers (Daily Graphic and Daily
Guide) to determine the nature and extent of ethical violations, and to examine the level of prominence
accorded to political news stories by the two dailies.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper relied on qualitative content analysis for data gathering
and analysis. A total of 387 political news items published between 1 October and 30 November 2020, were
analysed.
Findings – This study found infractions of various nature to Article 1 of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA)
codes of ethics, chief among which is the deliberate publications of news stories without cross-checking facts. Other
infractions to Articles 17, 11, 6 and 5 of the GJA codes of ethics were observed. Political news coverage favours the
governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) than any other
parties, with the two parties (NPP-NDC) given greater prominence and salience by the Ghanaian press.
Originality/value – The research makes a modest contribution to the growing concern of journalism
ethics in an increasing ecology of fake news.
Keywords Journalism ethics, Elections coverage, Ethical violations, Political news coverage,
Newspapers, Press coverage, Ghanaian print media
Paper type Research paper

1. Contextual background
Emerging democracies require the active participation of the media in strengthening its
democratic tenets. The mass media have long been recognised as bulwarks of democratic Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in
governance processes and have come to be regarded as the fourth estate of the realm. Media Society
and democracy scholars argue that the press remains a critical stakeholder in advancing Vol. 21 No. 1, 2023
pp. 63-75
good democratic governance and promoting accountability between duty bearers and rights © Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
holders for the total improvement of society (Owusu, 2012; Akinfeleye, 2008; Amoakohene, DOI 10.1108/JICES-04-2022-0039
JICES 2007; Yankah, 2004). This makes the media’s freedom, credibility and survival crucial for
21,1 sustained democracy and national advancement. However, the evidence available suggests
that even where the media are free, not every media contributes positively due to high
professional misconduct levels among practitioners, management, and often, media owners.
Unprofessional conduct by journalists and media houses has reportedly resulted in heated
confrontations, conflicts and disinterest, adding to setbacks in democratic gains.
64 The repeal of the criminal libel and seditious law in August 2001 opened the floodgates to
media pluralism in Ghana’s emerging democracy. The repeal of the over century-old law
that previously regulated media operations, circumscribed media freedoms and proscribed
free speech (Temin and Smith, 2002; Boadu-Ayeboafoh, 2001) expanded the frontiers of
Ghana’s democracy. The liberalisation of the media landscape witnessed an explosion
of media (MFWA, 2018; Avle, 2011; Boadu-Ayeboafoh, 2001) because the freedoms of
practicing journalists and the media fraternity were restored (Hasty, 2006; Alhassan, 2005).
The country, since then, has jealously guarded the gains it has made as a democratic nation
and is globally acclaimed as a beacon of democracy in the sub-region.
Scholarly critiques of media practice in Ghana highlight a growing public distaste that
questions the values and principles of journalism ethics practised by Ghanaian journalists.
In the Nordic areas, the Finnish press is gradually getting worried over the de-boundedness
of the activities of everyone practicing as journalists other than the professionally trained
practitioners who hold the bar of ethics and standards high (Hujanen et al., 2022) and value
the spirit of public good journalism.
Ghana’s media has often come under public criticism for biased, unbalanced, unfair,
sensationalised, unfounded and politically motivated news reports. The practice is often
characterised by some journalists’ foul and intemperate language and partisan conduct.
This has led some people to openly call for the reintroduction of media restrictions in recent
years (Owusu, 2012; Acheampong, 2017). Therefore, we must question the ethical lens of the
media in their professional conduct. The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) emerged in
Ghana as an umbrella body of all practicing journalists in the country that seek to achieve
higher professional standards and promote and defend press freedom. The association’s
code of ethics was developed and adopted as a ready guide applicable to all categories of
journalists in Ghana to ensure adherence to the “highest ethical standards, professional
competence and good behaviour in carrying out their duties”. The 1994 code of ethics was
revised and adopted in March 2017 to incorporate its growing impact on media pluralism
and diversity. Notwithstanding the many years of the existence and operation of codes of
ethics guiding the professional practice of journalism in Ghana, journalists in good standing
with the GJA have continuously violated the ethical principles that govern the performance
of their duties (Alhassan and Abdulai, 2019b; Tuurosong and Amadu, 2014; Owusu, 2012).
There are reports of violations of journalists’ ethical principles covering elections and
election-related activities in Ghana. Elections and political campaigns provide powerful
media coverage platforms, which explains why the GJA established a guide on election
coverage to further the country’s democracy. Scholars, including Graves (2007), urge the
