MEDIA FRAMING OF THE COLLAPSE OF BANKS IN GHANA: THE CASE OF UT BANK AND CAPITAL BANK

ABSTRACT This study assessed the framing of the collapse of UT Bank and Capital Bank on myjoyonline.com and ghananewsagency.org. The study specifically sought to ascertain the main issues that dominated online reportage on the collapse of UT Bank and Capital Bank as well as how the collapse of the two banks was framed by ghananewsagency.org and myjoyonline.com. It also investigated the factors that influenced the choice of frames adopted by journalists in reporting the collapse of the two banks. The study was conducted using the qualitative approach. The research design used was qualitative content analysis which involved the content analysis of both news articles published on myjoyonline.com and ghananewsagency.org from August to December 2017 and interview responses of four journalists from Myjoyonline.com and Ghana News Agency.From the analysis, eight issues were revealed to have dominated the news coverage, namely revocation of banking licenses, GCB takeover and receivership, Banking capital inadequacy, Effects of the bank collapse on the banking industry, Banking regulation, Fate of displaced workers, corporate governance irregularities and Calls for investigations. Four major were revealed: frames; politics, crises, industry correction and legal frames demonstrating how the collapse of both banks was reported. Journalists in both organisations were influenced by their organisational philosophy, news sources and resources at their disposal. The journalists relied on diagnostic frames to delineate the problem at hand. The study concludes that the frame building process in both organisations was influenced by internal and external factors with implications for news content.