Navigating Public Service and Profit-Making Mandates: The Case of the Daily Graphic Newspaper

ABSTRACT

This study examines how Ghana’s Daily Graphic, a public newspaper operating as a limited liability company, balances its public service mandate with its economic rationality. The case study combined data from interviews with the newspaper’s reporters, editors, managers, and advertising agency executives with a study of official documents and analysis of newshole versus advertisement space allocation. The findings reveal the complicated nature of media management and journalistic autonomy in this hybrid public-private setting shaped by its sociopolitical and economic history and current context. Despite its stated public service mandate, the Daily Graphic’s organizational and individual-level economic logic (coupled with its advertiser–client relations) informs its operations and news practices. Also, contrary to the Daily Graphic’s stated 60:40 newshole to advertisement ratio, the newspaper consistently allocates more space to advertisements than news. We discuss the theoretical implications and recommend how news media can balance their economic motives and public service roles.

KEYWORDS:

• Newspaper-advertiser relationship
• public service media
• state-owned media
• political economy
• self-censorship
• journalistic autonomy

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.