media to ensure that it provides reliable and credible sources that news consumers can rely
on for information about issues that impact their daily lives. This means that journalists and
persons working in the media can become enablers of development actions only when they
ethically execute their mandate in line with laid down principles, best practices and the legal
environment within which they operate. Despite these obligations imposed on the media to
provide citizens with reliable news and sources of information, the freedom, credibility, and
survival of the media face a potential threat due to unprofessionalism in the Ghanaian media
space. The public is increasingly raising concerns about rampant professional lapses among
the Ghanaian media, with some calling for reintroducing criminal libel. Evidence suggests Journalistic
that not all media practitioners adhere to set standards that seek to regulate and enhance ethics
professionalism in practice. Both academic and policy studies in Ghana and elsewhere find
journalists routinely violating one form of ethical standard or another (Darko, 2020;
Alhassan and Abdulai, 2019a; Owusu, 2012). This article investigates the nature and extent
of ethical codes and procedures violations in the coverage of political stories during the
December 2020 general election campaigns in the Ghanaian press.
65
2. Conceptual construct and literature review
2.1 The concept of ethics
The vast fields of ethics as a discipline of academic study and a principle of moral practice
are nebulous. This position is affirmed by the number of disagreements, uncertainties and
apparent controversies that the term ethics evokes in academic literature and practice,
especially within the media space. For instance, there is no convergence among scholars and
practitioners on what constitutes ethics, its theories, sub-theories, forms or even its types.
Nonetheless, this study underpins its foundational understanding of ethics on the works of
Merrill (2011), who classifies traditional ethical theories into deontology, teleology and
subjective theories. Ethics essentially involves what a person should do (prescriptive) or not
(proscriptive). Recently, ethical concerns have been raised about how media practitioners
carry out their sacred duties to society. While it is true that the media themselves cannot be
judged as ethical or unethical, their staff and guest actions (journalists, media persons and
users and interactors of the media) can be deemed moral or unethical. Therefore, it is
important to understand the categorisation of ethics and how each is applied to the media.
To start with, deontological ethics, according to Merrill (2011), consists of ethical
principles based on rational approaches. Merrill (2011) calls this class of theories the
legalistic/absolutist theories because they are based on a priori principles that are generally
accepted as codes that guide the performance of mandated duties of the print journalist in
this case. A journalist, in the sense of deontological ethics, is expected to abide by a formal
set of rules, codes or principles set out for that purpose. You are unethical in your reportage
or line of duty if you go against such a set of rules. Those that adhere strictly to such rules
are judged ethical in the conduct of their professional duties.
On the other hand, Merrill (2011) talks of teleological ethics, which he describes as a
consequence of ethics. According to Merrill (2011), a journalist’s decision to act in a
particular manner is first premised on the consequence of that action. The objective will
always be to side with the action that brings the most excellent satisfaction to whom the
journalist deems most significant in that situation. To put it differently, moral judgment in
teleological ethics is based on an action’s overall outcome (Patterson and Wilkins, 2004).
Positive outcomes are deemed ethical, while adverse outcomes are considered unethical. For
Patterson and Wilkins (2004), teleological ethics is often the domain of utilitarians who
invoke the consequence of an outcome to determine if an action will be deemed ethical or
unethical. Patterson and Wilkins (2004) maintain that the jurisdiction of teleological ethics is
often a moral justification for investigative journalists. The judgement of right or wrong is
based on the consequence of an action. Finally, Merrill (2011) points to subjective ethical
theories based on non-rational approaches. According to him, good or bad judgment is
spontaneous and often driven by instinct or conscience that leads to right actions. Due to
this third class of ethical theories’ personalised nature, generalisation is complex, so little
attention is paid to it. However, in a professional lens, a journalist’s primary focus is often
between set standards (legalistic) and consequences, which often interlink.
JICES To conclude, the domain of political journalism has great potential for conflict. For this
21,1 reason, we focus on ethics based on rules that journalists are expected to abide by. The
foremost umbrella body of Ghanaian journalists, the GJA, has set out codes of ethics that
measure journalists’ ethical behaviour in the line of duty. In this study, the performance of
print journalists in Ghana’s December 2020 general elections is measured against the ethical
codes set out for their profession. It, therefore, translates to mean that this present study is
66 underpinned by deontological ethical theories where set rules, standardisation, principles
and codes are put in place and adhered to by journalists if they want to be deemed ethical
and professional in their practice.

