Browsing by Author "Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)"

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    Audience Satisfaction with Ethiopian Television Evening Amharic Program
    (Addis Ababa University, 2005-02) Adamu, Abel; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    Television with its audiovisual nature plays a great role in presenting events within their contexts to its audiences. Similarly, ETV has been serving its audiences since its establishment in 1964. Although audiences continue watching ETV, they are usually heard airing their dissatisfaction regarding the quality of ETV services. Despite the fact that audience satisfaction study is invaluable, it is difficult to get such a comprehensive research in Ethiopia. This paper, therefore, aims at investigating how the complaints of audiences of ETV evening Amharic program are deeper. That is, it tries to assess the satisfaction/dissatisfaction level of audiences with the programs. The study focuses on Amharic language since most of ETV’s airtime is covered by this language. The subjects of the study are 300 TV viewers of Bahir Dar, Dessie and Gondar towns residents who have television sets and pay annual service charge. Most of the respondents are young people. Audience satisfaction studies are usually done using survey methods. As a result, a questionnaire, to find out the audiences’ level of satisfaction based on Likert’s scales, is used to collect the required data. Mean scores of satisfaction scales and percentages of respondents are used for the analysis and interpretation of the data. The questions are analyzed in terms of eleven factors that affect audiences’ gratifications. The results, however, represent tendencies rather than actual facts because they are based on personal opinions and predispositions. The degree of gratification (satisfaction, dissatisfaction or neutral) is determined based on three assumptions that basis on the mean scores of responses on satisfaction scales. Accordingly, the main findings are the following. Audiences’ level of satisfaction is very low. They show their dissatisfaction with the overall services of the channel. Most of the programs lack credibility. Moreover, among the programs Local News and Current Affairs reports and Advertisements are the most dissatisfying programs. Only Q&A, Sport and ’50 Lemon’ programs are relatively the most satisfying ones. Furthermore, most of the audiences watch ETV either as a habit or due to lack of an alternative channel. Hence, looking through these results, it is possible to say that ETV Amharic programs are unable to gratify its audiences by producing and broadcasting programs that go with the needs of its viewers. All these indicate that ETV, being the only medium in the country, to gratify its audiences, should exert more efforts to improve its programs in line with the needs of its viewers.
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    Communication in Relation to Culture of a far People: Female Genitial Circumcision in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-05) Nigus, Asmeret; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    The role of communication in understanding meaning generated by means of signs and codes and connecting the collection of meanings to the whole is the paramount reason that leads people‘s way of life to a broader part. This study sets out to examine the generation of meaning through cultural practices; taking the practice of female genital circumcision in focus. The research particularly shades light on the Afar people meaning attribution of female genital circumcision (FGC). Different efforts have been made in order to stop FGC in the study area because its physical and psychological impact is greater than its value in other cultures. Yet the efforts that have been made in stopping the practice are meaningless to the people of Afar and they are not willing to let the new idea or knowledge to get in to the way of the old one because FGC for them is a cultural entity that holds the other traditions and values together and without it their way of life could be diminished. Here what this study tried to find out is the Afar people’s generation of meaning by practicing FGC. The study tried to answer the people’s cultural implication of the practice and their disparity in the interpretation of FGC Qualitative methodology is used to dig out information that is vital to the study. The study employed interview, focus group discussion and participant observations as tools for generating data from two weredas namely: Dubti and Abala. For this study a purposive sampling technique was followed as the focus is on limited number of informants, that are selected strategically so that their in depth information will give optional insight. The finding of the study shows that the people’s meaning of FGC as a symbol signifying their tradition: preservation of virginity, enhancement of male sexual pleasure, a stage for womanhood, better marriage prospects and prevents excessive clitoral growth; their strong religious attachment: cleanliness, as baptism to be a Muslim and as a procedure to be accepted as a member of the society. Their meaning given to the practice by the people is diverse as a result of their age, gender, social status. I addition, People who live in the urban and rural area have different interpretation of FGC.
