Journalism Education and Sustainable Journalism in Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite a decentralised planning system for a multi-stakeholder approach in implementing the SDGs and numerous efforts towards attaining Agenda 2030, Ghana's progress is not at the rate required to achieve the SDGs targets by 2030. One of the reasons for slow progress is because less consideration is given to the role of professional journalism in sustainable development. This study is on the premise that education in sustainable journalism is central to attaining Agenda 2030. As a result, it seeks to investigate how journalism education in Ghana equips students with education for sustainable journalism. Using a qualitative approach and case study design, multiple methods (document analysis, FGD and interviews) are used to gather data to establish how sustainable journalism is integrated into the Ghanaian journalism curriculum. Thematic analysis of data through the lens of the curriculum framework for SDGs established that, to an extent, sustainable journalism is part of the curriculum even though it is not expressly taught as a stand-alone course. Therefore, there was unanimous support for the modification and inclusion of sustainable journalism into the existing curriculum.