Media exhibited high level of Professionalism - CMA

Accra, Dec. 4, GNA - Centre for Media Analysis (CMA), an independent International Media Research, Monitoring and Poll Agency, said on Monday that its research into the Cocaine News Reportage had shown that the media exhibited a high level of professional ethics and factuality in the coverage of the news.

An analysis of 14,427 statements in 538 news stories on the cocaine saga carried by 41 Ghanaian Newspapers at the beginning of August, when the news first broke said the findings were contrary to the alleged criticisms and cautions levelled against the media.

The research measured the level of factuality and speculations in the cautions and criticisms levelled against the Ghanaian Media during the Justice Georgina Woode-Cocaine Probe Committee sittings.

Each news statement in a cocaine-news story was analysed as a discourse in the context of a factual statement, attributions to official sources, speculations or statements without any source, Newspapers' Own Opinion, among other things.

The analysis found 81 per cent (11,623) factual statements, facts attributed to newspapers was 15 per cent (2,192), statements based on newspapers own opinion scored three per cent (398) whilst speculative statements recorded as low as one per cent (214).

=93The above research findings suggest that the Ghanaian Newspapers exhibited professional ethics in reporting the cocaine-news story with the highest level of factuality,=94 Dr Messan Mawugbe, Chief Executive Officer of CMA, said in a statement.

The statement said instead of slamming the Ghanaian media, it should rather be commended for being professional in the Cocaine-News Reportage.

It would be recommended that the general public should be sensitized through forms of media dialogue to enable the public to appreciate the professionalism in news reporting.

The statement further urged members of the public that their critique against the media should always be appreciated within journalistic professional dispensations.

The CMA, therefore, called on the National Media Commission, the Ghana Journalists Association and other relevant agencies to encourage and promote public participation in journalism.