At the just-ended Jintigi (Fire) Festival in Damongo, the air throbbed with the deep, commanding rhythm of talking drums. Draped in rich traditional regalia, chiefs sat in state as the master drummers called out the appellations of kings long gone, reciting genealogies that reached back through generations. For the elders gathered at the durbar, every beat carried a story, every rhythm unlocked a memory of their ancestors.
Then I turned to the young people around me.
They danced. They cheered. They recorded the spectacle on their phones. But many could no longer understand what the drums were saying. The performance moved them, yet the message was lost on them. The language that once transmitted history, identity and wisdom from one generation to the next had become, for many, little more than beautiful sound.
That moment lingered with me because it is not unique to Damongo. The same quiet erosion is unfolding across Ghana. At Homowo in Accra, Hogbetsotso in Anloga, Aboakyer in Winneba and countless other traditional festivals, the crowds continue to grow, yet fewer young people can explain the significance of the rituals unfolding before them. Our festivals are surviving, but the knowledge that gives them meaning is slowly fading.
Who, then, will tell these stories before they disappear? Families, teachers and traditional authorities all have an important role to play. But there is another group whose daily work is to document, explain and preserve the nation's story: journalists.
Beyond informing the public and holding power to account, journalists decide what a nation remembers. The stories they choose to tell, repeat and archive become part of our collective memory, while those left untold risk disappearing with the last custodians who remember them. In that sense, journalists are custodians of the nation's memory and cultural identity, whether or not they recognise the title.
Culture is a Beat
Culture extends far beyond festivals; it is a way of life. It is reflected in the chieftaincy institution and the wisdom that guides the selection and counsel of traditional leaders. It is embedded in our languages such as Gonja, Twi, Fante, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Dagaare, Nzema, Waali, Ahanta, Sefwi, Wassa, Frafra and many others which carry histories, philosophies and worldviews that often cannot be fully translated.
Culture also resides in the oral histories preserved by elders, in folklore and Ananse stories, in Highlife music and traditional dances such as Adowa, Kpanlogo and Bamaya, and in the talking drums of the Atumpan. It is found in the fufu, tuo zaafi, akple and kenkey; in kente cloth and the northern smock; in the ancient mud architecture of the Larabanga Mosque and the remarkable stilt settlement of Nzulezu. It lives in communal values that regard strangers as guests and elders as teachers, and in indigenous knowledge about farming, herbal medicine, weather forecasting and conflict resolution that no textbook fully captures.
Each of these represents a story waiting to be told. A journalist who spends time with an elderly weaver in Daboya, documenting how smock patterns are woven, named and interpreted, contributes more to cultural preservation than countless expressions of concern over disappearing traditions.
Threats to Cultural Heritage
Globalisation, urbanisation and digital media have transformed the lifestyles and aspirations of young Ghanaians. Today, a teenager in Bolgatanga or Axim can stream music from the United
States or China before breakfast, yet may never have listened to the praise songs of their own community.
Foreign entertainment dominates many screens, while urban lifestyles increasingly separate people from the indigenous spaces where culture is practised and transmitted. Cultural exchange itself is not the problem. Societies have always learned from one another. The real danger lies in raising a generation that knows everyone else's stories but not its own.
Journalism can respond in practical ways. Journalists can give visibility to indigenous cultures by reporting them as living traditions rather than museum exhibits. They can promote local languages by producing quality journalism in indigenous languages, as the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and many community radio stations have done for decades.
They should also document endangered traditions before the last custodians of that knowledge pass away. This requires interviewing elders, queen mothers, traditional authorities and historians, not merely as colourful additions to festival stories but as respected sources of indigenous knowledge. Journalists should produce stories that educate, explaining the significance of rituals so that young audiences understand rather than simply observe.
Cultural Reporting as Preservation
At its core, journalism is factual storytelling. Whenever journalists report on festivals, rites of passage, chieftaincy affairs, indigenous crafts or culinary traditions, they are preserving culture.