2.2 Media ethics, laws and regulations

Citizens everywhere establish the sovereignty of countries and their governments by ceding
the authority to govern or rule over them. The press drives and adds meaning to that
authority and the relationship between the citizens and government. In Roy and Michael
(2008) opinion, such a role by the media is as essential as that of the courts. Protecting and
guarding this freedom comes with professionalism and conformity standards, thus ethics.
The conceptualisation of ethics, law and regulation stems from countries’ primary
constitutional or statutory laws aside from culture, religion and norms. In the context of
these laws, Chapter 12 of Ghana’s constitution (Articles 162 through to 173) guarantees
broader rights to the media and its actors to practice, manage and own media. These rights
are cloaked in editors, publishers, the state-owned media, other privately owned media
houses and stakeholders, with the National Media Commission (NMC) given the symbolic
and custodian responsibility. Furthermore, these rights are hinged on the fundamental
human rights and freedom provisions enshrined in Chapter 5 of the Ghanaian constitution.
The consolidation of democracy and development in Ghana through the lens of ethical
media practice and journalism remains the vested motive of these provisions. In furtherance
of this vested motive, the GJA and the NMC remain the driving vessels for ethical and
professional journalistic practices as regulated and self-regulated institutions. As part of the
ethical framework, NMC provides the guiding measures to maintaining journalistic
standards in the media space by mediating, investigating and settling issues of guidelines
and code violations by affected persons and institutions against the press. Credited as one of
the countries consistent with the better and free press in Africa, Ghana’s framework for
regulating the press includes the National Communications Authority, which comes with
the technical component of regulations through license provisions and frequency
management of mainly broadcast media. The press in Ghana is exempted from licensing
requirements and censorship rules of any form.
The media regulatory framework may provide the country’s journalists ubiquitous
ethical and professional practice process. However, the responsibility of ensuring
journalistic ethical practice hangs on the shoulders of editors and the editorial policies of
media houses which the editorial policies of:
The New York Times signpost reads “an impartial coverage of news as much as possible without
fear or favour with a century-old guide of its integrity”.
Such policies reflect the journalist’s daily practice and engagement rules with the
newspaper, a responsibility the Times and its journalists shared. It further explains the
detailed internal policies and procedures established to guide and protect staff from
unethical circumstances and temptations.
For Roy and Michael (2008), a better free and vigilant press without influence remains
the essential vital medium for dealing with corruption and injustice perceptively in public
opinion, at least if not in reality. However, former Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Journalistic
Nehru, in defending press freedom, intimated the consequence if the freedoms are misused ethics
and irresponsibly applied without ethics:
If there is no responsibility and no obligation is attached to it, freedom gradually withers away.
This is true of a nation’s freedom, and it applies as much to the Press as to any other group,
organisation or individual. (Chitra, 2001, p. 18)
In the protection of these freedoms and rights as guaranteed by the constitution, the press is 67
expected to cover and report the truth, be fair, balanced, accurate, protect the privacy and
rights of people and with no brown envelope journalism, especially in critical election
periods like the 2020 general elections in Ghana given the press history as a propaganda
piece in Ghanaian political space dating back to the country’s pre-independence history.

2.3 The print media and political participation in Ghana

Governance is an essential prerequisite for development. Therefore, the role of the media in
development is often assessed by its contribution to democracy and by ensuring that
ordinary citizens have a say on how they should be governed. The role of the media in the
governance process has long been established. The significance of media in democratic
development is given recognition under Chapter 12 of the Ghanaian constitution, which is
dedicated to the expression of a free and independent press. These provisions meant that
editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media were no
longer subjected to external control from the government. Article 162 (3) grants the media
the freedom to operate without restriction:
There shall be no impediment to the establishment of a private press or media; and in particular,
there shall be no law requiring any person to obtain a license as a prerequisite to the
establishment of a newspaper. (Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992)
The point is already established that an essential aspect of democracy is stakeholder
participation in making, monitoring and reviewing policies and decisions that affect their
lives (Gyimah-Boadi, 2001; Yankah, 2004). Accessibility of a medium of communication
makes it possible for effective consultation. To promote public access to information and to
foster a culture of transparency and accountability, the government recently passed the 20-
year-old Right to Information Bill into law, granting the press more access to the so-called
“classified documents” and government information (RTI Act 2019, Act 989) [1]. The printed
media has emerged as one of the credible and influential spaces in public policy and
democratic development among the mass communication media. In Ghana, the history of
the press media is intrinsically linked to the history of independence of the country. It
predated the country’s independence and played a crucial role in achieving independence
for Ghana.
In recognition of the media’s role in promoting democratic development, the colonial
government established a newspaper in 1822 in the Gold Coast capital (now Ghana since
Independence). The paper aimed to consolidate and extend the British sphere of influence and
authority in West Africa (Asante, 1996). In December 1947, Dr Kwame Nkrumah entered the
newspaper industry upon his return from abroad with his Accra Evening News, the Morning
Telegraph, and the Daily Mail (Smertin, 1987). The increased number of papers that came
with the liberalisation of media space in 1993 sparked competition in the newspaper industry.
Many newspapers which could not keep afloat simply collapsed. As the newspaper industry
blossomed, the number of publications as of 2008 more than quadrupled to more than 300
newspapers (including nine dailies) and magazines (Gadzekpo, 2008). In recent years, the
JICES decline in readership and the emergence of new communication media have reduced the
21,1 number of newspapers in Ghana to a little over 40 (Amadu et al., 2018). It is worth noting that
the press was restructured in Ghana in the early period to serve a nationalistic agenda soon
after the country’s independence; however, after media liberalisation, this principle has
changed.

