Includes bibliographical references and appendixes.

Contents: Introduction: Background statement -- The problem -- Objectives -- Research questions -- Rationale for the study -- Scope of the study -- Organisation of the thesis -- Media and politics in Ghana: Introduction -- Press/ media systems in Ghana: a brief historical perspective -- History and Development of the mass media and politics in Ghana -- Government-media relations -- Media and freedom of expression in the 1992 Constitution -- Summary -- Influences on news-making: from press systems theories to sociology of news production: Introduction -- News-making -- Normative theories: four theories of the press -- Developmental media concept -- Theories of influences on the media -- Approaches to the sociology of news production -- Earlier approaches -- Political economy approach -- Cultural approach -- Social organisation of news work -- Summary -- Influences on media systems and news production: an overview: Introduction -- Press/ media systems influences -- Gatekeeping studies -- Political economic influences -- Cultural influences -- Social and institutional influences -- Organisational influences -- Media ideology and news decision-making -- Summary -- Methodology: Introduction -- Methodological considerations -- Study design -- Methods of data collection -- Content analysis -- Selection of media and sampling -- Document analysis -- Data analysis -- Findings: the nature, type and extent of coverage of two political regimes in Ghana: Introduction -- Content analysis: key variables -- Amount/ extent of coverage --Quality/ type of coverage -- Prominence of political stories -- Prevailing journalistic / media environment -- Summary -- Political reporting in Ghana within a global content: a comparative analysis: Introduction -- Nature, type and level of reporting/ coverage -- The incumbency factor -- Freedom of the press and the of expression -- Government (source)-media (reporter) relationships -- Conclusion: Introduction -- Main findings -- Conclusion.