Managing Election- Relation Violence for Democratic Stability in Ghana characterisation of the media as the'oxygen of democracy 88 is at best only partially, or conditionally, true. Indeed, there are important social, cultural and historical experiences that must guide professional media conduct if they are to help rather than harm the progress of democracy and peace in Africa's nation­states, including Ghana. Lessons for the Ghanaian Media To what extent are the media manifesting sensitivity to both the normative professional principles and local realities that should define political coverage in Ghana? Bonnah-Koomson(2005, p. 5) has suggested the use of'media coverage as a proxy measure to gauge the culture of democracy in transitional democracies'. This involves analysing the content of discourse in the Ghanaian media. One political statement that has provoked arguably the longest run of partisan media commentary and coverage is the now famous“all-die-be-die” pronouncement made by the flagbearer of the leading, opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on 8 February 2011. The statement has been given so many spins and twists – as either literal or figurative – that it provides sufficient illustrative material for the purposes of 89 this paper. It is also appropriate because the circumstances of its 88 Article 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression organisation. 89 Skimming through the partisan press in Ghana, one comes across a litany of incidences of the use(by origination or by repetition) of obvious insults and insinuations, particularly between the ruling NDC and main opposition NPP parties. Examples include: a deputy minister allegedly referring to the NPP flagbearer as“a sexy old fool”(Daily Guide, accessed online at http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=3026, Posted on 23 March 2011); a deputy minister referring to the NPP general secretary as a cocoase kurasini(literally, a'villager from the cocoa-farming hinterland'; Daily Guide, 21 October 2010); and allegedly describing the NPP flag bearer as a'fruit cake, a madman who dresses shabbily(Daily Guide, accessed online at http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=10753, posted on April 29, 2011); the NPP flag bearer referring to the president as“Professor-Do-Little”(accessed online at http://politics.myjoyonline.com/pages/news, 14 September 2011); an NPP youth activist alleging that the President is gay(myjoyonline.com/politics, posted 26 July 2011); Kofi Wayo, the maverick leader of the United Renaissance Party(URP), describing the chairman of the NPP as'an educated buffoon'(Peace FM, 10 October 2011); supporters of the NDC alleging that the NPP flagbearer is a'wee' smoker(Daily Post, 21 July 2011). 225