William Yaw Owusu

• Position: Senior Reporter, Daily Guide, Ghana
• Date of Fellowship: Hilary and Trinity 2012
• Sponsor: Thompson Reuters Foundation

William Yaw Owusu has spent all his career as a print journalist, starting out as a court correspondent for the Ghanaian Times, a state-owned daily newspaper in 2002.

Whilst at the Times, Mr. Owusu also specialized as political, business/finance and environmental reporter apart from the court reporting.

He joined Daily Guide, Ghana’s widely read and successful private newspaper in March 2010 as Senior Reporter. He is currently in charge of the coverage of high profile trials in the law courts. 

Mr. Owusu worked in the fields of human rights, social justice and political activism and aspires to move it further in an effort to ensure robust independent and free media in the West African sub-region.

He was appointed Editor-in-Charge of Business Guide one of the newspapers of Western Publications Limited, publishers of Daily Guide in October 2011.

Mr. Owusu is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and holds a BA in Communication Studies (Journalism Major) from the Ghana Institute of Journalism as well as a Diploma in Communication Studies from the same institute. He is also a press fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge (2008).
He runs a general news blog at: www.yawowusu.blogspot.com

Research Project

The Ghanaian Media Landscape: How unethical practices and corruption among journalists hold back progress.

My paper attempts to examine the Ghanaian media landscape pointing out how unethical practices and corruption among journalists have held back progress and suggest how the media can reposition itself against unethical practices.

Proliferation of the media is making significant impact on participatory democracy in Ghana. The repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in 2001 -which once upon a time criminalized free speech and curtailed the freedoms of speech and to some extent restricted activities of journalists - has added impetus to the practice of journalism in Ghana.

The vibrant nature of Ghana’s media has made it the envy of other countries and it is now regarded as a pacesetter in the West African sub-region.
In spite of the tremendous strides, activities of journalists and the media at large have come under incessant scrutiny of late and received widespread public criticism; all due to unethical practices, unprofessionalism and perceived corruption. 

The media and for that matter, journalists, are now having to grapple with complaints and accusations of intrusion into people's privacy, libel, omissions or commissions, outrageous behaviour and unprofessional conduct among others.
Journalists have taken entrenched political positions and glaringly engage in partisanship at the expense of the integrity of the profession and other professional standards.

The media stands accused of publishing or broadcasting lies, promoting hate speech and engaging in or promoting intemperate language and hate speech. They have also been accused of recklessness. All these factors have contributed significantly to the heightening of tension in the already polarized political environment as election 2012 approaches. 

The print media in particular have virtually become footnotes of politicians and are interested in promoting powerful individuals and organizations to the detriment of the development of Ghana while the broadcast media now do the bidding of their ‘masters’.

As a result, many observers are beginning to doubt the media’s ability to promote good governance, democracy and rule of law that would that would further accelerate development and economic growth. The situation has compelled some opinion leaders to call for the Criminal Libel Law to be re-introduced.  

My paper attempts to examine the Ghanaian media landscape pointing out how unethical practices and corruption among journalists have held back progress and suggest how the media can reposition itself against unethical practices.