Determinants of News Selection in the Ghanaian Print Media: A Study of the Daily Graphic

Isaac Nunoo 1 *
More Detail
1 University of Ghana, Ghana
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 99-120. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2560
OPEN ACCESS   2143 Views   6611 Downloads   Published online: 26 Jul 2016
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the criteria that govern the selection of news in the print media (in Ghana). The article focused particularly on the front page news of the Daily Graphic. The study also assesses what informs the choice of certain news items over others and why some news items are presented prominently on the front page over others. Three methods were used in this study: a survey, content analysis and in-depth interviews. Seventy-two editions of the Daily Graphic and in all, 202 news items were content analysed. The study found that although news values are vital in news selectivity, the Daily Graphic does not use news values as the sole criterion for news selection. What is important is whether a particular news story is in the interest of the public and that it has a high range. Thus, the consequence of such a news story affects the majority of Ghanaians. The finding also suggest that news values as criteria for news selection by the media in the West and replicated by African media should be given a second look.
Keywords: news values, gatekeeping, news selection, newsworthiness, news prominence

CITATION

Nunoo, I. (2016). Determinants of News Selection in the Ghanaian Print Media: A Study of the Daily Graphic. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 6(3), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2560

REFERENCES

  • Alowo, Maryian (2010). News in the Ugandan Press: The Case of the New Vision. Master’s thesis, Örebro University.
  • Braun, J. A. (2009). Rehashing the gate: News values, non-news spaces, and the future of gatekeeping. Master’s thesis, Cornell University.
  • Cassidy, W. P. (2006). ‘Gatekeeping similar for print, online journalists’. Newspaper Research Journal, 27:2, pp. 6-23.
  • Clayman E. S. Reisner A. (1998). ‘Gatekeeping in action: Editorial conferences and assessments of newsworthiness’, American Sociological Review, 63:2. p. 178.
  • Donohue, George A., Phillip J. Tichenor and Clarice N. Olien. (1972). ‘Gatekeeping: Mass Media Systems and Information Control’. F. G. Kline and P. Tichenor (eds). Current perspectives in mass communication research, Beverly Hills CA: Sage, pp. 41–70.
  • Eilders, C. (1996): The role of news factors in media use. Discussion Paper FS-III 96-104. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin, URL: http://bibliothek.
  • Gadzekpo A. (2007). ‘Fifty years of the media’s struggle for democracy in Ghana: Legacies and Encumbrances.’ Ghana Studies v.10 (2007). pp. 89-106.
  • Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). ‘The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers’, Journal of Peace research, 2:1, pp. 64-90.
  • Hasty, J. (2002). ‘Ghana press: radio, TV and newspaper’, htt/www.pressreference.com/forum. Accessed 30 September 2013.
  • Hasty, J. (2006). Performing power, composing culture: The state press in Ghana. London: Sage Publications.
  • Kalyango, Y. (2009). ‘Political news use and democratic support: A study of Uganda's radio impact’, Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 16: 2, pp. 200-215.
  • Lewin, K. (1947). ‘Frontiers in group dynamics II: Channels of group life; social planning and action research’. Human Relations, 1, pp. 143-153.
  • Lehman-Wilzig, S., & Seletzky, M. (2010). ‘Hard news, soft news, general news: The necessity and utility of an intermediate classification’. Journalism, 11:1, pp. 37-56.
  • MacShane, D. (1979). Using the Media. London: Pluto Press.
  • Maier, M, Ruhrmann, G & Karin, S. (2008). ‘Celebrities in Action and Other news: News factors of German TV News 1992-2004’. Human Communication, The Pacific and Asian Communication Association, 11:1, pp. 197-214
  • McGregor, J. (2002). ‘Restating news values: Contemporary criteria for selecting the news’. ANZCA 2002 Online Journal.
  • Okigbo, C. (1990). ‘Gatekeeping in the Nigerian press’. African Media Review, 4:2, pp. 1-10.
  • Schwarz, A. (2006): The theory of newsworthiness applied to Mexico‘s press. How the news factors influence foreign news coverage in a transitional country, Communications, 31:1, pp. 45–64
  • Shoemaker, P. J., & Cohen, A. (2006). News around the world. UK: Routledge.
  • Shoemaker, P. J. (2006). ‘News and newsworthiness: A commentary’. Communications, 31:1, pp. 105–111.
  • Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content. USA: Longman.
  • Shoemaker, P. J. (1991). Gatekeeping (Communication Concepts). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
  • Kunczik, M. (1988). Concept of Journalism. North and South, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
  • Shoemaker, P. J. (1996). ‘Media gatekeeping’. In M. B. Salwen, & D. W. Stacks (eds.), An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. pp. 79-91.
  • Snider, P. (1967). ‘‘’Mr. Gates’’ revisited: A 1966 version of the 1949 case study’. Journalism Quarterly, 44 : 3, pp. 419-427.