The Social Media Scourge among University Students: A Study of the University for Development Studies, Ghana

In spite of the development potential of social media, various studies have revealed worrying trends of such media’s abuse especially among students of tertiary institutions. Using interviews conducted with students and staff of the University for Development Studies, the study set out to establish the frequency of social media usage among students, their reasons for using such media and the harmful effects of new media usage on the academic and socio-economic lives of students. The study found that Facebook and Whatsapp are the most frequently used social media followed by Twitter, Skype and YouTube. Also, more than a quarter of respondents use such media more than once a day while over half of them engaged in social media usage once a day. Moreover, more than half of the respondents used social media mainly to chat with friends and relations while a fifth used it for academic purposes. Respondents admitted that social media usage took time from their academic work. Some indicated that they spent about two United States dollars each day on social media and that they used such media during lectures, thereby making them lose concentration during lectures. It also emerged from the study that students put such media to perpetuate fraud. The study recommends that university authorities should regulate usage of social media. In particular, students should be prevented from using phones during lectures. Ghana’s National Media Commission and National Communications Authority must enact cyber protection regulations to reduce the harmful effects of social media usage on tertiary students

Ethical Violations in Press Coverage of 2012 Elections

In the wake of the 2012 elections, the National Media Commission (NMC), GJA and civil society organizations were worried that unprofessional coverage of the elections could lead to violence. This study analysed the content of political stories which appeared in newspapers during the most serious campaign season from 1st November to 6th December, 2012. It was meant to investigate the extent and nature of ethical violations, the nature of coverage accorded political stories and the amount of news-hole devoted to the various political parties. The study found that newspapers routinely violated Article 1 of the GJA Code on balanced and fair coverage since they often published allegations made by one political party against another without first obtaining a response from the accused party. There were also few violations of Articles 6, 11 and 17 related to respect for national and ethnic values, separating comments from facts and headlines and sensationalism. The privately owned papers committed majority of the ethical violations. Also, while the private papers concentrated on covering the campaigns of the opposition NPP, the state papers accorded more coverage to the ruling NDC. The study recommends strengthening of in-house ethical standards for newspapers, training of journalists and punitive measures by the Ethics Committee of GJA as ways of enhancing professional conduct