They transform fleeting events into lasting records through radio documentaries, television features, newspaper articles, podcasts, online photo essays and digital storytelling.
Cultural reporting, however, carries a duty of care. Done carelessly, it can harm the very traditions it seeks to celebrate. Journalists must avoid reducing entire ethnic groups to simplistic stereotypes. Such portrayals distort identities and weaken national cohesion.
Likewise, journalists should neither romanticise harmful cultural practices that endanger women, children or other vulnerable groups nor adopt the outdated colonial perspective that portrays African culture as primitive or opposed to development.
A responsible cultural journalist reports traditions in their entirety, celebrating what strengthens communities while critically examining practices that cause harm.
A reporter covering the Damba Festival, for example, should do more than describe colourful durbars and chiefs in state regalia. They should explain the festival's historical origins, its relationship with Islam and the histories of the Gonja, Dagomba, Mamprusi and other Mole-Dagbani peoples, the symbolism of the dances, the significance of the drumming and the cultural importance of horses, yam and traditional attire.
Similarly, reporting on the Homowo Festival should go beyond describing the celebrations to explaining how it commemorates the resilience of the Ga people during periods of famine.
A feature on bead-making in Krobo, kente weaving in Bonwire, Agotime-Kpetoe and Agbozume, smock production in Daboya, or pottery in Sirigu should document production techniques, the history of the craft, the lineage of artisans and the economic challenges threatening these traditions. In doing so, journalists create enduring records that future generations, scholars and policymakers can consult. More importantly, they preserve the symbols and philosophies that define the identity of communities.
Through such reporting, cultural events become lessons in history, identity and citizenship, accessible not only to those physically present but also to audiences across Ghana and throughout the diaspora.
Our cultures embody values that remain essential to national development: respect for elders, communal responsibility, hospitality, environmental stewardship and traditional approaches to peacebuilding that resolved disputes long before modern courts existed. Journalism that highlights these values performs an important public service. Journalism that merely flatters culture while ignoring difficult truths does not.
Institutional Interventions
Good intentions require institutional support.
Media organisations should establish dedicated culture desks, enabling journalists to move beyond routine festival coverage and produce in-depth cultural reporting. Culture deserves recognition as a specialised reporting beat.
Journalism training institutions should complement instruction in media law and ethics with cultural literacy. A reporter who lacks an understanding of traditional institutions, naming ceremonies, festivals or chieftaincy systems is more likely to misinterpret or misreport important stories. Competence in reporting in indigenous languages should be treated as a valuable professional skill rather than an afterthought.
Government agencies and cultural institutions should also strengthen their engagement with the media. The National Commission on Culture, the Centres for National Culture, the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, and traditional councils possess valuable information that journalists can help communicate to the wider public. Such collaboration benefits both the media and the nation.
Finally, we should use the very digital technologies often blamed for cultural erosion to safeguard our heritage. Recorded interviews with elders, digitised oral histories, photographs of disappearing crafts and multimedia archives can all be preserved and shared online. The smartphone that distracts today's youth can also become a powerful instrument for preserving Ghana's cultural memory for generations yet unborn.
Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi
The Akan symbol Sankofa depicts a bird turning its head backwards to retrieve an egg from its back. It reminds us that returning to reclaim valuable knowledge from the past is not a sign of weakness but of wisdom. It is not an invitation to dwell in history but a reminder that no nation can build a sustainable future while forgetting its foundations.
Ghanaian journalists occupy a unique position in this national effort. Every day, they reach audiences far larger than many classrooms ever will. They possess the power not only to inform citizens but also to preserve identity, memory and heritage.
If we continue to treat culture as a soft subject reserved for slow news days, it will gradually disappear under our watch. But if we recognise cultural preservation as a core public-interest responsibility which is important as exposing corruption or covering elections, we will render a lasting service to Ghana.
The choice, as it has always been, rests in the hands of the storyteller.
The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University for Development Studies.
