CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The mass media has been identified as being critical to the creation, transmission and reception of the values and meanings of a community and its people. It is therefore unsurprising that historically, the unevenness of media flows between nations has raised questions about its consequence on the culture and the identity of people in the affected countries. These concerns are even more pronounced when it comes to the flow of television programmes. According to Li (2013), the uneven flow of television programmes threatens the “broadcasting sovereignty of the nation-state, and the ability of developing countries to maintain their own cultures in the face of the ubiquitous Western media content” (p. 1). Efforts for the establishment of a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) had been based on the recognition of such concerns by developing countries.
An important precursor in the evaluation of the possible impact of these asymmetrical flows is knowledge about the direction, magnitude and nature of the unevenness of the flows. Indeed, some research projects were commissioned by UNESCO to examine the international flow of TV programmes and news in the world. Seminal among these were studies by international communication scholars Varis (1974, 1984) and Nordenstreng (1974) which analysed the amounts, nature and trends of the international flow of television programmes. These studies found two clear trends. Firstly, there was a one-way traffic from the big exporting countries in the West to the rest of the world. In Africa particularly, it was estimated that over 55% of annual TV broadcast hours were filled with imported programmes. Secondly, entertainment programmes were found to have dominated the flow.
However, findings from later flow studies (Sinclair, Jacka & Cunningham, 1996; Fox & Waisbord, 2002) tended to challenge the earlier image of a western domination of the global television market. Such studies found that local, national and regional oriented television programmes were becoming more prominent in television programme content among developing nations. This shift from the dominance of western programmes was particularly observed during prime time hour (Fox & Waisbord, 2002).
Ghana’s television industry has experienced several changes and expansion in recent decades because of the liberalisation and deregulation of its media landscape. Since 1997 when the first private TV stations went on air (Ansu Kyeremeh & Karikari, 1998), there have been several privately owned TV channels, which together with the state broadcaster are constantly competing to gain an advantage on market share of audience. Once again, it is uncertain how such diversified ownership patterns have influenced the provision of television programmes among TV channels in Ghana. All these uncertainties are because there is not enough academic work in this field on Ghana. The few that are available, such as Nuviadenu (2005) were limited to examining the programmes of the state broadcaster, GTV more than a decade ago.
This study therefore sought to examine the current flow of television programmes in Ghana in terms of their category (genre), geographic origin, time and duration of broadcast. It also examined whether media ownership and the quest to gain a market advantage influenced Ghanaian television stations’ TV programmes. To do this, the research relied on the analysis of two-week television programme schedules of three Ghanaian television stations and interviews with three television programme directors. This methodological approach was also used in Benitez (2003) and Li (2013) to examine television programmes in El Salvador and China, respectively. Additionally, findings from this study will be juxtaposed to those of
previous studies that have examined television programmes in Ghana and elsewhere. This will help identify and understand the changes that might be observed in local and foreign television programmes in Ghana.
Statement of the Problem
The globalization of television audience and content, in general, and the flow of foreign television programmes, in particular, has engaged the attention of scholars for a long time. This has led to a number of studies (Nordenstreng & Varis 1974; Schiller, 1978; Ogan, 2006; Nuviadenu, 2005; Omoera, 2010). There is however limited research and academic writing on foreign TV content and how ownership affects the focus of TV stations’ content in Ghana.
This lack of empirical certainty is important because, on the backdrop of the controversial role of television programme content in shaping the culture and identity of its recipients and the divergent findings of earlier flow studies in other parts of the world, it is uncertain what the current state of television programme content in Ghana is in terms of the flow of foreign television programmes. The increasing privatization of TV networks has led to an emphasis on commercialization and profit making (Thussu, 2007). For such TV networks, national interest and cultural identity considerations scarcely matter as audiences are seen as consumers who must be served with content that increasingly happens to be perceived as foreign in nature. These realities raise questions about the content of TV programmes and how ownership affects the content of the various TV stations in Ghana.
On the other hand, Schiller (1978) and more recently Benitez (2003) postulate that, it is the right of every individual nation to preserve its national sovereignty, traditions and culture. For this reason, many countries have sought ways to mitigate the adverse effects of the free flow of information on their communication systems. In a bid to prevent the flooding of local media
systems with foreign cultural products, some countries have adopted national communication policies that prescribe specific quotas in television programme content.
