82% of public comments about Kufuor uncomplimentary

A media research group says over 80% public comments about president Kufuor in recent months have been uncomplimentary.

This was included in research findings published by the Center for Media Analysis on the content of media publications in the country over the last three months.

According to the Dr. Messan Mawugbe CEO of the Centre, this was revealed in a survey of letters to news editors sampled over the period.

He said the report which scrutinizes the content of media publications is aimed at providing data on issues that have been at the fore of public debate since June.

According to the report, about 82% of letters to news editors by the public that concerned President Kufuor in 154 newspapers sampled within the past three months were negative while only 15% of them were positive.

Of all the letters to the editor sampled, over 40% of them bordered on the issue of alleged adultery by the president while only a little under 5% was concerned with national reconciliation.

On the HIV/AIDS pandemic, about 95% of press coverage sampled concerned the positive dissemination of information on the high prevalence rate while a little over 4% concerned drug abuse as a means of transmission.

On churches, the report said the Presbyterian Church had the most coverage among all other churches, 47% of which was positive.

Charismatic Churches had comparatively less coverage.

Interesting among the findings was also the fact that fraudulent deals by church leaders ranked 4th on issues about churches in the media.

On the Representation of the people's amendment bill currently being debated, the research suggested that over 52% of the coverage was negative.

The report further suggested that the most dominant issue concerning the bill was the scepticism of the media while the substantive discussion of the bill ranked second.

Also 58% of media coverage on the banking sector was positive, with banking regulations being topmost, while 23% concerned negative comments on the banking sector.

Dr. Mawugbe said these findings are important because it gives a better reflection of the nation's concerns.

The report is published quarterly.