Accra — Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, former Ghana Ambassador to La Cote d'Ivoire, has cautioned that oil flow may well fuel corruption to disturbing levels.

"With oil, you are bound to have demand for corruption"some people will be ready to kill," he warned at a workshop held on Wednesday in Accra to disseminate findings of a study titled GACC Monitoring Media Reportage on Corruption Issues.

The study found, among others, that corruption is a relevant issue for the Ghanaian media but "Most of the stories were straight news reports from workshops, speech events and pronouncements from prominent individuals rather than investigative pieces initiated by reporters."

This detail was not pleasant to Ambassador Blay-Amihere, also a former president of the Ghana Journalists Association. He told journalists present to note that the expected oil revenue will breed more corruption. Therefore, it is important for journalists to be more vigilant and take to investigative journalism as this will lead to the exposure of corrupt practices with possibility of serving as an antidote to corruption.

He charged journalists: "Don't be a passenger...anybody here who wants to remain in this job should be an award winning investigative journalist."

There is a willingness on the part of the Ghanaian Media - both private and state-owned - to address issues of corruption, transparency and accountability in public life. "But their capacity to do so remains at the rudimentary level of awareness creation and sloganeering, mainly because stories lack depth, analysis and independent investigation, said the study which was conducted by Dr Audrey S. Gadzekpo, Director, School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.

Besides, the study noted that like many other aspects of reporting by the Ghanaian media, the coverage of corruption-related issues is sometimes tinged with political partisanship which then manifests in one-sided articles that promote a parochial agenda rather than the larger Public Agenda.

According to the researcher, this was a triangulated study comprising a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative contextual analysis of corruption related stories in selected media over an eight month period (February to September, 2009).

A sampled of seven state and privately-owned newspapers and three online radio stations was selected for the study. The newspapers were Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, The Chronicle, New Crusading Guide, The Enquirer, Business and Financial Times, and Daily Guide. The researcher explained that the criteria for selection were that they were considered as leading newspapers in the country.

The online radio stations were GBC Radio, Joy FM and Peace FM. These were selected because they were prominent and available on the internet.

The report recommended that to promote openness in society and expose corruption, however, it is important for journalists, editors and media owners, to resist pressures to report only what is beneficial to political and private interest. "They must maintain editorial independence and assert their right to take editorial decisions according to conscience and codes of conduct and avoid selectivity in exposing corruption in public life."