Ghana in Search of Government Accountability in Controlling Political Corruption: Are the Private Mass Media Part of the Solution or the Problem?

Abstract

In democratic settings, private mass media are often considered a powerful force against political corruption, which is one of the major impediments to development in Ghana’s fourth republic. Guided by the theories of democracy, the media as watchdog, structuration and the public sphere, this dissertation uses a mainly qualitative methodology to answer this question: “Can private mass media play any constructive role in fighting political corruption in emerging democracies such as Ghana?” The findings indicate that private media are a part of both the problem and the solution regarding political corruption. Private mass media contribute to fighting political corruption by providing a forum for anti-corruption discourse, exposing political corruption, creating awareness, mobilizing for anti-corruption reforms and demanding political accountability. At the same time, they also aggravate the problem via biased reporting, propaganda peddling, media corruption and failure to do consistent investigative and follow-up reporting on political corruption. The results also indicate that an interplay of factors – including democratic freedoms, ownership interests, funding, competition, access to information, and the influences of historical legacies and civil societies – shapes the watchdog role of private mass media. This dissertation extends our substantive understanding of the contested watchdog responsibilities of private media and examines the implications these findings have for policy, theory and further research.