Political influence on media harms professionalism – Prof. Karikari

By: Eugene Dogbatse Atsu
Former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Prof. Kwame Karikari, has raised concerns about the growing influence of partisan politics on Ghana’s media landscape.

Speaking during the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on Monday, May 4, 2026, at UniMAC, Prof. Karikari said there is an alarming relationship between sections of the Ghanaian media and partisan political interests.

He warned that political control of media outlets is undermining professionalism and weakening democratic discourse in Ghana.

“The normative function of the news media anywhere, including Ghana, is to serve as the reflective mirror from which citizens may assess the credentials and claims of political candidates,” he said

According to him, many media houses in Ghana are either owned by politically exposed persons or influenced by political actors, a situation he said has blurred the line between independent journalism and political propaganda.

Prof. Karikari explained that the core responsibility of the media in a democracy is to provide citizens with credible information to assess political candidates, shape informed opinions, and make sound electoral choices.

However, he warned that in Ghana’s politically polarized environment, the media risk becoming tools for the spread of harmful political messaging.

“Against the background of a politically polarized Ghanaian population and media, the more plausible outcome is that the media could become witting allies or innocent, unwitting pawns for the peddling of incendiary rhetoric, divisive propaganda, and even hate speech.

“Since 2000, the Media Foundation has been monitoring every election year the language of campaigns or the language of political discourses in the media.

During all these years, the findings show that the incidences of insults, incendiary rhetoric, and incitement have been growing rather than diminishing,” he disclosed.