AAU-ETD :: Browsing by Author "Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)"

Browsing by Author "Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)"

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Audience Participation in Community Radio: Ethiopian Civil Service University’s Community Radio FM 100.5 in Focus
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-06) Kebede, Dawit; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
The overall objective of the study is to assess Audience Participation in Community Radio Ethiopian Civil Service University’s Community Radio FM 100.5 in Focus. For the effectiveness of the research, efforts have been made to study the Audience Participation activities of Civil Service University Community Radio. The study has methodology which is designed based on mixed approach both qualitative and quantitative approach using survey method. The Respondents were selected using Stratified sampling technique. In addition, different books and documents were revisited to give depth to the research outcome. The researcher has also used democratic participatory media theory in order to examine the Audience Participation in Community Radio. The finding of the study shows that of the audience of the station had no control over CSUCR. They also did not get the chance to fully participate in the production activities. The main factor is that the station did not appreciate audience to participate in program production. It is clear that the CSUCR and the community are not strongly aligned. To conclude, as the finding shows the Audience Participation in CSUCR and the community is not effective.
Conflict Reporting in Ethiopian Print Media: The Case of Burayu’s Crisis as Reported By Addis Zemen and Reporter Newspapers
(AAU, 2021-04) Amare Ayele, Eden; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Media have a vested interest in conflict aiming at resolution or only in conflict. The practice of conflict reporting is a bi-facet challenging task to the media practitioners due to the quest of access to information and impact of a story. The general objective of the study is to examine conflict reporting in Ethiopian print media in focus of coverage of the Burayu crisis in September 2018, in Addis Zemen and Reporter newspapers. To achieve this objective, the researcher tried to address three basic research questions: To what extent the Burayu crisis was reported? How the newspapers framed the Burayu crisis? And how newspapers treat the crisis towards escalating or de-escalating? To address these questions the researcher used political context model and framing theory as a theoretical framework of the study. The study designed a case study research and followed qualitative research method. The news stories and the editorials were subject to the content analysis that is done with the adopted checklist. In this procedure, the researcher found out that the newspapers gave coverage during and after the outbreak of the conflict; the coverage lacks source pluralism in the selection of source of information and the ideas incorporated across the stories. They apparently tried to de-escalate the crisis through the strategy that the government puts a direction on how newspapers behave to handle the issue. In general, the newspapers tried to play their roles as mouthpiece of the government by ignoring their objectivity. Based on these findings, the researcher concluded that the Ethiopian media, both the private and state owned, are not in a position to reveal the truth about conflict and they are serving as an additional wing of the government to restore peace to the spot. Thus, it is recommended that both of the media practitioners should not limit themselves in the spheres of the government structure to access information and they have to think out of the box whereas, the government should try to make them free to investigate the case from the scene that potentially help the government to make the right decision
Examining Ownership and Powerful Actors Influence in Reporting Corruption Issues: The Case of Addis Zemen and Reporter Newspapers
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-02) Alemu, Fekadu; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon which affects the socio-economic development and cause of instability in a given country. The consequences of corruption don’t stop in civil unrest; it also affects other socio-political system including the press freedom. Thus, this study was conducted to examine ownership and powerful actors influence in the print media by focusing on reporting corruption issues. To this purpose, Addis Zemen and Reporter were purposively selected representing the state-owned and the private newspapers respectively. Methodologically, the study employed mixed method approach. The study got the advantage of taking the political economy theory of mass media and propaganda model as its theoretical frameworks. The period of study (April 2016-April 2018) was also chosen purposively since there were several incidents with the connection of corruption issues. Similarly, six informants were selected for an in-depth interview with purposive and convenience sampling technique. Accordingly, the data obtained from content analysis, in-depth interviews with 6 informants and the newspaper’s editorial policy with the review of literature were then corroborated and analyzed together for the sake of triangulation. As a result, the study disclosed that the extent of corruption coverage in both newspapers is given very little attention. Almost 92% of sources were government bodies in their coverage. The newspaper's role was to follow-up and highlighting corruption news of government-issued. They were echoes or instrument of government propaganda. Both newspapers did not initialize any reporting on corruption issues. The study also found that the state-owned, as well as the private owners, were discouraging journalists when there is a trial to produce a reporting in corruption issues or investigations. Even they do not give any protections especially in regards to reporting corruption issues. Government officials were not only badly influencing in the reporting of corruption issues, but also they were denying access to information (information drought), dictating the editorial writings especially in the state-owned Addis Zemen, threatening owners particularly private Reporter and to the extent of life-threatening by government officials. Among corporate institutions; advertisers were directly influencing in corruption reporting. They used criminal defamation and break-up their long-term agreement as a strategy. Real estate owners and NGO’s were affecting the reporting of corruption issues or investigations one way or the other. Others like law enforcement were not also the easiest influencers. For instance, police and anti-corruption agencies mysteriously hide or disappeared corruption cases. Keywords: media Ownership, Powerful actors, Corruption Issues
