THE INTERMEDIA AGENDA-SETTING AMONG TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND ONLINE NEWS WEBSITES IN GHANA

ABSTRACT

The rise of the internet has had a major impact on journalism development across the world, Ghana being no exception. Its influence can be seen in the rise of new media platforms such as online news websites, blogs and social media. As a result of this, the traditional notion of intermedia agenda-setting in Ghana, which existed among the legacy media has been questioned. This study explored the phenomenon of intermedia agenda-setting among two social media platforms — Twitter and Instagram — and five online news websites in Ghana over a two-week period in March 2019. Using a mixed method approach, the study investigated the different types of issue categories that dominated the agendas of Twitter and Instagram and how these in turn influenced the selected online media platforms namely Myjoyonline.com, Citinewsroom.com, Yen.com.gh, Ghananewsageny.org and Pulse.com.gh. News editors of two of the online media sampled were also interviewed to give more depth to the quantitative data. The study found that of the two social media, Twitter had the most influence on the news websites. Furthermore, Twitter also had an influence on Instagram. The findings further indicated that depending on topic and time, there was a bi-directional relationship between social media and the sampled online news websites, suggesting that there was an intermedia agenda-setting relationship among Twitter, Instagram and online news websites in Ghana. Interestingly, the study found that the news agenda on Instagram was dominated by topics relating to social issues like gender, sex and relationships. The study opens up for future studies to look into the intermedia agenda-setting influences among only online news websites in Ghana.