Intermedia Influences among Ghanaian Online and Print News Media: Explicating Salience Transfer of Media Agendas

Abstract

Four major publications in Ghana (Daily Graphic, Daily Guide, Ghana News Agency [GNA], and Ghanaweb) were used to investigate intermedia agendasetting relationships in Africa’s emerging era of liberalization. The results are based on a content analysis of daily news reports (N = 322) and a traditional cross-lagged analysis, which found limited reciprocal relationships between the websites of two print newspapers (Daily Graphic and Daily Guide). Whereas one non-newspaper website (GNA) influenced both print news media, the other solely online publication, Ghanaweb, displayed weak intermedia effects. Strong correlations between the issue salience of both non-newspaper websites were observed. These findings indicate that intermedia agenda-setting effects in Ghana are mixed. The main contribution of this article is to extend the intermedia agenda-setting theory to Africa in the ferment of new media technologies and democratic reform.