Exploring the Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ethiopian Brewery Industry: The Case of Heineken Ethiopia PLC
(Addis Ababa University, 2019) Endale, Henok; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Currently the Ethiopian beer market is experiencing its biggest growth and transformation. The number of consumers is increasing alarmingly. The main driver for growth are the breweries’ marketing strategy and a growing population. Alcohol related harm to people of any age remains an issue of ongoing concern for the community and a challenging area for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) response by the breweries.The purpose of this thesis is to explore theCSR activity of the brewery industry in the case of Heineken Ethiopia PLC. The research studied what CSR is in the context of Heineken Ethiopia, how Heineken implemented CSR, the benefits and barriers to implement CSR in Heineken and the initiatives that are done by Heineken Ethiopia to promote responsible consumption.The research employed a qualitative research approach, wherein, in-depth interview, focus group discussions (FGDs), document analysis and observations were used as data gathering instruments. The study used qualitative case study research method.With regard to the sampling procedure,twenty one internal and external stakeholders of Heineken Ethiopia were selected for interview using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The researcher has also conducted three FGDs with farmers who supply barley for Heineken Ethiopia with a total number of eighteen participants. The FGDs have been made for the purpose of triangulation.The study showed that Heineken Ethiopia implements a systematic focused and institutionalized approach to CSR and that the understanding and practice of CSR in Heineken Ethiopia focused on type of CSR that is positively impactful on stakeholders.The study recommended that CSR programs of Heineken Ethiopia should be owned by employees at all level. Besides, the CSR activities of the company should be communicated both in digital media and the mainstream media. Furthermore, Heineken Ethiopia need to engage in serious commitment to promote responsible consumption and protect children from beer promotion. Key words: Corporate Social Responsibility, Brewery Industry, Ethiopia, Heineken Ethiopia
An investigation of content diversity in the Ethiopian media news: the case of Ethiopian News Agency
(Addis Ababa University, 2018-06) Alamir, Getnet; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
The purpose of this study is to investigate content diversity in the Ethiopian media news. In order to investigate this diversity, in terms of content, geographical coverage, number of sources and types of news sources, the research attempted to see the stories of five hundred five (505) news items. While quantitative research method was employed for the study, the five hundred five news stories were taken by using systematic random sampling technique. So as to see how these diversities are treated in the Ethiopian media news, literatures related to the topic under study are consulted. Additionally, agenda setting theory is used here as a theoretical framework for the study. The findings depicted that there are regional news coverage disparities. While 40.4 percent of the news stories generated from Addis Ababa, only 0.6 percent of the news stories were generated from Benshangul Gumuz. In relation to content diversity, even though many news topics are touched up on by the news Agency, societal issues, which comprises 16.8 percent of the total news topics are the most frequently covered issues of the Agency. The study revealed that 41 percent of the news stories were produced from official sources. And 23.6 percent of the news stories that comprises the majority of the news items were produced out of a single news source. Regarding to the Agency’s treatment of diversified views and opinions also the study discovered that, diversity of opinions and views are not adequately entertained by the Agency. Finally the study tried to suggest the ways how ENA can proportionally cover all regions of the country and recommend the Agency to come up with diversified opinions and views both its news sources and contents
Media Coverage of Covid-19 in Ethiopia: Comparative Analysis of Ethiopian Television and Fana Television
(AAU, 2021-07) Mirressa Waktole, Kasech; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Considering the importance of media coverage in influencing attitude and knowledge of the public, this study assessed news coverage of COVID-19 in Ethiopia, comparing the coverage of ETV 57 and Fana 90. The major purpose of the study was to explore media coverage and its role in controlling the spread of the COVID -19 pandemic in Ethiopia. Media coverage was analyzed using quantitative and qualitative content analysis approach; in terms of time allocation, frequency of coverage of specific news stories and with regard to how news topics were framed in the two media. The content analysis was supported by key informant interviews with selected experts and officials from the two media. For the content analysis, a total of 70 days news videos (5 days per month for 7 months, for each media); that is, in total 3,885 minutes of news stories were analyzed. Major results indicated that the two media provided good coverage of COVID 19, but ETV gave higher proportion of coverage to COVID-19 related news than Fana Television: i.e., 23% of the total 42 minutes of ETV news than 18% of the 70 minutes news of Fana was allocated to COVID-19 related news. Immediately, after the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Ethiopia, both media - Fana and ETV news - gave high attention for the issue and coverage of COVID-19 related news was very high. However, coverage of COVID-19 news started to decline through time. The focus of the two media shifted from COVID-19 news to other emergencies due to political instabilities and