SECTOR 4 Reporting also lacks sufficient depth and may become sensationalised for the sake of generating an audience. “I’ve read very disappointing reports on GMOs [genetically modified organisms], in which the journalist doesn’t deal with the real issues, but rather with the people making the statements.” “When you have a presser and expect in-depth questions to come out, it doesn’t happen. They don’t ask the questions you’d expect. There’s this haste to be ahead and to break the news first, thereby sacrificing accuracy for the need to get ahead.” That said, panellists also noted some positive achievements with respect to the quality of reporting. “I get the impression that but for the political polarisation; there is increasing effort to check each other and to shame a few people for not doing well enough.” With respect to fairness, “there is some sort of attempt to get both sides of the story.” Single source or same source stories are also a concern, with media practitioners often seeking the same people over and over again for an opinion on different issues. “Networking is bad with a lot of our journalists. They don’t appreciate relationships and always go to the usual faces for comment on something. It’s the same people all the time.” For example, “No media house has had a conversation with the parliamentary correspondent.” There is a concern that because of this laziness, journalists can be easily manipulated, simply because they do not seek great depth in their reporting, or because they do not fully understand the information they are reporting on. “You can see institutions like IMANI [a policy think tank based in Accra] can rule the space because they produce information in a style of language that can be intimidating. So, journalists won’t question this information.” Social media has been both a blessing and a curse in impacting the accuracy and fairness of mainstream media. On the positive side, social media can serve as a check on mainstream media. “It is becoming more difficult for mainstream media to lie. Mainstream media are no longer first to break the news, and this is a good challenge for them to do more than simply reporting.” However, on the negative side, at times, “conclusions are made on social media before they’re even brought into the mainstream” thereby compromising fairness. “Media houses have been dropping the bar, resulting in several story retractions.” While media practitioners on the panel acknowledge that a great deal more needs to be done in bringing media reports to the standard at which they should be, they also highlighted some of the difficulties that journalists face. Amongst others, they highlighted how some media houses are overstretched because of the low number of staff (particularly qualified staff), poor resource management (e.g. in having a research team or having up to date, digitised archives that can be easily accessed), and a lack of resources. Under these 60 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2017