2019 (Volume 6, Number 1)
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Item Reducing Copying and Copyright Infringement: The Case of Ghana Institute of Journalism(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Nyantakyi-Baah, Lydia; Afachao, ErnestThe paper researched copying and copyright infringement among students at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. The quantitative research used a questionnaire to conveniently collect data from two-hundred (200) level 400 students. The Reference Librarian of the University was also interviewed to supplement data collected from the students. Analysis of the data revealed that even though majority of the students are aware of the Copyright Law, infringement of the law still exists among students. This phenomenon has been attributed to the unavailability of the information resources on the market. The expensive nature of some of the information resources have also been identified as a reason for photocopying, which makes it cheaper in acquiring the material. It was also found that the Institute has a guideline for referencing information sources. Besides the referencing guideline handbook, students of GIJ are given some education on Copyright issues by the Library. It is visible from the study that GIJ has measures in place to protect intellectual property among students. Students proposed severe punishment for those who infringe the law. Students proposed punitive measures such as the cancellation and deduction of marks from their overall score obtained from an assignment or an examination. The paper suggests continuous education among students and reprographers on campus about copying and copyright.Item Readability and Corporate Communication: The Case of Four Banks in Ghana(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Gyasi, William KodomFinancial reporting is a key communication tool used by banks to communicate with investors and regulators. It is thus expected that annual financial reports are made as readable as possible to enhance communication. In this paper, attention is given to the readability of annual financial reports of four Ghanaian banks. The objective is to evaluate the readability of these reports and to establish differences in readability across the reports of the four banks. Convenience sampling was employed to sample annual reports of four banks (GCB, ADB, Fidelity, and Unibank) covering the years 2013 to 2016. SMOG readability index was computed from these reports. Means, standard deviations, and independent sample t-test, with bootstrapping, were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that all four banks used difficult words and sentences to write their reports. In addition, it was established that banks on the GSE and those not on the GSE did not differ in terms of the readability of their annual reports. It is suggested that the banks revisit their writing styles in order to make their reports readable.Item Persuasive Strategies used in the Advertisement of Herbal Medicine in Ghana(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Abedu, Lucy AmoahThis study examines the persuasive strategies used in the advertisement of herbal medicine from a critical discourse analysis perspective. The study focused on the use of language in herbal medicine advertisement and the persuasive strategies used by herbal practitioners to advertise their products. The study used Van Dijk’s (2006) concept of manipulation as the conceptual framework. Aristotle’s persuasive appeals were applied in analyzing a twenty-three minute herbal medicine advertising jingle. The findings indicated different persuasive strategies such as ideology, intertextuality, the use of indigenous languages, repetition, personal pronouns, and rhetorical questions to manipulate the audience. The study also examined how these strategies are used to control the mind and maintain power over the audience. The study revealed that the herbal medicine practitioners control the minds and experiences of their listeners by the excessive use of pathos (emotional appeals) to create to a large extent, manipulation of the minds and beliefs of their listeners for them to patronize their product.Item Maternal Health Education and Promotion: Perceptions from Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region, Ghana(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Bagah, Joseph; Diedong, Africanus L.; Achana, Godwin T. W.The study argues for effective integration of health education and communication strategies and their application within existing inter-related approaches to improve maternal health education in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study design was mainly descriptive. Systematic sampling was employed to select fifteen health facilities for the study. In-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were used to collect data. The study found that though majority (sixty-five percent) of the respondents indicated that radio discussion served as a practical strategy to improve maternal health, thirty-five percent of the respondents, however, noted that programmes on radio and television hardly used bottom-up methods to educate people, especially pregnant illiterate women. The study concludes that existing health education methods need to be strengthened through integration with bottom-up communication methods. The study recommends an integrated approach to educating pregnant women on their health in the Wa Municipality.Item Manipulative Language in Campus Politics: Deconstructing Students’ Messages on Posters in some Ghanaian Universities(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Herzuah, PaulThe University Campus has often been seen as an important site for the publication of school-related political ideas of young people (Loader, Vromen, Xenor, Steel and Bungum (2015). Against the background that critical discourse analysis seeks to uncover the ideological assumptions that are hidden in the words of written text or oral speech, this study sets out to deconstruct the language of ‘welcome’ encoded in posters and banners by would-be student leaders on the campus of some universities in Ghana in order to reveal the ideological elements contained in these posters and banners. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and genre analysis as the analytical framework, the study showed a typical move pattern of engagement used by the aspiring student leaders on the posters. This involves names and images of the participants on the posters, welcome messages, advertised student-leader positions as well as provision of contacts (mobile phone and social media) to further extend the discourse. Also, the study, through critical discourse analysis, deconstructed the language of welcome used by the aspiring student-leaders by indicating how they used the language of welcome as a cover to establish their own ideological and political ambitions. These findings have implications for students who wish to vie for positions in future campus politics and by extension national politics.Item Adapting Benjamin Kwakye’s the Clothes of Nakedness as a Film: An Essay(Journal of Communications, Media & Society, 2019-07) Akrong, BrianThis paper discusses the usefulness of adapting the novel, The Clothes of Nakedness by Benjamin Kwakye (1998) as a film. This adaptation is relevant because the novel presents themes, language and gender issues pertaining to Ghana and by extension Africa as a whole. The thematic issues could be relevant to other parts of the world which share similar characteristics. While values that could promote development seem to receive little attention, there is a growing tendency among the youth to watch movies and other entertainment programmes. This growing inclination among the youth could be harnessed to promote values such as those depicted in the novel analysed for this study. Feminism and feminist reception theory have been employed in this study. This essay employs text analysis and literary appreciation to analyse and discuss The Clothes of Nakedness in terms of the values, characters and other literary techniques in the novel to demonstrate the usefulness of adapting the novel as a film. The title of the novel, The Clothes of Nakedness, derives from an Akan proverb which states that, ‘Se Kwatrikwa se obe mawu ntuma-a, tie ne din’ to wit, ‘If Nakedness promises you clothes, take note of his name.’ The title is a satirical reference to people who pose as wealthy, yet do not have anything but rather depend ironically on the very people they claim to assist. Mystique Mysterious typifies this pauper but it also reflects the incompetence of the men in the novel who are supposed to support their female counterparts. As an outline, the paper begins with the concept of adaptation and proceeds with a synopsis of the novel. The paper further discusses the Feminist theory and how it underpins the study. There is the discussion and analysis based mainly on gender and feminist theory and the language of the novel is also examined.