A report by the Communications Department of the University of Ghana and the Media Foundation for West Africa has revealed the ‘abusive’ and poor working conditions of journalists in the country.
The report revealed that some journalists work for long months with pay and those who receive pay, receive woefully little.
Again, it emerged that most media employees have no healthcare support and contracts, as well as counselling support should they experience trauma in their line of work.
Also, “recruitment into the Ghanaian media is generally not transparent,” the report added.
“There are no established structures for promotion in most media organisations; promotion is largely based on ‘whom you know’ and owners’/managers’ whims,” the report further noted.
Per the report, data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the worsening conditions in the media space. There has been a reduction of revenue and many job opportunities have been lost -social media and big tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter are likely to blame due to their presence in the information ecosystem. “Technological advancements…have also put major financial strains on media companies because they must retool and modernise their operations to remain competitive.”
Some key findings in the report:
FINANCIAL VIABILITY OF MEDIA
■ Generally, many media organisations in Ghana are not profitable; they only break even
■ The financial viability of many media organisations in Ghana is threatened.
■ Media in Ghana are creatively exploring new business models to stay alive; including digitization, conglomeration, events marketing and crowdfunding.
■ Digital technologies are fast-changing media financing models in Ghana.
■ Digital media are now a major source of income in the Ghanaian media.
■ One of the biggest threats to the financial health of the media is industry saturation.
MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND REGULATION
■ In Ghana, media pluralism has not necessarily served the public interest, due mainly to concentration of media in a few hands.
■ Media ownership is shrouded in opacity.
■ There is a growing tendency towards media empire-building.
■ Political faces behind broadcast media ownership mean that partisan actors and governments can control public discourse.
■ The NCA has a laissez-faire attitude to questions about transparency in media ownership.
■ The current regime for broadcast regulation allows considerable power and influence to those whose conduct the media are supposed to check.
SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS
■ There is a growing sense of insecurity among journalists in Ghana
■ Violations of journalists’ safety are quite common in Ghana.
■ Male journalists are more at risk of attacks than females.
■ Investigative journalists are the most at risk of attacks
■ State actors, including political appointees and police are the worst perpetrators of attacks on journalists.
■ Journalists feel that law enforcement agencies and the judiciary do little to protect their safety.