68 3. Research methodology
The research design used for this study is content analysis. Two leading Ghanaian
newspapers were purposively sampled for the study. The Daily Graphic is a state-owned
newspaper with the most extensive coverage, higher circulation and a wider readership in
Ghana. As a state-owned newspaper, this publication is expected to uphold the highest
standards of professionalism in news coverage, especially during a national exercise such as
a general election. Beyond being state-owned, the paper has remained the country’s most
credible, reliable and accurate source of print information over the years. Again, the article is
mandated to ensure fairness in the coverage of the activities of all political parties in the
country. However, there have been arguments about citizens’ fear of lack of neutrality and
balance and lots of over-praised publications from the public media in favour of their
governments (Asano et al., 2021). The second newspaper sampled, the Daily Guide, is a
privately owned newspaper with national coverage and daily circulation. The Daily Guide
has carved a niche for itself as prominent in political reportage and public discourse – one of
the few private newspapers that survived the repressive media regimes of the dark days in
Ghana’s democratic history.
The study focused on all news stories that featured contesting political parties, their
respective presidential and or parliamentary candidates, and, where applicable, independent
presidential and parliamentary candidates for the 2020 general elections published between
1 October and 30 November 2020, being the busiest campaign period before the elections.
We underscore that political parties here are limited to the 11 political parties and all other
independent candidates who contested the December 2020 general elections. These include
the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ghana Union
Movement (GUM), Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Great
Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), All People’s Congress (APC), Liberal Party of Ghana
(LPG), People’s National Convention (PNC), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), National
Democratic Party (DPP) and Independent Candidate (IND). Each sampled news edition was
reviewed to determine political stories that featured any listed political parties and
candidates. Once a story that met this criterion was determined, it was coded into an ethical
or unethical variable using the coding sheets developed for that purpose.
Coding sheets were designed for purposes of data collection and analysis. The coding
sheets took into account five journalistic ethical principles enshrined in the GJA code of
ethics for journalists practicing in Ghana as follows:
(1) Article 1: People’s right to true information;
(2) Article 5: Respect for privacy and human dignity;
(3) Article 6: Respect for national and ethnic values;
(4) Article 11: Separating comments from facts; and
(5) Article 17: Headline and sensationalism.

All political stories on eligible candidates and parties were deemed ethical if they did not
violate any of these five principles of the GJA codes of ethics set out above. Stories that
violate any of the above principles were considered unethical. The principles of accuracy,
impartiality, fairness and balance are within the domain of ethical journalism and therefore Journalistic
underpin the analysis and determination of the issues set out in this present study’s ethics
objective.
In this regard, the authors used the rule of thumb and inferences from the GJA
constitution to ascribe meaning to the binding terms of accuracy, impartiality, fairness and
balance in analysing the data. The authors note that for stories to achieve the principle of
impartiality, reporters should provide a reasonable opportunity to all parties to a story to
respond to unfavourable commentary/issues reported about them. Reporters should bracket
69
story biases by seeking more than one opinion or diverse views on a story being reported.
To achieve story balance and fairness in reportage, a party against whom unfavourable
commentary is made should be given more emphasis or attention to respond.

4. Research findings and discussions

This paper set out to investigate the nature and extent of violations of ethical codes in
political news coverage in the Ghanaian press. A total of 387 news items reported in 104
editions of Daily Graphic and Daily Guide between 1 October and 30 November 2020 were
assessed as political stories that border on the general elections of December 2020. Each of
these news items contained at least one of the contesting political parties’ Presidential and
Parliamentary candidates.
Of the total of 387 news items reported in the two dailies newspapers between October
and November 2020, a total of 70 news items representing 18% of the total reported news
items were deemed to be unbalanced and violating one or more of the ethical codes
established for determination in this study. However, 49% of the reported political news
items were considered to have met the minimum requirements for a balanced news report,
and the remaining 33% of the reported news items were neutral in their outlook (Figure 1).
A cardinal principle of journalism is the accuracy of news items. While it is often argued
that journalists cannot always guarantee the truth of news stories, they can always be
accurate in their reporting by getting their facts right. Fair reporting of news items
engenders trust and confidence in media news stories (Posetti, 2017). When reporting on
political issues, journalists should sift, weigh, and evaluate the information obtained open-
mindedly. Journalists should be impartial and fair by reporting adequately on all sides of a
story (Ethical Journalism Network, 2022). Crosschecking facts, providing context and

