INTRODUCTION

Electronic Media Today and the Enterprise Reporter

C
ommercial Radio started in the 1890s. Carrying news fast, it also
informed literate and illiterate alike. On September 7, 1927,
however, television was first successfully demonstrated in San
Francisco, USA (Godfrey, 2001). It was designed by Philo Taylor
Farnsworth, a 21-year-old inventor who grew up in a house without
electricity until age 14. It would take a couple more decades before
commercial television as we know it today would begin in 1949 with CBS
in America.
In those days, TV covered politics, sports and comedy, formats
borrowed from its older cousin Radio, and a bit more from theater. By
1964, American prime-time television was broadcasting in color. Since
then, there is hardly any corner in the world where TV has not invaded:
almost every household in the world has one or several sets flickering
throughout each day.
During the color TV evolution, the U.S. Department of Defense was
funding work on a prototype of the Internet with the creation of
ARPANET, Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (Andrews,
2013). Today, the Internet is the most relevant form of mass media and
has become a major tool for news outlets, especially since all its
predecessors – both print and electronic - dwell therein. The general
public can now access its favorite news source online with just a click.
As media channels have evolved, so have the operations, tools and
processes of journalists. Today‟s reporters are leagues apart from the
crusty newsmen of yesteryear mainly because the world of knowledge and
the world of the newsroom are closer together than ever before. The
Enterprise reporter today must be a “knowledge journalist” who regularly
applies deductive, specialized understanding to problems. It is simply not
enough anymore to rely on the two basic tools of „observation‟ and
„interviewing‟.
 Nana S. Achampong

True, news stories typically provide answers to the „who‟, „what‟,

„where‟, and „when‟ of developments, sometimes offering thin, non-
instructive answers to the „why‟ (Graber, 2001). But “as the pace of new
developments in science and technology quickens,” says
former Washington Post science reporter Cristine Russell, “… journalists
are increasingly confronted with covering complicated technical
information as well as the potential social, legal, religious, and political
consequences of scientific research (Spring, 2010). CNN‟s Dr. Sanjay
Gupta will more likely do a better job reporting about a new pandemic
than an otherwise “ordinary” journalist without “knowledge” or a
specialist background.
Fortunately, the internet (and other complimentary information
channels) provides for anyone interested unfettered access to hitherto
unavailable repositories of knowledge and specialized data that should
make the modern journalist‟s work easier.
“Never has it been so easy to expose an error, check a fact,
crowdsource, and bring technology to bear in service of verification,” says
the Poynter Institute‟s Craig Silverman (Nieman Reports, 2012).
Knowledge is what could keep journalists from becoming outmoded
and being outflanked by citizen reporters. The Enterprise journalist, now
more than ever in this era of supersonic electronic media, must not only
identify newsworthy events but also understand the issues enough to
analyze recent developments.
The main purpose of this book is to introduce students to the world of
electronic (broadcast) media, the roles available, the processes observed,
while focusing on how to produce content. It comes with self-assessment
exercises and a glossary of commonly used industry jargon.

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Writing and Producing for Electronic Media: an Introduction

CHAPTERONE

Media Landscape in Ghana

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 Nana S. Achampong

A Brief History

T
he word „Media‟ refers to the different channels that are used to
transmit, store and deliver data or information from one source to
another. When the information is targeted at a large group of
receivers, the channel is referred to as mass media.
The need for media, mass or otherwise, has arisen from the fact that
mankind is a social animal and has an existential need to communicate
with like species (Pearce, 1989). From ancient times therefore, African
civilizations have developed different media to communicate with the
public: cave paintings, hieroglyphs, concept symbols such as Adinkra,
maps, and drawings are all examples of how we have communicated from
time to time.
Today‟s mass media is obviously driven by newer technologies and
different raisons d‟être from the cave drawings etc.; it has evolved
significantly into a powerful tool crafted in great part by Americans to sell
„stuff‟ - from ideas and gods of prosperity, to wars and sugar-laced soft
drinks.
Until Radio was invented in the 1890s, newspaper reporters were the
world‟s primary source of information. Papers, magazines, periodicals
books, newsletters, posters, brochures, press releases and other
publications (collectively known as „Print‟) made up the mass media.
Magazines and newspapers are relatively new forms which only became
household in the 20th century. Their advent greatly helped in the
communication at the local, national as well as global levels during the
last two centuries. It can also be said that they acted as agents of
globalization to a large extent to the benefit of Europeans. Ironically, they
also helped in anti-colonial movements across the world.
Before this era however, Africans have been known to prepare papyrus
reeds as probably the oldest medium of information transfer. These sheets
which were then rolled into scrolls have contributed to the development
of libraries later in medieval times across Asia and Europe (Dexter Colour
Inc., 1960). This is the story of print media.

