Sunday, September 15, 2013

Independent Claims University of Ghana Students Working as Male Prostitutes

Recently the Independent ran an article claiming that a number of male students at the University of Ghana in Legon spend their nights working as rent boys. The article quotes one anonymous rent boy who claims that he uses the money he gets from johns for drugs and to pay his university fees. It also quotes one anonymous police officer. These two anonymous informants appear to be the article's only sources. The article also gives no quantification as to actually how many students from Legon are working as rent boys.  The evidence presented in the article suggests they found one person who claimed to be both a rent boy and a University of Ghana student. But, by listing Accra Mall, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, High Street, East Legon, the area near the Togolese Embassy, and Lapaz as areas where student rent boys work at night, the article gives the impression that they number in the dozens. There are currently nearly 30,000 students enrolled at the University of Ghana of which about 20,000 are male. So I don't doubt that there are a few people out of that 20,000 that are working as rent boys. But, I am guessing that the number is quite small and that the article in the Independent is just another example of the irresponsible sensationalism that tends to dominate the media in Ghana.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ghanaian media mostly report speculations since they do not have enough evidence to support their claims;and I think is mostly due to limited time constrain they are required to invest in finding facts. Only few media houses have the time to crosscheck what they report. I don't believe this story.