MEDIA IMAGE OF GHANAIAN CHIEFS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE DAILY GRAPHIC, THE GHANAIAN TIMES AND THE DAILY GUIDE

ABSTRACT The work examined how the media presents the chieftaincy institution and how chiefs are framed in the various local newspapers. It also tried to understand the different frames used by the newspapers to represent chiefs and how they impact on their image and chiefly positions they occupy in the Ghanaian society. Again, the study examined the major themes inherent in the chieftaincy stories used by local newspapers and how they affect the image of chiefs and the chieftaincy institution as a whole and the ideology and principles that guided and informed the media professionals in their presentations as well as the perspectives of chiefs. The study used framing and gatekeeping analysis as the theoretical base for the study. Qualitative methods were adopted in the process of the data collection. Three major newspapers namely, the Daily Graphic, the Ghanaian Times and the Daily Guide were used for the study. Three journalists and a chief were also interviewed. The major findings of the research showed that chiefs are usually associated with conflicts, litigations and various social vices in the Ghanaian media. This is reinforced by the trend that emerged in the newspapers studied which predominantly framed chiefs around litigation which were given prominence, even though chieftaincy stories were largely not accorded front page prominence in the newspapers studied.