How did the Ghanaian news media serve the interests of democracy during the 2016 campaign? This... more How did the Ghanaian news media serve the interests of democracy during the 2016 campaign? This paper examines the performance of two Ghanaian daily newspapers in the context of the campaign, identifying the specific and strategic forms of public discourse that constitute the ‘house style’ of each newspaper. I look at the structure and content of news stories, with attention to language, mood, sources, and perspectives represented. Emphasizing themes of peace and unity, Daily Graphic continued to foreground the public pronouncements of officials at formal events. Daily Guide challenged government rhetoric with contentious stories designed to undermine ruling-party legitimacy. Both newspapers tended to represent their own distinct set of perspectives and interests, giving less attention to alternatives. Both papers make important contributions to Ghana’s lively public sphere. As they strive for greater balance and complexity in their news coverage, journalists may consider increased consultation with independent civil society groups carrying out analyses of socially relevant topics.
This article juxtaposes popular understandings of corruption in public discourse with official pr... more This article juxtaposes popular understandings of corruption in public discourse with official practices of anticorruption in the institutions of the state in Ghana. Although global disciplinary campaigns against corruption target selfishness and greed, local practices of anticorruption intersect with affectively engaged social desires. These social desires are profoundly shaped by local notions of articulation, pressure, and flow, and they are mobilized by communal desire as well as material. I examine two distinct conceptualizations of corruption in popular media that illustrate the link between corruption and socially embedded desire and then move behind the scenes to the realm of corruption investigations at the Ghanaian Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
A review of Jennifer Hasty's book, The Press and Political Culture in Ghana (Indiana University P... more A review of Jennifer Hasty's book, The Press and Political Culture in Ghana (Indiana University Press, 2005)
Friction and Flow in the Inky Fraternity: Media/Corruption in Ghana All over the world, news med... more Friction and Flow in the Inky Fraternity: Media/Corruption in Ghana All over the world, news media of all kinds are fascinated by the specter of corruption---exposing, decrying, and often even engaging in illicit flows of power and wealth across the boundaries of the public and private sphere. In Ghana, throughout the 1990s, private newspapers raised a storm of protest against the suspicious accumulation of wealth by public officials, culminating in a series of corruption allegations that eventually brought down the Rawlings government. Given the lack of access to government officials and documents, private journalists often draw from unofficial circuits of popular rumor and outrage in their construction of these controversial front-page stories. In my own work as a journalist for several private newspapers in Ghana, however, I witnessed the participation by many journalists in certain unofficial circulations of money and influence---through strategic "transactions" between journalists and sources that might be considered "corrupt." Taking a larger view, this paper examines the role of Ghanaian media (news, radio, television, and film) in complex circulations of information, representation, documentation, and identity, and as well as informal flows of money, gifts, favors, intimacies, and affect. Along with the emphasis of the panel, my analysis goes beyond oppositional models delineating spheres of encoding/production and decoding/audiences and rather locates media in the midst of broader political, economic, popular, and global circulations.
How did the Ghanaian news media serve the interests of democracy during the 2016 campaign? This... more How did the Ghanaian news media serve the interests of democracy during the 2016 campaign? This paper examines the performance of two Ghanaian daily newspapers in the context of the campaign, identifying the specific and strategic forms of public discourse that constitute the ‘house style’ of each newspaper. I look at the structure and content of news stories, with attention to language, mood, sources, and perspectives represented. Emphasizing themes of peace and unity, Daily Graphic continued to foreground the public pronouncements of officials at formal events. Daily Guide challenged government rhetoric with contentious stories designed to undermine ruling-party legitimacy. Both newspapers tended to represent their own distinct set of perspectives and interests, giving less attention to alternatives. Both papers make important contributions to Ghana’s lively public sphere. As they strive for greater balance and complexity in their news coverage, journalists may consider increased consultation with independent civil society groups carrying out analyses of socially relevant topics.
This article juxtaposes popular understandings of corruption in public discourse with official pr... more This article juxtaposes popular understandings of corruption in public discourse with official practices of anticorruption in the institutions of the state in Ghana. Although global disciplinary campaigns against corruption target selfishness and greed, local practices of anticorruption intersect with affectively engaged social desires. These social desires are profoundly shaped by local notions of articulation, pressure, and flow, and they are mobilized by communal desire as well as material. I examine two distinct conceptualizations of corruption in popular media that illustrate the link between corruption and socially embedded desire and then move behind the scenes to the realm of corruption investigations at the Ghanaian Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
A review of Jennifer Hasty's book, The Press and Political Culture in Ghana (Indiana University P... more A review of Jennifer Hasty's book, The Press and Political Culture in Ghana (Indiana University Press, 2005)
Friction and Flow in the Inky Fraternity: Media/Corruption in Ghana All over the world, news med... more Friction and Flow in the Inky Fraternity: Media/Corruption in Ghana All over the world, news media of all kinds are fascinated by the specter of corruption---exposing, decrying, and often even engaging in illicit flows of power and wealth across the boundaries of the public and private sphere. In Ghana, throughout the 1990s, private newspapers raised a storm of protest against the suspicious accumulation of wealth by public officials, culminating in a series of corruption allegations that eventually brought down the Rawlings government. Given the lack of access to government officials and documents, private journalists often draw from unofficial circuits of popular rumor and outrage in their construction of these controversial front-page stories. In my own work as a journalist for several private newspapers in Ghana, however, I witnessed the participation by many journalists in certain unofficial circulations of money and influence---through strategic "transactions" between journalists and sources that might be considered "corrupt." Taking a larger view, this paper examines the role of Ghanaian media (news, radio, television, and film) in complex circulations of information, representation, documentation, and identity, and as well as informal flows of money, gifts, favors, intimacies, and affect. Along with the emphasis of the panel, my analysis goes beyond oppositional models delineating spheres of encoding/production and decoding/audiences and rather locates media in the midst of broader political, economic, popular, and global circulations.
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