Department of Communication Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://10.30.1.83:4000/handle/123456789/15

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Browsing Department of Communication Studies by Author "Epp, Lauk"

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    Multiskilled in Many Ways: Ghanaian Female Journalists between Job and Home
    (Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave, 2020-11) Boateng Anson; Jonas Kodwo; Epp, Lauk
    In Ghana, the feminisation of the journalism profession has become a fact: more girls are entering journalism programmes in the Universities, and the number of women employees are growing in the newsrooms. The problem of balancing work-time arrangements (e.g. irregular and unpredictable work schedules, weekend work and long working hours) with equally important domestic obligations are familiar to most female journalists around the globe. Even in countries with well-developed social support structures, and well-defined labour laws, the current nature of journalism work-time arrangements impedes many female journalists in achieving worklife balance. For most Ghanaian female journalists, the culturally entrenched disproportionate societal power hierarchies amplify the challenges of the gendered journalism environment. This study employs unstructured in-depth interviews with 23 female journalists from various regions in Ghana. The study explores three sets of arrangements and demonstrates their impact on the ability of female journalists to balance their domestic and work obligations. The study revealed that the not-so-successful efforts of combining their multiple domestic and social obligations with professional ones cause emotional stress, guilt and self-condemnation and further revealed, female regional correspondents tend to have higher levels of work-life imbalance.
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    Proclivity of Sexual Harassment and Blame Attribution in Journalism: Experiential Narratives of Ghanaian Female Journalists
    (Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, 2021) Boateng Anson, Jonas Kodwo; Epp, Lauk
    Though the proclivity of sexual-related harassment in African journalism is high, the rates of reporting of these incidences and empirical studies are low. The study employs a gendered approach for an exploratory inquiry into the lived experiences and impressions of Ghanaian female journalists about sexual harassment. The study examines how female journalists experience both newsroom harassments and on-assignment sexual harassment, including the role they play in quid pro quo exchanges, which are relevant aspects of sexual harassment in the profession. The study also examines blame attribution strategies female journalists adopt in assigning blame for sexual harassment occurrences. The study uses a respondent-assisted sampling technique to select and conduct in-depth-interviews with twenty-three female journalists drawn from a cross-section of Ghana's journalism industry. Findings show that most Ghanaian female journalists have encountered sexual harassment from influential men either in the newsroom or on assignment. They also engage in quid pro quo exchanges with influential news related persons either for financial or job-related rewards. Consequently, older female journalists adopt other women blame attributions in assigning blame for incidences of sexual harassment in journalism practice in Ghana.