Topic: An appraisal of media coverage on the Ghana electricity crisis (DUMSOR)

Paper details: The objectives of this research are to: - Evaluate the quality of the media’s coverage on the Ghana electricity crisis. - Examine the crucial role the media plays in influencing the public opinion on the electricity crisis in Ghana. - Deduce from its findings if the media coverage on the issue influences the people’s opinion. RESEARCH QUESTIONS - Does the media coverage on the DUMSOR crisis influence the people’s opinion on it? - Is the media objective in delivering of information on the DUMSOR issue? INTRODUCTION The role of the media impacts social, political and commercial change as regards its assessment of crises and dissemination of information to the public, particularly in the regions where the audience do not possess direct knowledge or experience of the crisis. The impact of media coverage on crisis transcends the pre-crisis and crisis era and most times sways the opinion of the general public even when the crisis is ultimately extinguished. While government agencies, IGOs and NGOs have internal sources of information about areas experiencing stress, academic researchers and the general public whose interests often must be mobilized to support intervention are likely to depend primarily on the media (electronic or hard) for key points to the root of the crisis and ultimately sway their opinion on the issue. The significant effects of the media on the public has its factors ranging from the character played by the medium and how the audience is being affected, whether the media is a tool or not must be relevant to the interested elements and an issue that reveals itself systematically after all the Ghana’s Electricity crisis is not a personal issue rather a problem that affects all boundaries of the economy. Using the last three years of the electricity crisis (DUMSOR) in Ghana as a case study, this research aims to examine the crucial role the media plays in influencing the public opinion on the electricity crisis in Ghana. PROBLEM STATEMENT In an era where knowledge is power, the media plays a vital role in the dissemination of information to an audience whose span is limited by the imagination. The media can effectively remove issues from public discussions, but the outcome can also severely limit the information to which audiences have access to. The electricity crisis in Ghana (DUMSOR) as we know it affects all facets of human endeavor and has sparked a lot of media coverage and this has influenced people’s opinion on its causes but the question of the media influencing the public’s opinion of the people doesn’t fall short of the truth that the public at large doesn’t conform to the web of manipulative tales, or wish to indulge in the ever waging war amongst facts, fictions and opinions. The analysis of media content of what we are told and not told is therefore a prime concern. This research aims to evaluate the quality of the media’s coverage on Ghana’s electricity crisis and how it has influenced public opinion on the issue. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of this research are to: - Evaluate the quality of the media’s coverage on the Ghana electricity crisis. - Examine the crucial role the media plays in influencing the public opinion on the electricity crisis in Ghana. - Deduce from its findings if the media coverage on the issue influences the people’s opinion. RESEARCH QUESTIONS - Does the media coverage on the DUMSOR crisis influence the people’s opinion on it? - Is the media objective in delivering of information on the DUMSOR issue? LITERATURE REVIEW According to the Swedish Emergency Management Agency, a crisis is typically fast-paced, involves many actors, requires decisions made under high stress with a huge level of uncertainty and ultimately at the mercy of the media because of the significant role they play in shaping and conveying the picture of a crisis. It is now fairly well established what the media does when disaster strikes; the media hears of an event or crisis, try to obtain more information, use their own files to add background to their stories, dispatch reporters and report anything they are told. Often they devote all their air time or much of the space available to that single story (Scanlon and Alldred, 1982). A review of media coverage and its effect on public opinion can be fully comprehended in the light of terrorist activity on the “9/11” attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City by the renowned terrorist Osama Bin Laden. The media played a pivotal role in ensuring that the attackers were portrayed in the mind of audiences as dangerous and a menace to the existence of humanity thus putting the United States Government under serious pressure to strike back to curb and wipe out the danger of Osama Bin Laden. It might be assumed that when disasters occur, all media would cover it, especially if it occurred in their coverage area. (Wenger and Quarantelli, 1989) Ghana generates electric power from hydropower, fossil fuel (thermal energy) and renewable energy sources. Electricity generation is one of the key factors in achieving the development of the Ghanaian national economy with aggressive and rapid industrialization; Ghana’s national electric energy consumption was 265 kilowatt-hours per capital in 2009. (Adam, 2012). Although in the 2013 World Bank Enterprise Survey on Africa countries including Ghana and Nigeria, it named the ongoing rampant poor electricity supply as one of the biggest barriers to growth of the county’s economy and hindrance to many multinational investors. (Peter, 2015). According to one of the national dailies in Ghana, THE CHRONICLE in an editorial published on the 26th of November 2015 tagged; “Ghana Electricity Crisis (Dumsor); The Causes, Disadvantages And Solutions”; said “In summary, the problem and solution of/to this “DUMSOR” crisis is just the “LACK OF MONEY” or the “LACK OF WILL” of the NDC/Mahama government to invest in the electricity sector as the NPP/Kufour government did in 2007 and so was