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A research into media ethics conducted by the Daily Graphic has indicated that a significant number of stories published by the Ghanaian media are opinionated pieces and not factual. The study, conducted on stories published from 2006 to 2014, was based on similar researches conducted by the National Media Commission (NMC); a researcher, Mr Yaw Owusu, and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). Presenting an overview of findings of the research at a roundtable organised in Accra by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) yesterday, the researchers, Mr Emmanuel Arthur and Ms Adwoa Oforiwaa Turkson, said they found that eight per cent of 1,072 stories done by the Ghanaian media during the period were not factual. That translated into more than 85 stories in a month that had no facts. According to the two researchers, another eight per cent of the stories concentrated on stoking ethnic sentiments, while, going by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Code of Ethics, 803 stories published monthly did not meet the ethical requirements of the association. �In 2011, another research conducted by Mr Yaw Owusu, a journalist, during the Wikileaks and and the period before the 2012 elections showed that opinions were presented as if they were facts,� Mr Arthur, who spoke on behalf of the two researchers, added. �Once again the media faltered, because people were just writing opinions as though they were facts, while people were not given the opportunity to even speak to the issues or tell their side of the story. In other words, balance also suffered,� he said. Mr Arthur said a recent study by the MFWA showed that the trend of the media breaching ethics had continued, which formed the basis of the research on how to deal with the issue. �If we do not take care, if we put side by side the kind of sentiments that the public is expressing, some of which have been documented in our research, we probably will have a situation where one day the media will run themselves into regulation,� he said.