Figure 1.
Story balance in
political news
coverage
JICES allowing storying sources to react to news items help attain balanced and unbiased coverage
21,1 (Figure 2).
Article 1 prompts reporters of peoples’ rights to true, accurate, verified, unbiased,
balanced and inclusive information. Unverified, biased and unbalanced news reportage
often constitutes the highest ethical infraction under this code of ethics. From the findings of
this study, 39 of the 70 stories published failed the litmus test of fact checking. For example,
70 Daily Guide ran a story on 1 October 2020, with the title “Don’t Trust Mahama”. From the
story, the running mate of the NPP flagbearer, Dr Bawumia, cautioned the electorates of
Nglashie Aman in the Greater Accra region to trust the promises of the NDC candidate Mr
Mahama. Dr Bawumia is reported to have questioned the credibility of the former President,
Mr Mahama, accusing him of incompetence and mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy,
lacking credibility and without vision. Mr Mahama was also accused of being unable to pay
the providers of the National Health Insurance Scheme, cancelling teachers/nurses’ training
allowances, introducing utility bills for students, cancelling Arabic instructors’ allowances,
supervising a backlog of nurses who could not get employment, a collapsing ambulance
system and lack of chalk for schools. The story was reported without any reaction from Mr
Mahama or the NDC, which led to the December polls. Similar infractions were repeated in
the same edition of the paper on page 13 with the headline “We Will Defeat NDC Again-
Bawumia”, where Mahama was accused of pretending to love Muslims but cancelled
allowances for Arabic instructors. The Daily Graphic published a similar story in its 1
October 2020, edition titled “Vice president mobbed in Zongo communities”. Allegations
against Mr Mahama were published without allowing him to react to them, nor did the
reporters undertake any background checks to ascertain the NDC’s records in the Zongo and
Muslim communities.
Another infraction observed in political news reportage that looked positive for the NPP
was a Daily Guide story of 2 October 2020. In a highly visualised front-page story titled

