The Press and Political Participation: Newspapers and the Politics of Linguistic Exclusion and Inclusion in Ghana Modestus Fosu Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Institute of Communications Studies June 2014 - ii - The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Modestus Fosu to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, design and Patent Act 1998. © 2014 The University of Leeds and Modestus Fosu - iii - Acknowledgements I owe this work to the grace of God, who protected and guided me throughout the difficult journey towards this achievement. My deep gratitude goes to the Rector, Vice Rector and staff members of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) for granting me the scholarship and supporting my study in the UK. I am particularly indebted to the Vice Rector, Dr W. Dzisah, for his efforts toward my welfare while on this course. I especially thank my supervisors, Dr Chris Paterson and Dr Fiona Douglas, for guiding this research to a successful end. I am particularly grateful to them for their understanding and resourceful assistance. I also extend great gratitude to Dr Katrin Voltmer for her time and the important insights she provided me in the many discussions I had with her on this project. Additionally, I thank Dr J. B. Andor and Mr Prosper Agordjor for their advice regarding the construction and validation of the survey instrument of the study. The sacrifices of my family, both immediate and extended, cannot go without mention, particularly my mother, Caroline. They endured my absence, prayed for my success and kept the family together during those difficult times that I was away. I am equally grateful to great friends and colleagues who in various ways inspired me toward the success of this project. I particularly mention soon-to-be Dr Rose Wangui, whom I will never forget since she has been a pillar of support. I also acknowledge David Wright of the School of English, University of leeds, Joseph Frempong Manso and many others, all of whom I cannot mention here. My colleagues at SMC – Toussaint, Christiaan, Mandy, Yi, Ella and all ICS staff – in diverse ways contributed to the success of the study and I say a big thank you. This research could not have succeeded without the help of ten research assistants who devoted their time and energy to help collect primary data. To Innocent Azornu, Mawuli Kporha, Humphrey Hammond, Zadok Gyesi, Isaac Batini, Enock Gyan, Senyo Gladstone, Abass Sakinatu, Ralph Dinko, and Michael Aboagye, not forgetting Mr Stanley Semarco, who trained the research assistants, I say thank you very much. Thanks to you all and others not mentioned here for your encouragement. - iv - Abstract This thesis investigates the readability and comprehensibility of English language newspapers in Ghana as a developing country. It also attempts to discover the extent to which Ghanaian readers find the language of the newspapers easy or difficult to comprehend. The findings are meant to provide insights into the effectiveness of the newspaper press in providing news information to a broad readership to enhance political participation and democracy in the country. The study employed a research design that triangulated approaches in corpus linguistics, readability and survey studies. A computer-aided Linguistic analysis was carried out on the front-page stories of four influential national newspapers of the country to assess the extent to which the language is complex. A questionnaire survey of readers was also conducted in Accra to discover readers’ opinions and aptitude about how easy or difficult it was for them to comprehend the newspapers’ message. In addition, views from newspaper editors and news writers were also sampled in interviews to support the discussion. The research established that the language used to communicate socio-political news to readers is complex and difficult for a significant proportion of readers across the educational categories of the country. The significant implication is that the newspapers may be largely ineffective in transmitting information to a wide spectrum of citizens to enhance political participation and democracy. Thus, the study suggests that newspapers in Ghana largely alienate many readers from participating directly in the discourse of the press. While this may reflect the notion that political information from newspapers is generally and ideologically suited for the political elites who then monopolise political knowledge to control their societies, it means importantly that the press may not be enabling democracy in Ghana. Consequently, I argue for the press to use simple and plain language (as proposed by plain language movements in the West) to broaden access to newspaper messages in order to include the many potential readers who may hitherto be excluded from the discourse of the press because the challenging language impedes their comprehension. - v - Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... iii Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................................ x List of Tables ........................................................................................................... xii 1 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The press and its informative role in Ghana .................................... 4 1.1.2 Contextualising linguistic exclusion and inclusion .......................... 7 1.2 The Ghanaian context of the study: A brief country profile ..................... 9 1.2.1 The Ghanaian political landscape .................................................. 11 1.2.2 Sociolinguistics of Ghana .............................................................. 11 1.2.3 Education and language issues in Ghana ....................................... 13 1.2.4 Education structure of Ghana ......................................................... 15 1.2.5 Social structure of Ghana from the perspective of language (English) ......................................................................................... 18 1.2.6 Newspaper readers in Ghana .......................................................... 24 1.3 Ghanaian newspapers and the issue of readability and comprehension ........................................................................................ 25 1.4 The research problem .............................................................................. 27 1.5 Research questions .................................................................................. 32 1.6 Justification of research focus ................................................................. 33 1.6.1 Daily Graphic ................................................................................ 35 1.6.2 Ghanaian Times ............................................................................. 35 1.6.3 Daily Guide .................................................................................... 35 1.6.4 The Chronicle ................................................................................. 36 1.7 Structure of the Thesis ............................................................................ 36 2 Chapter 2 Communication and Normative Foundations of the African and Ghanaian Press ......................................................................... 38 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 38 2.2 Language, communication and information transmission ...................... 38 2.3 The press and communication ................................................................. 40 2.4 The role of language in ideological manifestations in the press ............. 42 - vi - 2.5 Ideology and the construction of readership in Ghanaian Newspapers ............................................................................................. 44 2.6 The global context of the African press .................................................. 46 2.6.1 The press as a platform for diverse views ...................................... 48 2.6.2 The press as the Fourth Estate ........................................................ 48 2.6.3 The press as source of information and enlightened citizenship ...................................................................................... 49 2.6.4 Critical perspectives on the Fourth Estate and its information function .......................................................................................... 51 2.6.5 Normative views of the press ......................................................... 53 2.6.6 Paulo Freire’s Empowerment theory ............................................