conflicts. Furthermore, analysing the type of frames employed by the media, it is found that news stories of the two media were dominated by constructive framing which accounted for about 64% of the total time allocated for COVID-19 related news, while fear framing accounted only for about 28% the news stories. Constructive framing in total was reported by 111 news stories which is where Fana reported many news stories using constructive frame (57) as compared to ETV (54). The two media contributed in informing and creating awareness towards the pandemic and the public to follow recommended preventive measures. However, the decline in the media coverage through time by both media can also contribute to a declining attention by the public and government towards the disease. Hence, this study, indicating a close relationship between media coverage and the contribution they can play in controlling the spread of the disease, recommends a regular media coverage with well researched understanding of the possible spread and effects of the pandemic.
Media Language Use in Reporting Rural Social Life: In the Case of Amhara Mass Media TV Program
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-06) Getinet, Fekadu; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Although appropriate media language use, in reporting rural social life is crucial for the improvements of rural development, mass media has a strong social, cultural and political impact upon society and can play an effective role to bring positive change in the rural society. Unfortunately, the current media establishments are not concentrated on rural information’s it is urban centered. Even some programs prepared by the media for rural society have a limitation. Language use and dialects are some of the problems. Therefore, this study, under the title of “Media language use: in reporting rural social life, the case of Amhara Mass Media TV program”, is interested how the media disseminate information by yarso ader weg /farmers talk show/ program. To achieve the aim, in-depth interview, FGD with farmers were performed in three parts of the region (Gonder, Gojam and Shewa). And through systematic random sampling five consecutive months of ye arso ader weg (farmers talk show) program collected for thematic analysis. At the beginning the research has a key target to identify language use that is vague and ambiguous when disseminating information’s for rural societies. However in this study the researcher identified that the farmers’ dialects in different zones are major problems to understand the message. Even though all the farmers are Amharic speaker, there is confusion due to their religion and cultural different. The media and its practitioners have a huge responsibility to prepare guidelines and simplify words when reporting rural social lives.
Media representation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed: A comparative study among Aljazeera online, Ethiopian Herald and Reporter Amharic newspapers
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-05) Yohannes, Natinael; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
In the recent years representations of issues by media outlets are one of the most researched topics in the field of journalism and communication. Representations in the media have a very strong influence on how societies formulate their knowledge, attitudes, stands and practices. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the representation of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in the three selected media outlets. Accordingly, Aljazeera online, Ethiopian Herald and Reporter Amharic newspapers were deliberately selected. Aljazeera online represented the international media while Ethiopian Herald and Reporter Amharic newspapers would give a representative image of local media. Moreover, comparisons were made based on local versus international media outlets. To this end, so as to meet the objectives of the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis were employed. The study was also supported with the media representation and framing theories as its theoretical frameworks. The period of study (March 2018- December 2018) was also chosen reasonably as it was time that Ethiopian political situation opportune to see new chapter in peaceful power transition and extraordinary attentions from different corners was given for the Prime Minister. Likewise, by using systematic random sampling seventy-five articles (news stories and editorials) were selected for analysis. Thirteen from Aljazeera, forty-six from Ethiopian Herald and sixteen from Reporter Amharic, of which fifty-three of articles are news whereas twenty-two are editorials. Furthermore, content analysis came into play and gave a quantitative perspective to illustrate the data plainly tableau and graph was used. In addition, the qualitative data that obtained from frame analysis was presented by descriptive narration. After thoroughly examining the selected articles from three media outlets finding revealed that six dominant frames emerged. The list goes on value/morality frame, conflict frame, human interest frame, attribute frame, economic frame and attribution of responsibility frame. Besides, major attributions emerged about Abiy Ahmed. These are ethnic, nationalist, change agent, peacemaker, open-minded, populist and indecisive. The findings from the study demonstrated that representations of Abiy Ahmed by the selected three media outlets are polarized. The international outlet Aljazeera-online mostly used value and conflict frames. Whereas, the two local newspapers Ethiopian Herald and Reporter Amharic employed the other four frame types. But, both the international and local media outlets also shared some common frames. Even if the focus of this study was to examine the representation of Abiy Ahmed by the selected media outlets, which was portrayal and frame, a wider perspective has emerged to study about the representation of high public figures like Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Having examined the comparative representation of Abiy Ahmed by the three selected media, the study authoritatively concluded that there was disharmony between international and local media outlets. Yet, in some ways, the two were mutually complimentary. At the concluding remark, this researcher is of opinion that many similar studies must come to the fore; so that future researchers would have a good starting point and solid related literatures.