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Writing and Producing for Electronic Media: an Introduction

When people say „Electronic media‟ however, they are simply

referring to that form of mass media which can only be accessed by an
electronic device, such as. radio, television and the internet.
Radio is obviously Ghana‟s most popular medium of communication
today. Imperial governor of the then Gold Coast Arnold Hodson
established it July 31, 1935, thirteen years after the Royal Charter
introduced the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, in London (Ansu-
Kyeremeh & Karikari,1998). He called it Station ZOY, and it was tested
by carrying out an experiment in Argentina‟s Islas Malvinas archipelagos
in South America which the British had recently occupied. After the
successful completion of the test, the Gold Coast Broadcasting System
(GCBS) was born with the main purpose of relaying programs from BBC,
and to counter anti-colonial propaganda of the nationalist press (ibid).
The initial listenership of Station ZOY was approximately 300, and the
coverage was limited to Accra and its satellites. Despite the nation‟s over
79 local tongues, English was and still is the official language of
broadcasting, because “radio was to cater for the information, cultural and
entertainment needs of the political and educated elites who consisted of
European settlers, colonial administrators and the small group of educated
Africans” (Ansah, 1979).
In 1939, in an effort to reach more Ghanaians, ZOY introduced Akan
(Fante and Twi), Ewe and Hausa in the mix. By the middle of the 1940s,
Ga and Dagbani had also been added (ibid).
After Independence, President Kwame Nkrumah changed the name
GCBS to Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation, 2010). It quickly increased the number of vernacular used in
broadcasting to 15. He changed the colonialist agenda of the station to a
nationalist-cum-panAfricanist kind. His intentions were to use the media
as a tool for information, conscientization, identification and mobilization.
Alas, he was overthrown by America‟s CIA in 1966, and during the
Aborted Generation (the twenty-six-year period that followed with
military misadventures into government business), free speech privileges
were brutally crushed until the resilience of committed journalists forced
the nation to embrace the idea of the fourth republic which in 1992

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liberalized the media ownership landscape, and constitutionally

guaranteed speech and expression rights.
By the late-1990s, radio and television in Ghana had started to surpass
print. A few developments conspired to make it possible for such stations
to thrive in Ghana. In addition to the liberalization of the airwaves in
1992, the country‟s criminal libel law was repealed, and free speech and
press freedom were decriminalized in October 2001. In fact, the
importance of press freedom and free speech has become so dear to
Ghanaians that the entire twelfth chapter of the 1992 Constitution of the
Republic is dedicated to media. Following these developments, media
pluralism and the linguistic market space in Ghana have been on the
ascendency (Nyarko, 2015). Needless to say, the most popular stations and
programs are in vernacular, especially Ghana‟s default lingua franca
Akan.
At the last count, there were over 452 radio stations and 75 television
stations in the country (NCA, 2016). In the homes of Ghanaians there are
over 49,317,343 TV sets and 123,294,115 radio sets. Accra alone has over
30 TV stations, 60 radio stations (Worldradiomap.com, 2017), numerous
web stations, and a whopping 6,660,344 electronic sets in residents‟
homes. With the aid of affordable China-made cell phones, practically
everyone in Ghana is linked to FM radio.
This proliferation has not come without some concern: the Media
Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), an Accra-based private media
monitoring organization has expressed disquiet about what it considers to
be a considerable reduction in professional standards when Ghanaian
languages are used in broadcasting. The MFWA has pointed out that
exaggerations and excessive humor in news presentations in vernacular is
unethical (Jima et al, 2017).
Content has also become a source of worry: countless dodgy
telenovelas and Asian soap operas (with Akan overdubs) with
“questionable” moral values seem to be the staple of the day. This is
giving parents of particularly young ladies and their partners some grief.
Whatever it is, it is plain to see that electronic media is here to stay.

