Browsing by Author "Alemu, Solomon"

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    Censorship and Ethics: Practice and Problems in Ethiopian Television
    (Addis Ababa University, 2005-12) Alemu, Solomon; Arsano, Yacob (PhD)
    This study generally deals with the practice of censorship and its ethical effects in the government owned Ethiopian Television. It has been based on the hypothesis that direct censorship imposed by the government authorities or politicians and self-censorship which is the result of internalized fear of punishment among the journalists are the reasons for underreporting contending political views. The rational to study this issue is the threat that repressive governmental influence and control of the media could pose to the newly emerging multi-party politics in the country. The broadcast media in general and the television in particular have remained under the monopoly of government fourteen years after the promise for democracy and the democratic media that can entertain plural voices. This medium has made a bad name for itself, for its lack of depth and one-side reporting of events. It has been restricted to serving the political propaganda of the party in power to the extent of committing out right bias and bombarding opposition parties that holds viewpoints critical to or different from the government. This is what has made imperative a need to study the problem of censorship and its ethical consequences. Three methods are employed to conduct this study. The first is survey method. Selfadministered questioner is responded by the editors and reporters working in four newsrooms of ETV to elicit the forms of direct censorship, self-censorship and the major target issues. Secondly, the contents of some news stories selected from post-election 2005 ETV coverage are analyzed to show the fairness of the coverage towards the ruling and opposition political parties. Thirdly interviews are conducted with five selected and willing journalists to supplement the responses given by the questionnaire. The analysis of the data has shown direct censorship is practiced in ETV through assigning faithful 5 party members, providing guidelines or directives to the journalists and directly reviewing the contents of the news stories. Self-censorship is also manifested in several forms. One is dodging political issues particularly reporting opposition parties. The journalists also tone up and tone down political issues based on the interests of the ruling party. The other form of self-censorship is that journalists are externalizing their responsibility regarding the transmission of sensitive new stories. This is often practiced by consulting the faithful party members in the medium to decide on the fate of the sensitive issues like coverage of the opposition parties. It is a tactic used by editors to manage the risk of punishment.
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    A Study of University Students' Knowledge and Attitude and Their Experiences in Relation to Stigma and Discrimination Attached to Hiv And Aids
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-07) Alemu, Solomon; Sa, Bidiyadhar (PhD)
    This study was conducted to investigate the students' knowledge on HIV and AIDS and to assess if they have discriminatory attitude attached to HIV and AIDS and towards PLWHA in Ambo town. The study also attempted to compare the level of stigma and discrimination between female and male students. Moreover, the study aimed at examining the experience of pumA in relation to stigma and discrimination attached to HIV and AIDS. 264 JUAC students and three PLWHA participated in this study. Questionnaire, focus group discussion and case study were used as an instrument for the data collection. The collected data were treated with percentage and using Chisquare. The findings of these study shows that JUA C students have adequate knowledge and awareness about HIV and AIDS issues and the students did not hold stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes on HIV and AIDS and towards PLWHA. In addition, the study revealed that female and male students did not manifest significantly different stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes in relation to HIV and AIDS and towards PL WHA. The non-discriminatory attitude of the students can also be attributed to the awareness and knowledge on issues of HIV and AIDS. The study also found out that, even though, PLWHA are found to be subject to different types and forms of discrimination in the community, the magnitude of the stigma and discrimination is reducing. The study also uncovered that, the basis for HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination were found to be misconception and lack of knowledge about HIV and AIDS, fear of contagion through causal contact and insensitive media reporting on the pandemic. Therefore, to minimize the stigma and discrimination attached to HIV and AIDS it was suggested that, well-designed and participatory awareness creation programs need to be strengthened and professional pre and post test HIV counseling for those affected and infected with HIV needs to be given. In addition the content of the information provided through the media should be carefully evaluated and checked for its appropriateness not to inflict stigma and discrimination before broadcasting.
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    Ubuntu: Locality-Based Small-Scale Social Development through a University- Community Partnership: An Autoethnographic Approach
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-10) Alemu, Solomon; Butterfield (PhD), Alice
    This study focuses on revealing the process of founding a small-scale locality-based social development organization called Ubuntu Family-Based Child Support Initiative (hereafter referred as Ubuntu for short), which was established by me (the researcher) in collaboration with faculty members at Ambo University, in Ambo town, Ethiopia. Ubuntu’s social development program was intentionally initiated and organized as part of social work practice and community engagement to address the needs of poor and vulnerable families. Using autoethnography as the principal research method, the study reveals my journey while I executed the day-to-day activities of the Ubuntu social development organization. This action-oriented autoethnographic study employs multiple data collection instruments such as key informant interviews, focus group discussion, informal conversations, field notes, and document review. The findings reveal that employing the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach was effective in founding and promoting a locality-based social development organization to address the needs of families living in extreme poverty. The overall Ubuntu experience mobilizes and engages stakeholders for effective locality based social development. The Ubuntu Service User Families (USUFs) have been committed to improve their living condition through income generating activities when they learned that, it is their fellow citizens who were supporting them compared to foreign or government aid. The emergence of Ubuntu in Ambo University also served as a bridge to create a functional University Community Partnership (UCP) to bring about mutual benefits for the University and the local community. Key findings include the indispensable catalytic role of an academic-practitioner, the support of university leadership, and collaboration with multiple stakeholders in founding a legally registered social development organization within a public university. The Ubuntu experience affirms the possibility of replicating a similar locality-based social development organization in other universities in Ethiopia. Keywords: Autoethnography, Ubuntu, Social Development, Asset Based Community Development, University-Community Partnership, Academic-Practitioner, Ethiopia.