Figure 2.
Ethical violations in
political news
coverage
“Apologise for Free SHS Attacks: Nana to Mahama”, the reporter conveyed an interview of Journalistic
Mr Nana Addo, the NPP flagbearer on Hello FM in Kumasi, in which he is said to have ethics
accused the leader of the NDC of spearheading the several attacks against the most
celebrated educational policy of the NPP government in its first term, the Free Senior High
School (SHS) policy. The reporter copiously quoted Mr Nana Addo saying:
This is a false statement coming from someone, who hates the Free SHS policy with passion, but
only peddling falsehood to enable him to accrue undeserved votes during the December 7 polls 71
from an educational policy that he and his NDC abhor so much.
Statement of this nature impugns the integrity of Mr Mahama, and he should therefore be
allowed to react to them. However, this was not done before the story was published. The
public, therefore, was denied the right to know the position of Mr Mahama relative to the
Free SHS policy. Instead of mitigating this infraction, the paper repeated another barrage of
accusations against Mr Mahama regarding the free SHS policy in the same edition. In a
story titled “We Push for Jobs, Not Vigilantism”, Mahama was accused of lacking credibility
and being inconsistent in his decisions. Mr Mahama was nicknamed the “Archbishop of
promises”, who once said the Free SHS was 419 and that it would collapse the country’s
educational system, but now turned around to embrace it with promises to make it better.
The paper failed to present the views of Mr Mahama on these accusations to balance the
story with accurate information.
The Daily Graphic of 11 November 2020, with the story title “Retrieve money paid to
Databank, others in Agyapa deal”. Mr Aseidu Nketiah, the General Secretary of the NDC,
accused the Honourable Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori Atta, and his deputy, Mr Charles
Adu-Boahen, of causing financial loss to the state in a mineral royalties transaction known
as “Agyapa”. According to the story, the general secretary charged the President to sack the
ministers and prosecute them for their role in the Agyapa deal. The story claimed that Mr
Nketiah assured Ghanaians that an NDC government would prosecute these two highly
placed government officials should it win power in December 2020. Given the seriousness of
the allegations, the reporter should have reached out to these accused persons, who are top-
ranking government officials, to react to them before publishing. Similar accusations were
levelled against the governing NPP in a 20 November 2020, story with the headline “Let’s
protect the life of Amidu- NDC” in the Graphic. The NDC National Communications
Director, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, accuses the NPP of bad faith in creating the Office of Special
Prosecutor (OSP). According to the story, Mr Gyamfi claims the OSP was created to score
cheap political points and to spite political opponents and not out of any genuine will to fight
corruption. The story then claims that Mr Gyamfi accused the governing NPP of attempts to
take the life of the former Special Prosecutor – Mr Amidu, for exposing the government in
the Agyapa deal. The paper did not find it prudent to allow the NPP or the government to
react to these barrages of accusations.
On a more analytical level, the findings of this study fail to agree with the conclusions of
Cummings (2006), Goretti (2007), Khudiyev (2005), Khan (2013) and Grebèsa (2012) that
there were high levels of biases in newspaper coverage of political news stories. The current
findings also do not support the conclusions of Frère (2011), Amoakohene (2007) and Temin
and Smith (2002) that state-owned media are usually found to be biased towards opposition
parties. What this study found is that the state-owned newspaper is fairer following its
constitutional mandate than privately owned newspapers. The findings also align with
those of Tuurosong and Amadu (2014), who discovered that Ghanaian print journalists
consistently violated article 1 of the GJA ethics codes in their reporting of presidential
elections. However, what is glaring and entrenched is the ideological influence of the
JICES political party on the reportage, as shown in the Daily Guide reports in Ghana. Asano et al.
21,1 (2021) and Groeling (2008) reveal how other global media channels, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox
News, tend to cover presidential approval polls influenced by their political ideology in the
USA. These ideological lines of some of the press often take away the critical ethical
concepts of balance expected of the fourth estate.
From the findings, story headlines and sensationalism are the next most violated code of
72 ethics of the GJA. A total of 15 headlines of stories were found to be unethical. For example, in
Daily Guide’s 5 November 2020, headline, “John Dumelo Preaches Violence Ahead of 2020
Elections”, it was observed that the NDC parliamentary candidate only sought to encourage
his supporters to be vigilant and ensure that their competitors do not take them for granted
during the polls. However, the story headline presents a scenario different from the story’s
content. In the same edition of the paper, a story with the headline “Government Arms
Robbers – Claims Mahama”, the opposition flagbearer, was wrongly attributed and quoted
out of context. An analysis of the story indicates that Mr Mahama chronicled a few economic
hardships and security lapses in the country and alleges that the governing NPP was arming
its party vigilantes ahead of the elections. Clearly, the story headline is a misrepresentation of
the allegations contained in the story. Others, such as 20 October 2020, the headline “NDC
Wee Pastor Dodges Police”, and 11 November 2020, the headline “NDC Wee Pastor’s Case
Adjourned”, and Graphic’s 26 November 2020, story of the “Battle over Free SHS” are all
headlines that are deliberately captioned to provoke public excitement rather than accuracy
of newsworthy events. These sensational headlines attempting to drive and attract attention
have some elements of economic benefits as more traffic and drama pro-readership inclines
towards such tabloids for their gratifications as seen in the USA in 2016 (Vanacore, 2021).
The findings also show that article 11 of the code of ethics was violated in 12 stories. The
code requires journalists to separate the commentary from the facts of the reported news
item. This code requires due diligence in the line of duty. An example of such violations can
be seen in a 2 October 2020, story with the headline “PNC Bounces Bernard Mornah” the
reporter unethically gave a commentary to the effect that the defeated PNC National
Chairman, Mr Mornah, worked more for the NDC than his party during his time as National
Chairman. The reporter in the story failed to establish neither the circumstances under
which the National chairman declared support for the NDC nor to provide facts to support
the claim so alleged. Another example of infractions in article 11 is demonstrated in the 9
September 2020, edition of the Guide’s story headline “Abronye predicted killings in the
nuclear power plant”. This news story is based on conjectures, assumptions and false
allegations. It does not provide any evidence to support the numerous claims and
accusations against high-ranking opposition members to link them to the recent murders of
some politicians sympathetic to the governing NPP.
The findings also observed a few violations of articles 6 and 5 of the code of ethics.
Stories of 9 November 2020, with the headline “Mahama Shades Akyems Again” is a clear
example of the violation of article 6, while that of 3 November 2020, with the headline
“NDC’s Felix hot over dawn visit to Lady” is an example of violation on article 5 of the codes
of ethics. In the former case, the reporter frames the story with ethnic sentiments. For
instance, the reporter introduces the story lead with unrefined words:
Former President John Dramani Mahama’s penchant for indulging in tribal bigotry resurfaced
last Friday when he threw a sarcastic shade against President Akufo-Addo’s tribal grouping, the
Akyems.
The reporter proceeds to quote more ethnic liaised comments from the former president at
various places during his campaign tour of the Eastern region, including comments such as
 President Akuffo-Addo removed a university campus from Afram Plains and brought it to Journalistic
Akyem”; “if the NPP presented a sheep as their candidate, the Akyems were ready to vote for that
candidate”. “The NPP has chased you people from doing galamsey, and rather given it to party
ethics
members” and “The NPP government has sidelined you the indigenes of this area by failing to
give you work at the Cocoa Research Institute and rather employed strangers outside this
community to work at the institution.
This style of presenting news stories during election periods can trigger dire consequential ethnic
tensions in the country beyond being classified as an unethical and unprofessional practice of 73
journalism. This, in the context and argument of Wasserman and Mwende Maweu (2014) they
recounted how the newsrooms in Kenyan were divided right in the middle along tribal lines
between Kikuyus and their sympathisers and Luos and their sympathisers in the 2007 general
elections resulting in deaths due to tribal loyalties over journalistic standards.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