Opportunities and Challenges of Media Convergence of Newspapers on the News: The case of Reporter Newspaper
(Addis Ababa University, 2018-06) Demeke, Emebet; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
This study attempted to examine the main opportunities and challenges of media convergence of the newspaper in case of Reporter Amharic newspaper. The study also tries to find out how the newspaper has been adapting to new technology and remain competitive news source by enabling their audience/ readers on Internet using smart phones, laptops, personal computers or other electronic devices. The study uses qualitative research method, and the data were collected using in-depth interviews with the respondents including the general manager of the Reporter newspaper, eight journalists and an IT expert working in the newsroom. The sample size is about 40% of the total population. Apart from this, contents that appeared on the Reporter Amharic newspaper and website in a period of six successive months were thoroughly analyzed. The outcome of this research indicates that although the media house has started to utilize convergence of the newspaper for the last seven years, the utilization level of media convergence is at its infant stage and not well developed. This study reveals that Reporter Amharic newspaper has a limitation on the utilization of media convergence including technological capacity, lack of skilled professionals, having no hyperlinked text, failed to apply Tweeter and LinkedIn as part of convergence. The research out comes reveal that even though Media and Communication Center (MCC) is not doing well in utilizing media convergence of the newspaper to some extent and the media house enables to disseminate breaking news and other current information to its users/ readers and trying to become competitive in the industry. The study also finds out the main challenges that the media house faces in utilizing media convergence of the newspaper include lack of structure to effectively implement convergence; poor Internet facility and absence of audience interaction platform as part of convergence are worth mentioned. In line with this, it was recommened that necessary technical trainings should be provided to the media practitioners to fill their gap and implement media convergence effectively and efficiently. It is also necessary to use Tweeter and LinkedIn as part of the convergence activity and draw experience from other institution which is good at applying media convergence.
Political Activism and Social Media Responsibility in Ethiopia:- The Case of Facebook & Twitter
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-03) Ali, Elham; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Social media is now all over the world, and become well used alternative media in developing country like Ethiopia where there is no strong political parties and loose freedom of the press. Although the penetration percentages are still low, the power that social media owns in influencing the government and social leaders is becoming increasingly important. The last two – three years have been in massive rise in use of social media political activism in Ethiopia. When the growth and popularity of social media generated concerns on the political activists, bloggers and influencers made a huge impact towards their followers. The communications mechanism particularly political activist’s call for illicit movement/ action was inflammatory. I believe that social media political activism in the recent digital Ethiopia does not consider the potential risk on the ground and government’s reaction towards it was also radical. Thus the researcher wanted to study other strategic options for responsible use of social media. Although research on social media has been conducted, for instance, on the use of social media in protest movements and less emphasis has been placed on their responsible use aspects. Thus, to nurture responsible political social media activism, this study aims to better understand the digital political activism trends in Ethiopia and examine the potential relationship between the activist’s posts and followers’ reaction. In order to achieve the above objectives online questionaries’ been uploaded, two semi -structured interviews were conducted and ‘’Irresponsible “social media posts have been shared, collected and analyzed. Data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Although I believed that our social media activism communication are irresponsible, this study supports the use of social media as a new ways of political participation to get the voices of unheard to be heard. All in all, despite being used for irresponsibly, social media usage was also perceived to contribute to concrete changes in the community and the country at large.
