Development Discourse with Amos Safo: What is happening to the watchdog role of traditional journalism?

Many Ghanaians have begun wondering why mainstream media and traditional journalists have stopped asking critical questions that border on the abuse of power, neglect, corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the corridors of power.

Illegal mining

Suddenly, it appears that illegal mining (galamsey) and its destructive effect on our environment and water bodies no longer constitute the first and second level agenda-setting of mainstream media and traditional journalists.

In the run up to the 2024 general elections, illegal mining became the first level agenda on newspapers, radio and television, as journalists rightly held the government to account for its failure to stop illegal mining and to save our environment.

Not surprisingly, the menace became the leading election topic in the country in 2024, which benefited the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).  I recalled that during a Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) award in 2023, Mr. Albert Dwumfour, the president of GJA openly challenged President Akufo-Addo, who graced the occasion to stop the illegal mining menace.

Many people argued that Mr. Dwumfour sounded more confrontational and disrespectful, while others thought his comments were part of the normative role of journalists in challenging duty bearers on behalf of the people.  This was in tandem with the role of journalism as the Fourth Estate of the State of the realm.

Many people are asking why mainstream media and their journalists have turned their microphones off and have blunted their pens on illegal mining. Why have traditional journalists kept quiet over illegal mining, which has intensified, under the current government despite its promise to combat it. Perhaps, the lone voice is Erasmus Asare Donkor of Multimedia, who remains relentless in the fight again illegal mining.

The price of kenkey

Another issue that has attracted public attention is the price of kenkey and fish. During the 2024 election, some journalists used the power of television stations to make the price of kenkey and fish as election issue.

These journalists of top TV and radio stations affiliated to the NDC projected kenkey on their screens and questioned why ordinary Ghanaians were struggling to buy a small ball of kenkey. The agenda was to impress on the electorate that the previous government was the cause of their inability to afford a ball of kenkey and fish. The question being asked is that, have the sizes of kenkey and fish have improved. Are people buying more kenkey and fish now than previously?

Goldbod scandal

Another critical issue which many people think mainstream media and traditional journalists have swept under the carpet, is the Goldbod financial scandal. Many journalists and commentators, (obviously acting as propaganda mouthpieces) of the Bank of Ghana and Goldbod have tried to impress on the public that the loss of $214 million in gold trading is a trivial issue.

Journalists doubling as propaganda strategists of the two institutions have succeeded in dousing the flames of such a huge financial scandal. Currently, political propaganda and corporate press releases are dominating mainstream media headlines, rather than public interest news. This explains why many journalists have gotten juicy government appointments and are riding V8 land cruisers worth several thousand cedis when their salaries cannot buy even buy motorbikes.

I wonder what would have happened if the $214 million occurred between 2020 and 2024. Heaven would have broken lose if such a monumental scandal occurred under the Akufo-Addo government. Journalists and their media would have justified the overthrow of the government.

I remember how journalists latched on the fake “Agyapadie deal” and called for an insurrection against the past government. This is the state of the media ecology in Ghana. Journalists and their media houses that were vociferous between 2020 and 2024 have lost their voices and independence. The extreme politicization and commercialization of news is gradually undermining the watchdog role of traditional journalism.

Buying gatekeepers

In an insightful article on the state of Ghana’s media and journalism, J. A. Sarbah used a combination of poetic, prose and literary style to point out the flaws of Ghanaian journalism. He expertly outlined the factors that have caused the once vibrant mainstream media and journalists to become lame ducks and dogs that can no longer bark, let alone bite. He recalled that there was a time when journalists boldly spoke against corruption and nepotism; journalists interrogated and prosecuted power with civic authority without deferring to any authority.

Journalists spoke for ordinary people who were voiceless and marginalized, they spoke against political office holders who thought they could not be touched. Journalists relentlessly pursued truth-telling and that brought order and accountability into governance. Their coarse voices brought military dictatorships on their knees, but now the power of journalism to question political authority has disappeared.

Media consolidation

According to Mr. Sarbah, when the NDC lost in 2000, they did not retreat, they retrained, they studied the new battlefield: not the polling station, but the newsroom. Not the ballot box, but the radio speaker. They decided to buy the gatekeepers. While NPP gave long speeches, the NDC built studios, while NPP passed laws, NDC signed cheques, while the NPP trusted the “free press,” the NDC was creating a captured chorus.  This was not politics as usual,  to them, it was information warfare, which they strategically designed and waited patiently to reap the results.