In the coverage of the 2020 elections campaign, the Ghanaian press did not adhere to the
balanced and fair reporting of political news stories, as established in Article 1 of the GJA
codes of ethics. It is evident from this study that the Ghanaian press does not conduct due
diligence in getting representative views to news stories. The study findings reveal that
Ghanaian print journalists are always quick to publish stories that attack political
opponents’ political image. These journalists do not diligently seek accused persons’
opinions on a story before publication. Newspapers deliberately sensationalise news
headlines to attract traffic without recourse to their ethical codes of practice.
Given that elections have dire consequences, it is necessary for the Ghanaian press to adhere
to ethical codes to ensure fair, accurate, unbiased and true coverage of events of political parties. It
is recommended that the press strengthen its editorial policies to curtail the growing indiscretion
in political news coverage. The press should constantly provide in-service refresher training for
reporters to keep them up to speed with the evolving nature of print journalism practice in Ghana.
It is also important that the GJA go beyond merely citing journalists for violations to handing
down actionable penalties to journalists and their media organisations to sanitise the print media
industry. Print media regulatory bodies should hand out sanctions to newspapers that constantly
violate the core tenets of ethical coverage and reportage.

Note
1. The Right to Information Act 2019, Act 989 is an act of the Parliament of Ghana established to
provide for the implementation of the constitutional right to information held by a public
institution, subject to the exemptions that are necessary and consistent with the protection of the
public interest in a democratic society, to foster a culture of transparency and accountability in
public affairs and to provide for related matters. https://acts.ghanajustice.com/actsofparliament/
right-to-information-act-2019-act-989/

