The Quantification of Child Labour by Ghana’s Mass Media: A Missed Opportunity?

Abstract

This article describes how the mass media in Ghana use quantitative information to communicate the prevalence of child labour. During the period 2000–2020, stories about child labour frequently appeared in Ghana’s mass media. Within nearly 30 per cent of the stories, at least one numerical quantification is used. Quantifications appear to be constructed primarily to dazzle readers. The large numbers and the weight of the technical jargon used would appear to significantly reduce the potential to inform. We ask why successive governments have not used the mass media tools at their disposal to more effectively address the complex policy problem of child labour.

Value Chain Governance and Children’s Work in Agriculture

“…It is important to note, however, that this is not so straightforward. For example, in Ghana the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) often publicly denies the existence of child labour in the cocoa sector in spite of the formal Ghanaian government policies (see Chapter 10, this volume) and significant coverage of the problem in the local media (Okali et al, 2022).…”

Children’s Work in Ghana: Policies and Politics

“…The ensuing campaigns, laws, policies, direct interventions and the human, financial and material resources targeted at these prohibited forms of work over the last three decades have seen success in areas such as school enrolment. They have also successfully ushered debates on 'child labour' into the centre of Ghanaian policymaking, civil society or NGO advocacy, academic research and wider public discourse (Okali et al, 2022).…”