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Writing and Producing for Electronic Media: an Introduction

CHAPTERTWO

Electronic Media

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 Nana S. Achampong

What is Electronic Media?

E
lectronic media includes all mediums of sharing information that
are not in print form - obviously. It uses electronics or
electromechanical energy to reach receivers. The primary sources
familiar to all are video recordings, audio recordings, multimedia
presentations, slide presentations, CD-ROM and online content. With
electronic media, people can listen to (radio) and see (TV or online)
breaking events and calamities, along with the comments, opinions, and
remarks of correspondents and experts who have now come in front of the
camera.
With the arrival of radio, news could be carried at a faster pace; more
importantly, it obviated the need for literacy on the part of the public to
participate in the civic discourse. This partly explains the emergence of the
„Electronic‟ or „Broadcast‟ media as the primary source of news and
information. Radio, no doubt the oldest of them, has been used over the
last century as prime sources of control through the transmission of
messages during the major European wars (WW1 and WW2), through
entertainment, information, and propaganda, and occasionally through
advocacy and playing watchdog against unfriendly, foreign authority.
When Television came in 1928, it soon assumed its own place as an
electronic medium with promise, and it very quickly became the most
fascinating between the two. The reason for the success of television is
very simple: it appeals to the visual - as well as hearing - senses. Its visual
appeal is perhaps unparalleled to any other mass media type. Today, it
remains the most popular mass medium worldwide.
Broadcast methods include radio via air, cable, and Internet, television
via air, cable, and Internet, and, especially recently, the Internet generally.
Such a medium disperses moving pictures static and moving, visual text,
and/or sounds that influences the opinions of people much more easily
than printed text. Electronic, or Broadcast, media, especially television,
has been instrumental - for instance – in not just setting social agenda but

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Writing and Producing for Electronic Media: an Introduction

also in transforming the way its viewers understand events unfolding in

the world.
The electronic media offers the world 24-hour news channels beaming
programs that are live and evolving. This means that one can access the
latest breaking news anytime of the day as it happens. Live telecasts have
made the world a smaller place to live in as people from all over are able
to enjoy at the same time sporting, entertainment, political and other
events occurring thousands of kilometers away. This opportunity creates
shared experiences that transform our vast, complicated world into a
simple, single global village. For instance, in the late 1980s and early
1990s, western European donor agencies, American PR firms and their
collective media, as active or inadvertent tools of neocolonialism flooded
the world with distressing images of hunger, misery and strife on the
African continent. The visuals were from drought victims in a couple of
East African states. The intention seemed to be to frame and define all
persons of African descent as forever begging, incompetent and
bloodthirsty primitives. When similar conditions manifested in several of
their war-torn countries however, they broadcast to all parts of the world,
characterizing them as “natural calamities” that required understanding
and empathy.
With the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990 when the
ARPANET was decommissioned, the Internet has developed
into a dynamic force in communication. According to Internet World
Stats, there were more than 3,424,971,237 billion internet users as at July
1, 2016 (Internet Live Stats). The internet's popularity as a mass medium
is derived from the fact that it enables billions of users to access unlimited
information by just a click of the button. In addition, it provides a two-way
communication facility for easy interactivity.
These days, the internet is the point where all the mass media
converge: they all have websites that display audio and video files, along
with text. In fact, the production of e-books, e-newspapers and internet
radios are more of the successful efforts to assimilate the old with the new.
With books and magazines available on e-readers, hard copy may be on its
way out fast, but new applications continue to postpone that event.

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 Nana S. Achampong

Electronic Media vs. Print Media

I
n the past, no new news could be accessed from Print media during
periods outside their shelf lives; one was therefore unable to obtain a
fresh, updated edition whenever one desired. Electronic media on the
other hand was designed to be in your space 24/7. As stated earlier
however, with Print now gone soft on the internet, this difference of ready
and timely access has blurred.