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    Historical Analysis of Organizational Structure: The Case Of Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency’s News Center
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Beyene, Almaz; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    The Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency redesigns its organizational structure in different times however it is criticized by all stakeholders including the government for its allegedly in efficient and ineffective services. Thus the aim of this paper is to look at the implementation of organizational structure of the Agency and it examines the causes of the over all changes of the structures, the decision making process in the news center , and the influences of the news center’s activity with a focus on the news center management of the Agency. The qualitative research paradigm has been used as a method of study. Since qualitative research is more appropriate to examining words and ideas it is helpful to explaining complex social phenomena. Accordingly, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and participant observations were conducted to explore employees and management views to the operation of the organizational structure. It is known that triangulation helps to avoid a limitation in one method by using another method that is strong in the areas that the first is weak. The researcher also found out that it is important to take the contingency approach and critical theory of communication approach to organization as a theoretical framework. The major findings of the study are indicated that, although the organizational structures have been changed repeatedly; fundamental changes have not been achieved within the news center. Insufficient capacity of journalists and officials, unnecessary bureaucratic system of decision making, and less readiness and commitment of subordinates to assume responsibility are among the main factors that affect the effectiveness of the news center. In view of the fact the Agency has not been cover things based on public interest. Thus, they failed to meet public expectations. Finally, it can be concluded that lack of commitment and insufficient knowledge of officials’ and employees’ are the main factors that affect the effectiveness of ERTA towards meeting public expectations.
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    Readers’ Perspectives on the Readability of the Sports News Writing of the Ethiopian Sports Newspapers
    (Addis Ababa University, 2008-06) Abera, Abebe; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    The aim of this study is to investigate readers’ viewpoints on the readability of the sports news stories reporting of the local sport newspapers. The researcher was interested in working on this area for he repeatedly observed that some readers claimed that the sport news stories were difficult to read easily and comprehend efficiently. The central point of this study is readability. There have been debates and different viewpoints among scholars on the concept of readability; factors that determine readability of a text, and the tools used to measure to detect text difficulty. It is important to note that the theoretical perspectives presented are partially at odd with the view that factors attribute to readability are still arguable. Some scholars would disagree with the argument that linguistic factors can contribute to readability. This study, however, focused only on the linguistic variables for readers’ viewpoints mainly focused on this area. In all, the participants provided five problem areas that accounted for the news stories difficulty of easy reading and efficient understanding. These include: news stories language usage, structure difficulties and omission of required information and/or details; messed up news contents structure, and incoherent news contents organization. In order to study readers’ viewpoints, the researcher, based on the readers’ viewpoints, stated the assumption that the news stories reporting were not readable due to some linguistic barriers or may be otherwise. To this end, the researcher used the qualitative research approach because some factors of readability of news text are subject to individual readers. According to some scholars, these factors are difficult to trace using quantification methods. For example, news structuring and organization and understanding of a news text cannot be measured statistically. Besides, as stated in the literature review, the processes of reading and understanding of a text are often complex, inconsistent and inclusive. It seemed appropriate to see them in the readers’ perspectives. Thus, semi-structured and focus group discussion techniques were used to collect data. Generally, as it was hypothesized, the narrative data showed that the states of the readability of the news stories were found to be difficult to read and understand easily and efficiently by all the general readers due to the linguistic factors predicted in the hypotheses, though it was at different levels. This might be for the stories were not reported in clear, precise, simple, telling, coherent, emotion enticing and forthcoming writing, and strong and grabbing news stories narration and organization. Besides, the results showed that readability is subject to various non-linguistic variables, such as readers’ prior semantic and syntactic knowledge and purposes of reading though exhaustive investigations were not made on these issues. So, results confirmed that there was a positive relation between the hypotheses and the results
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    A Study of Audience Research by Broadcasters: the Case of Radio Fana
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-06) Addis, Asmamaw; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    Although audience information and feedback are essential for improvements of media working trends, the values of them have been less appreciated by broadcasters. This is because the broadcasters and their audiences have asymmetric relationship; i.e., often there is one-way communication that has been existed between them. Especially, broadcasters in developing countries have less interested in conducting and processing audience research and least integrated it in the organization structures. Mainly, journalists in the broadcasting media have accomplished their work on the basis of personal hunch by thinking that “what interests them would interest the audience.” Carrying out persistent audience research by broadcasting organizations can significantly undertake the above problems, and using audience data for their activities have paramount importance for the improvements of the media as well as in practicing journalism. Therefore, this study, under the title of “A study of Audience Research by Broadcasters: the case of Radio Fana”, is interested in examining the process and conduct of audience research that are made by Radio Fana. In achieving the above aim, individual in-depth interviews are made with three senior reporters, three chief-in-editors, five-producers and three audience researchers, and document analysis is also employed. Purposive sampling is applied to select documents for analysis and informants for interview. The focus of the study is on the quality of audience research, the appropriateness of the tools, the effectiveness of Radio Fana in practicing audience research and the extent of the application of audience research results. In relation to its quality, measurements are the level of qualification of audience researchers, the support and acceptance of the audience research, the involvement of the journalists and the development of high-quality research environment. In relation to the appropriateness of the tools, there are measurements; such as, the precision of data gathering tools, the chance of producing apparent data for each programme and the acceptability of evidences. In relation to its effectiveness and the extent of the application of the results, the measurements are the contribution of audience research in decision making process, format development, audience development and organizational planning. The results of the study show that processing and conducting audience research has become the culture of Radio Fana. It is also true that the findings and recommendations of audience research have been implemented averagely. The study finds some indicators of the medium improvement which have brought through audience research; such as, the signal quality of the station, the style of programme presentation, the different formats of the programmes, the number of advertisers, sponsors and partners, and the size of staff.