Public Media Reporting of the Conflict Between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Forces of TPLF: The Case of ETV and TTV
(AAU, 2021-06) Awoke, Belsti; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
Public media is an organization to serve the public equally and objectively in disseminating information which helps the society aware of what was happened, what is happening and even what will happen in the form of news, educational program or other forms of content. Public media differs from the private one in which it focused on the profit of the owners, but Public media focuses on informing, educating and entertaining the public without discrimination, because it gets its fund either from the public in the form of license fee or from the government that is collected in the form of tax. In both cases the source of the money is the public and that is way its main objective is to serve the public equally. Unfortunately the current public media in Ethiopia are not serving the public equally as the findings of the thesis indicated; rather they are taken by the political arrangement of the current ethnic politics which is the main source of the conflict in the country. Using content analysis qualitative research, the analytical examination of the news stories showed that the two media are highly polarized in entertaining the interests of Political Parties who owned the media. The research identified that ETV favored the Federal Government and Tigray TV favored TPLF in reporting the news stories during the conflict between those two government bodies. Both media biased the facts on the ground and broadcasted divisive contents to escalate the conflict in Tigray that broke out in November 2020. Even after military confrontation both media indicated political parallelism by demonizing and undermining the rival to deceive the audience. Particularly Tigray TV was not only partisan in its reporting, but also it practiced ethnic parallelism to isolate the people of Tigray from the rest of the people of Ethiopia by portraying messages that indicates an attack on Tigray people from the neighboring community. ETV on the other hand underestimated the violent conflict to the level of law enforcement operation which involves high scale military ammunition in the violence. So the study showed that those media are public in name but politically parallel to the conflicting bodies to aggravate the military confrontation in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia.
Quality of News Content in two Radio Stations in Addis Ababa: Case Study of Abay FM 102.9 and Bisrat FM 101.1
(Addis Ababa University, 2018-08) Tessema, Berhanu; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
My research focuses on two FM radio stations in Ethiopian capital-Abay FM 102.9 and Bisrat FM 101.1 in serving their audiences by providing content deliveries in news writing and reporting. The study based on what listeners of the mushrooming FM radio stations complaints on lacking content from the broadcasters particularly news in keeping informing them about their lives and what is going on in their surroundings and beyond that internationally. The research’s specific objectives and research questions were focused on examining the reasons of the broadcasters in delivering their works in professional ways keeping standards, assessing the factors that affect the quality of news and investigate what room the radio stations have to diversify their sources of news. The stations are selected by taking the time of their licensing, since they were the second generation FM radio stations in the capital(and of the country).The time of the study was from early March- mid April 2018 for six weeks (Monday- Friday). A total of 542 news items Mid-day(12:00 p m) news from Abay and early evening news(06:00 p m) from Bisrat were collected, coded, categorized and evaluated as well rated for their news values. The researcher utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods. News of radio stations thoroughly investigated by hearing each of them qualitatively in professional ways the quantitative research work was done by Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings reveal that the problems of lacking content from the FMs are a real one. It has to be addressed by the regulatory body by enforcing existing regulations on local content and adopting experiences from other countries. Broadcasters have to quench thirst of their audiences need their information provision role in quality and keeping balance with their other roles of the media to the public -entertainment and education.
A Study on the Access, Participation and Platform of Addis Ababa University Community Radio
(Addis Ababa University, 2018-06) Hailu, Kalkidan; Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)
The aim of this study was to examine the Access, participation and platform of Addis Ababa University Community Radio (AAUCR). Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the study. Questionnaires, interviews, documents and observation were the tools employed for gathering the data from the community members and radio station staff. Probability sampling (i.e., stratified sampling) and non-random sampling (i.e., purposive sampling) methods were used to select the subjects. Based on the information obtained, it was found that AAUCR focused on entertainment and educational. Most of the respondents didn’t hear the station; among those who didn’t listened, they gave a reason that they didn’t have any idea about the station. Because of the poor transmission technology and technical problem station didn’t provided good access, and quality of the signal. Community Radio is for the people, by the people to the people, but the participation of AAUCR was not found to be satisfactory in the overall activity of the station. The community was assumed to participate in decision making process through their representatives. Though, the study revealed that the station gave independent platform were the community members discuss about the issue but the community members were not presented their problem properly. Finally, it was recommended that the station focus on participatory programs and feedback mechanism, settle permanent sit and promote the station to every members of the community.

Browsing by Author "Shiferaw, Teshager (PhD)"

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