able to solve a similar crisis under its term in office. If only the government will be willing to invest some of the money they have borrowed, in the ELECTRICITY sector by buying light crude oil/diesel/gas for the power plants, maintenance of old power plants, building of new dams and plants and others as the NPP did to solve it in 2007 during their term in office, this “DUMSOR” will be a thing of the past.” Thus, blaming the root of the DUMSOR crisis on the current government administration on its lackluster nature towards investing in electricity. Also, social media played a pivotal role towards bringing the DUMSOR crisis to the international recognition with the use of hashtags like #DUMSORmustSTOP and also created a platform for a massive nationwide vigil that got the whole world informed on the crisis in the West African state. The vigil was covered extensively by both the local and international media with numerous online posts like; BBC Africa writing on its FACEBOOK page: “Thousands of protesters have joined a vigil in Ghana’s capital Accra demanding the government should fix power blackouts which have crippled industries and made life uncomfortable for many over the last three years“. Reuters headlined the story with: “Thousands march against prolonged Ghana blackouts”. Yahoo news: “Ghana movie stars lead protest march against power cuts”. The vigil was led by Yvonne Nelson, who is one of the top actresses from the African continent with support from other Ghanian celebrities like Van Vicker, Sarkodie, Lydia Forson and Efya. Also the Head of the University of Ghana, School of Communication Studies, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, Assistant Professor at Ashesi University- Department for Arts and Sciences Dr. Llyod Amoah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Prof. Kwame Karikari, Executive Director Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) Mohammed Amin Adam, were some of the notable people among the participants. The massive crowd that turned out for the vigil was through a campaign on various social media platforms which indeed is a testament to the power of social media. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY One of the key factors to the public’s opinion of a quandary is the perception or approach by which the media disseminates all information regarding the said crisis. The ability of the media to report without bias is vital to interpret the seriousness and scope of the watershed. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the appraisal of the media’s coverage on the Ghana electricity crisis, examine the role the media plays in influencing the public opinion on the electricity crisis in Ghana and deduce from its findings if the media coverage on the issue influences the people’s outlook. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK This research would make use of two theories: The Hypodermic needle theory which states that mass media injects messages and information directly and uniformly into the minds of audiences who will be immediately influenced. The researcher would use this theory to prove that the media influences people’s opinion. Agenda-setting theory which lays emphasis on the ability of the media to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. This theory states that media influence affects the order of presentation in reports about news events, issues in the public mind. In other words, it says what people should think about and how people should think about it. The researcher would use this theory to prove the media’s influence on the public’s opinion of the stated crisis. SAMPLING This research would use incorporate two sampling methods which are; Purposeful Sampling Method: This would involve the researcher analysing the contents and reviews of two of the major newspapers in Ghana with the aim of examining how their views and reporting of the DUMSOR crisis affected the public opinion. Random Sampling Method: This would involve the researcher randomly conducting interviews to the general populace and also administering questionnaires which would aim as understanding the stand of the public, source of information and their opinion on the DUMSOR crisis in line with the media’s coverage. DATA ANALYSIS This research would use content analysis technique from written documents [newspaper], interviews, new media reviews and analysis from administered questionnaires to get the public’s opinion and to examine media coverage of the electricity crisis in the last three years. LIMITATION TO THE STUDY The role of media, both state and private owned is an important and often over looked component of any crisis. Unfortunately the existing academic literature on the subject matter is thin, especially concerning the recent flurry of erratic power supply in Ghana. This research is going to be limited to the newspapers and analysis from administered questionnaires because it makes use of content analysis as one of its methodologies. REFERENCES • See more at: http://citifmonline.com/2015/05/18/how-local-and-international-media-covered-the-dumsormuststop-vigil/#sthash.FX6RnwJ6.dpuf • See more at: http://citifmonline.com/2015/05/16/dumsor-vigil-ndcs-halidu-haruna-chased-out/#sthash.es9i2Ies.StswZHxY.dpuf • BBC AFRICA REPORT ON WON GBO DUMSOR DEMO AmeyawAduGyamfi/Peacefmonline.com • “Electricity Rate Setting Guidelines.” PURC. December, 1999 • “Draft National Electricity Distribution Code.” Energy Commission. November, 2013 • https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~yanz/Content_analysis.pdf • http://pulse.com.gh/news/power-crisis-dumsormuststop-vigil-on-bbc-id3761153.html • https://researchrundowns.wordpress.com/qual/qualitative-research-design/ • Paul, Mary Jae (2001) “Interactive Disaster Communication on the Internet: A Content Analysis of Sixty-Four Disaster Relief Home Pages” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly Vol. 78 No. 4 pp: 739-753 • Government of Ghana (1999). Statement of Power Sector Development Policy, April. • Editorials from the Daily Graphic and The Chronicle.