Browsing by Author "Berhane, Kibrom"

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    Participatory Program Production, Public Deliberation and Prospects for Practicing Public Journalism in Mekelle FM Radio Stations
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-05) Berhane, Kibrom; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    Prominent public journalism advocates hold that journalism should be done in a way that invites citizen participation in shaping news coverage. For, they believed, the purpose of journalism is to “help public life go well.” In similar realm, the aim of this study was to investigate the prospects of journalism practices in creating effective public sphere at a local context through the application of public journalism principles; based on the description and critical analysis of participatory journalism practices in Mekelle FM radio stations. With this end in view, qualitative research approach was employed. Hence, individual in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and content analysis of broadcasts were employed to gather the data needed to scrutinize the aim of the study. The findings of the study demonstrate that there are some promising activities that signify the ‘civic turn’ of journalism practice or the ends-oriented journalism is creeping into the practices of these media. Some programs are shaped in a way that encourages public engagement; and the participants, too, participate in discussions with due concern to the community issues. The editors’/managers’ and program coordinators’ considerable effort and keen attempt to work with the public by developing new participatory programs are also part of the promising activities to practice ends-oriented journalism in these stations. Nevertheless, the journalists obscure interpretation of the essence of participatory journalism in general and effective deliberation in particular may jeopardize effective application of public journalism principles.