Mr. Sarbah explained that the obvious “media bias” which has become key feature of journalist in Ghana is not an accident, it is a delivered project. He argues that out of the 549 active FM stations across the country over 410 are either owned by NDC top members or ideologically aligned to NDC Similarly, out of the 135 TV stations, more than 120 lean towards NDC. “The two giants who hold half the nation’s eyes and ears (Multimedia and Media General) have long chosen their side the NDC”, Sarbah argued.

2025 in retrospect

Mr. Sarbah explained that several issues occurred in 2025 that should have been amplified and sustained in the mainstream media; instead, they were blatantly swept under the carpet. He recalled that one of such issues was the unconstitutional removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo. She was stripped of her role not by law, but by political force. It was a constitutional coup executed in broad daylight, while journalists collectively, carefully cleared their throats.

The second issue was the dropping of all criminal charges against NDC functionaries, who were being prosecuted for the alleged misapplication or misappropriation of billions of cedis of state funds. Sadly, with a stroke of the pen, Dr. Dominic Ayine erased all the cases from the judicial records.

This perhaps ended every attempt by the government to fight corruption. Yet, very few, if any journalists dared to criticize Dr. Ayine’s unilateral decision.  There were no major headlines and obviously, the news was blacked out through a deliberate, coordinated planned agenda-setting and gatekeeping.

While the microphones are tilted and pens are blunted EOCO and other security services are arresting and slapping bail bonds of ?100 million, ?200 million, ?600 million on members of the opposition suspected of unproven crimes.

The bail bonds were restricted to titled property only in Accra, perhaps, to make it difficult for the accused to meet the bail conditions.  Consequently, victims are kept in custody for over 48 hours – sometimes a full week – without a court warrant, while journalists have withheld their tongues. According to Mr. Sarbah, the courts are no different. They rubber-stamp these abuses, imposing impossible conditions, ensuring detention without conviction.

Polite questions

Mr. Sarbah stated that currently, journalists are asking the politest questions, and are demanding accountability from the opposition, which does not hold political power.

“Today journalists of media affiliated to the ruling NDC only ask tough questions – but only to one side. They frame scandals – but only around one political party”, he pointed out.  Perhaps, this explains why such journalists are working at the ministry of finance, Bank of Ghana, Petroleum Hub as technical advisors on media and communications or head of corporate communications.  “Such appointments are not coincidences, they are confirmations, that in today’s Ghana, journalism is no longer a profession, it has become an audition”, Mr. Sarbah emphasized.

In a normal political dispensation, where journalists and media are truly independent and objective, they are expected to roar when the fundamental human rights of people are abused. When the constitution is bent, journalists are expected to break the tables. When power steps on people, the press should stand in the way. “But the press has stepped aside, it has traded the headline for the handout, the front page for the front seat.”

In the past, Ghana’s press had a powerful voice, they were independent and credible. Now it is an echo, an echo of what those who have political power want the public to hear. “When the press is silent, power does not need to shout. It simply speaks – and no one answers”, Mr. Sarbah submitted.  He concluded, “The silence is not empty. It is full, it is full of understanding, it is full of arrangement, it is full of reward.

Blogging and citizen journalism

In the face of the failure of traditional journalism to provide public interest news and investigative reporting, citizen journalism and blogging have become alternatives. Across the country citizen journalists and bloggers with little or no journalism education are filling the gap of providing breaking news and investigative reports that have been neglected by traditional journalists.

In fact, paid journalism or contract journalism has become a normative practice in Ghana. Journalists have become appendages of political parties and have shirked their agenda-setting and watchdog roles to citizen journalists and bloggers. Journalists have stopped producing news that addresses the concerns of ordinary people.

A significant contribution of citizen journalism to communication is the diversity of information and perspectives that they publish in times of emergencies and natural disasters. The are providing eyewitness information, videos and photos that are often marginalized by mainstream media and traditional journalists.

Bloggers like Citizen Kwadwo, Ameyaw Debrah, Okatakyi Afrifa, Abronye, Atampugbire Milton, Felix Adomako Mensah, Augustus Koranteng Kyei and Nana Ama Agyemang Asante etc have become popular for providing educative, informative and investigative news, while mainstream journalists are busy chasing propaganda political and corporate news. This explains why the power of citizen journalists and bloggers has prompted media researchers to name them as the ‘fifth estate’.

This concept of fifth estate signals direct competition with the previous notion of mainstream media and traditional journalists as the fourth estate of the realm, a concept which is gradually losing its essence. Obviously, the previous power and influence of traditional journalists as the watchdogs over society is being phased out and being taken over by citizen journalists and bloggers.

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