Only three per cent said they turn to print newspapers for news. As per the Afrobarometer survey, social media as a source of news has more than doubled, going from 12 per cent in Round 6, 2014, to 30 per cent in Round 9, 2022.

As we prepare for the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, the media, as always, will have a critical role to play, given how much Ghanaians rely on them for information.

How should they handle this role?
 

Media coverage of elections

In Afrobarometer Round 8 (2019), when Ghanaians were asked: “During the last national election campaign in 2016, how often did the media provide fair coverage of all candidates?”, here is how they responded: 16 per cent answered “Never”; 33 per cent answered “sometimes”; 25 per cent answered “often”; and 26 per cent answered “always”.

How did partisans answer this question? Those who described themselves as feeling close to the National Democratic Congress – 16 per cent answered “never”; 37 per cent answered “sometimes”; 23 per cent answered “often”; and 24 per cent answered “always”.

Of those who described themselves as feeling close to the New Patriotic Party – 13 per cent answered “never”; 31 per cent answered “sometimes”; 27 per cent answered “often”; and 29 per cent answered “always”.

Those who described themselves as feeling close to other political parties – 10 per cent answered “never”; 33 per cent answered “sometimes”; 27 per cent answered “often”; and 30 per cent answered “always”.

Over nine rounds (1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2019, and 2022) of the survey, this question has only been asked once (Round 8, 2019). This makes a trend analysis to see how sentiments have changed over time impossible.

However, this single data point is worthy of reflection as the media covers candidates this election season.

Another signal worthy of reflection, as part of this election season, is how Ghanaians feel about the media.

How do we feel about the media?

In Afrobarometer Round 9 (2022), as many as seven out of 10 (74 per cent) Ghanaians expressed support for the media’s rights to “publish any views and ideas without government control”.

 In addition, another nine out of 10 (85 per cent) expressed support for the media’s right to “investigate government and report on corruption”.

I use these two questions to demonstrate Ghanaian support for the role of the media in our society.

But even as Ghanaians express strong support for media rights, they also have some concerns.

 In Round 8 (2019), when asked: “Please tell me how often, in this country, you think people from each of the following groups spread information that they know is false.

 News media and journalists”, only six per cent said “never”; 16 per cent said “rarely”; 57 per cent said “sometimes”, and 12 per cent said “always.”

The low level of trust in both private and public media sources further complicates this.

In the most recent Afrobarometer (Round 9, 2022), only nine per cent expressed “a lot” of trust in information from public media institutions. 

It was not any different for private media institutions as only 10 per cent expressed “a lot” of trust in information from them.

The media, therefore, goes into the 2024 election season facing some major challenges even as a) they serve as an important source of news and b) Ghanaians generally support noninterference with their rights.

What is the way forward?

The way forward? The first is accuracy.

Candidates, their campaign staff, and political party officials will make statements whether during media interviews, press conferences, campaign stops, or in major speeches delivered.

 The media owes it to Ghanaians an accurate reporting of what was said.

 In this age of the internet and smartphones, digital footprints can be easily traced.

If there is uncertainty or lack of clarity, taking the extra step to verify will go a long way to ensure that accuracy is always the hallmark of media reports this election season.

The second, tied to the first, is treating candidates and parties to the same rigorous standards of reporting.

Granted that in a very polarised environment, fairness may be relative. 

However, I have always viewed the media as an independent arbiter in our partisan public conversations on national issues. 

This means that the level of probing and scrutiny of all matters related to the elections must be consistent across all candidates and parties.

These two things, in my opinion, will be key to fair coverage of candidates and parties during this election season.

The writer is a Democracy and Development Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).