References
Acheampong, R. (2017), “Repeal of the criminal libel law in Ghana: challenges and prospects for
journalism”, International Journal of Management and Scientific Research, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 79-89.
Akinfeleye, R. (2008), Contemporary Issues in the Mass Media for Development and National Security,
Malthouse Press, Lagos.
Alhassan, A. (2005), “Market valorization in broadcasting policy in Ghana: abandoning the quest for
media democratization”, In Media, Culture and Society, Sage Publications, London, Vol. 27 No. 2.
JICES Alhassan, A. and Abdulai, M. (2019a), “Managing ethical dilemmas under stressful economic
circumstances among journalists in Northern Ghana”, Athens Journal of Mass Media and
21,1 Communications, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 193-212.
Alhassan, A. and Abdulai, M. (2019b), “Cultural and moral implications of soli and its effects on
journalism in Northern Ghana”, Journal of Media Ethics, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 41-51, doi: 10.1080/
23736992.2018.1564311.
Amadu, M.F., Mohammed, A.M., Alhassan, A. and Fadila, M. (2018), “Assessment of
74 newspapers circulation and readership in Northern Ghana”, UDS International Journal of
Development, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 108-120, available at: www.udsijd.org/index.php/udsijd/
article/view/300
Amoakohene, M.I. (2007), “Ghana: media and democracy in 50 years of independence”, A Presentation
by Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada in 2007 as Part of the Ghana @50 celebration,
available at: www.ucalgary.ca/tettey/files/tettey/ghana_media_democracy.pdf
Asano, T., Tago, A. and Tanaka, S. (2021), “The role of public broadcasting in media bias: do people
react differently to pro-government bias in public and private media?”, Polit Behav,
Springer Nature, pp. 1-22, doi: 10.1007/s11109-021-09756-0.
Asante, C.E. (1996), The Press in Ghana: Problems and Prospects, University Press of America,
Washington, DC.
Avle, S. (2011), “Global flows, media and developing democracies: the Ghanaian case”, Journal of
African Media Studies, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 7-23.
Boadu-Ayeboafoh, Y. (2001), “Media and the 2000 Elections”, in Electoral Commission of Ghana and
Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Eds), Elections 2000, Authors, Accra.
Chitra, K. (2001), Freedom under Assault, APH Publishing, New Delhi, p. 18.
Cummings, E.J. (2006), “Unbalanced media coverage and the 2004 presidential election: the New York times
vs The Washington times”, LSU Master’s Theses. 4064, available at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/
gradschool_theses/4064
Darko, S.A. (2020), “Investigative journalism in Ghana: balancing public interest and individual
privacy”, Cogent Social Sciences, Vol. 6 No. 1, p. 1772444, doi: 10.1080/23311886.2020.1772444.
Ethical Journalism Network (2022), “Five core principles of journalism”, available at: http://
ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism (accessed 22 February 2021).
Frère, M.S. (2011), “Covering post-conflict elections: challenges for the media in Central Africa”, Africa
Spectrum, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 3-32.
Gadzekpo, A. (2008), “When the watchman sleeps: media accountability and democratic reforms in
Ghana”, Critical Perspectives, Vol. 22, Centre for Democracy and Development, Accra.
Goretti, N.L. (2007), “Peace journalism applied: an assessment of media coverage of the conflict in
Northern Uganda”, Conflict and Communication Online, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 22-37.
Graves, P. (2007), Independent media’s vital role in the development of communication. A report of the
Center for International Media Assistance.
Grebša, M. (2012), “Framing of the President: Newspaper Coverage of Milan Bandic and Ivo Josipovic in
the Presidential Elections in Croatia in 2010”, Politicka misao, Vol. 49 No. 5, pp. 89-113.
Groeling, T. (2008), “Who’s the fairest of them all? An empirical test for partisan bias on ABC, CBS,
NBC, and FOX news”, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 631-657.
Gyimah-Boadi, E. (2001), “A peaceful turnover in Ghana”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 103-117.
Hasty, J. (2006), “Performing power, composing culture: the state press in Ghana”, Ethnography, Vol. 7
No. 1, pp. 69-98.
Hujanen, J., Grönlund, M., Ruotsalainen, J., Lehtisaari, K. and Vaarala, V. (2022), “The ethics of
journalism challenged: the blurring boundary between local journalism and communications”,
Journalistica, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 1-25, doi: 10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.128894.
Khan, B.S. (2013), “The Western media and Iran’s presidential election 2009: the visual framing of a Journalistic
green revolution”, International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, Vol. 1 No. 4.
ethics
Khudiyev, I. (2005), “Coverage of the 2003 Post-Elections protest in Azerbaijan: Impact of media
ownership on objectivity”, An unpublished master’s Thesis, Louisiana State University.
Merrill, J.C. (2011), “Overview: theoretical foundations for media ethics”, in Gordon, D., Kittross, J.M.
and Merrill, J.C. (Eds), Controversies in Media Ethics, Routledge, New York, NY, pp. 3-32.
MFWA (2018), “25 Years of press freedom in Ghana: time for media sector reforms”, Accra, available at:
www.mfwa.org/issues-in-focus/25-years-of-press-freedom-in-ghana-time-for-media-sector-reforms/
75
(assessed 30 January 2020).
Owusu, W.Y. (2012), “The Ghanaian media landscape: how unethical practices of journalists undermine
progress”, Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism,
University of Oxford.
Patterson, P. and Wilkins, L. (2004), Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 5th ed., McGraw Hill, Boston, MA.
Posetti, J. (2017), “Protecting journalism sources in the digital age”, UNESCO, available at: http://
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002480/248054E.pdf (accessed 28 February 2021).
Republic of Ghana (1992), Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, Ghana Publishing, Accra.
Roy, L.M. and Michael, D.M. (2008), Media Law and Ethics, 3rd ed., Taylor and Francis Group, LLC,
ISBN 0-203-92785-0.
Smertin, Y. (1987), Kwame Nkrumah, International Publishers, New York, NY.
Temin, J. and Smith, D.A. (2002), “The media matters: evaluating the role of the media in Ghana’s 2000
elections”, African Affairs, Vol. 101 No. 405, pp. 585-605.
Tuurosong, D. and Amadu, M.F. (2014), “Ethical violations in press coverage of 2012 elections”,
International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 No. 9, pp. 322-338.
Vanacore, R. (2021), “Sensationalism in media”, Reporter Magazine, available at: https://reporter.rit.
edu/news/sensationalism-media
Wasserman, H. and Mwende Maweu, J. (2014), “The tension between ethics and ethnicity: examining
journalists’ ethical decision-making at the nation media group in Kenya”, Journal of African
Media Studies, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 165-179, doi: 10.1386/jams.6.2.165_1.
Yankah, K. (2004), Language, the Mass Media, and Democracy in Ghana, Ghana Academy of Arts and
Sciences, Accra.

Further reading
Karikari, K. (1998), “The press and the transition to multi-party democracy in Ghana”, in Ninsin, K.A.
(Ed.), Ghana: Transition to Democracy, Freedom, Accra.

Corresponding author
Mohammed Faisal Amadu can be contacted at: mfaisal@uds.edu.gh

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com