Gadzekpo: Boom in radio stations not media pluralism

A former director of the School of Information and Communication Studies of the University of Ghana has said a spike in the number of radio stations across Ghana has, in reality, not translated into media pluralism.

Prof Audrey Gadzekpo said the liberalisation of the media in Ghana since the early ‘90s, which has seen the introduction of many media houses, has still not led to an improvement in the coverage of issues across sectors.

She made these comments on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show Wednesday morning, where she stated that a line had to be drawn between proliferation of media houses and media pluralism.

“There should be a differentiation between the number of radio stations and the concept of pluralism because there are two important issues to media plurality – the numbers, the quantity, as well as the diversity. Because the reason we are excited about pluralism is that everybody can find what suits them within that mass of many, many radio stations.”

The former columnist in the Mirror newspaper, who describes herself as “an academic and a journalist” said that true pluralism can only be attained when the multitude of radio stations broaden the remit of news they cover, rather than all of them focusing on the same issues. “…If you have 50 radio stations all doing the same things, then you really don’t have true pluralism. It means that some of the masses’ interests are still not satisfied.

She explained that some persons, particularly the less privileged in society, remain at the periphery of the news, and added that focus should be greater on such people. For that purpose, Prof Gadzekpo advocated more rural, farming, and fishing news, and “not just news [but] information, entertainment around that in Accra,” she stressed.