Similarities between Print and Electronic Journalism

The various areas of journalism [print, broadcast and web] are simply
different means to reach certain common ends [enrich owners, persuade
receivers, inform, educate, entertain, advocate, be a watchdog etc.]. And
so, these different means, have a lot in common:

 Both print and broadcast journalism share the common journalistic

values of impartiality, accuracy and objectivity when reporting
events.
 Both involve the use of a network of professional reporters who
rely on their news sources to uncover and report stories.
 In both, editorial control means stories reported are sifted through,
shortlisted, edited and given final shape by the editorial team.
 Both perform the vital social role of keeping the public informed
about relevant events.
 Both seek, at one point or the other, to hold people in authority
accountable to “common people”. In is said that, journalism is the
“watchdog of democracy”.
 Both seek to convey not just news, but also analysis, and
entertainment.

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Writing and Producing for Electronic Media: an Introduction

Differences between Print and Electronic Journalism

 Print journalism is aimed at only those who can read colonial

languages, which in Africa is a small section of the public.
Broadcast journalism on the other hand can reach all, including the
illiterate. Thus, its appeal to a wider audience.
 In print, the news is on a page and the reader may always go back
to it; in broadcast however, news is transient: if something is not
understood, it is gone forever and one cannot go back to it. For this
reason, the presentation and language of broadcast journalism must
be simpler and easier to understand.
 Since broadcast news is simpler, it tends to deal more shallowly
with the events than offer deep analyses. Print journalism has the
luxury of being able to afford the publication of analysis since it is
meant for a literate, and often significantly educated, readership
interested in delving beneath the surface.
 Broadcast journalism reports news faster since it‟s powered and
enabled by more advanced technology. Its priority therefore is
speed. Print on the other hand relies on accuracy. And so, even
though broadcast news is delivered sooner, and is therefore fresher,
printed news is more reliable.
 The printed word appeals more to the intellect, while the use of
images, sounds and ambient noise in broadcast journalism tends to
appeal, subconsciously, to people‟s emotions as much as to their
minds. Print is therefore a more intellectual medium, while
broadcast inevitably has elements of theater built into its method,
which carries a certain emotional appeal.

The advent of the internet however has blurred the lines of difference
between the two media categories. With the internet as the meeting point
of all the mass media, newspapers are able to display audio and video
along text, television offers text along audio and video streams, and radio
can give text with video and audio. If one missed a portion of a „transient‟
broadcast therefore, one could visit the station‟s site online and catch up
on archived podcasts.
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 Nana S. Achampong

Advantages of Electronic Media

 Immediacy of Electronic News: Electronic media's chief advantage

is its immediacy, as the autocratic American government learned
too late during the 2016 Standing Rock standoff over a proposed
illegal Dakota Access pipeline by powerful, connected energy
tycoons. Reports from satellite networks like Al Jazeera made it
impossible for the Obama regime to silence the voice of native
America. Many more examples such as the #Occupy and
#BlackLivesMatter movements, for example, demonstrated that the
younger, victimized, technically literate groups were able to
organize, strategize and coordinate mass protests using mediums
beyond government control, such as social media networks.

 Print’s Shrinking Patrons: As content becomes increasingly

digitized - and free - readers are turning away from print
publications. Peaking at just over $60 billion in 1950, total print
media revenues fell to $20 billion by 2011 (Hau, 2008). Between
2008 and 2009 alone, revenues declined by 17.7 and 28.6 percent,
respectively. This has resulted in major budget cuts as print
struggles to remain relevant.

Disadvantages of Electronic Media

 Higher Quality of Print Content: Amid growing competition from

online websites and electronic media, print holds an edge through
its content quality. Newspapers have emphasized this feature in
their digital subscription offerings, with some level of success.

 Broadcast Media’s Superficiality: Frequent Internet users only

need two seconds to decide on visiting a site (Luskin, 2012).
Developing these rapid fire processing skills may leave fewer
resources for comprehension and retention of complex
information.
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