Chapter 4 networking platforms facilitates and accelerates the spread of messages in a less controllable way.[The media and technology thus] … speeds up the way in which such messages penetrate communities and mobilize individuals and groups for action'(Stremlau and Price 2009, p.8) In Ghana's case, the proliferation of media stations, particularly the local language ones, and the culture of'serial callers' can be considered critical factors with regard to the reach and impact of intemperate language. Congruent with this, a number of selected politicians and even media personnel in separate discussions intimated that the prevailing'politics of insult' that is rife in Ghana was largely the media's doing as they open up the space or platform for political actors or the public to engage in such language: 'Who carries the message out there? We do. Who sits behind the console and allows people to fight? We do. … We allow people to speak[intemperately] or spew invectives all in the name of enriching our shows while we can stop it right there… I think[by this] we are throwing the[media] ethics into the gutter. …We are the catalysts actually speeding the reactions[and responses] to some of these things.' 42 Political programmes or discussions, mostly on radio stations, are thus often characterized by discussants screaming, shouting, negatively criticizing, or sometimes exchanging insults. Some of those who go on radio/television stations are the ones who engage in, or fuel the casting of insinuations, derogatory references, and provocative speech, while the'serial callers' are 42 Interview with Journalist/ News Editor at Kapital Radio, Kumasi, 28 June 2011 121