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    A Study on Audience Satisfaction With Etv a fan Oromo Programs
    (Addis Ababa University, 2008-06) Haji, Badeso; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    The main focus of this study was to find out the over all level of audience satisfaction with ETV Afan Oromo programs. In relation to this, attempts were made to assess audiences’ program preference, as to why people watch ETV Afan Oromo programs, how audiences react to the contents and presentations of the programs. Qualitative method of research was utilized throughout the research. Hence, in-depth individual interview and focus group discussions were instruments of data collection. Three locations, Addis Ababa and two towns from the Oromia National Regional State (Adama & Ambo) were selected purposely to carry out the individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with respondents who were also drawn purposefully. In addition, some editors who are working in ETV Afan Oromo section were also interviewed to make the study more complete. Regarding, related literature, attempts have also been made to review various literatures written in connection with the theme. Accordingly, different theoretical frame works with particular emphasis to the uses and gratifications approach were presented and discussed As to the findings of this study, the over whelming majority of the respondents appear to have strong affinity to ETV’s programs of Afan Oromo which has also become the reason for their attendance. Consequently, they watch the programs irrespective of their needs and desires, satisfaction / dissatisfaction and also program genres. They seem to watch the programs with the sense of belongingness to their language as a basis of their habitual engagement. When it comes to audience preference, among the ETV Afan Oromo programs, the entertainment took the first while the educational and informative ones took the second and third leg respectively. All in all, in relation to over all satisfaction, the outcomes of both the individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions designate that the majority are neither in a very satisfied nor in a very dissatisfied positions. Rather, they are in a medium level of satisfaction. However, compared to the first five years of the launching of the Afan Oromo program, the latter periods have shown relative improvements as far as audience satisfaction is concerned.
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    A Study on the Interaction Between Journalism Education Institutions and Mass Media Houses:Theory and Practice
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-06) Addis, Bantie; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    The aim of this thesis was examining the interaction between some selected mass media institutions and School of Journalism and Communication, Addis Ababa University. The quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis technique were employed to analyze data collected through questionnaire and interview from a proportional allocation, random sample. Both mass media institutions and School of Journalism and Communication were found to have positive attitude, and with no significant difference between, towards the assumed interaction between them. However, the interaction practically was found not to exist except in the apprenticeship and in a unidirectional (only from School of Journalism and Communication to mass media institutions) training. Updating work, strengthening professionalism, minimizing cost, getting media play its role based on the principles of journalism and winning employability for students were identified as the major assumed benefits to be realized as a result of interaction. Commenting on performance, conducting media research and using media research, familiarizing short term and long term plans, etc were found not applied as means of interaction, and lack of trust, experience, finance, ideology difference, lack of initiative and time were pointed out as reasons behind. This implies that the relational approach theory to education which emphasizes the need of interaction between educational institutions and stake holders to make education bring about change in the society was found not practically applied.
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    The Watchdog Role of Journalism: A Study on the Perception of Ethiopian Journalists
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-06) Woldeamanuel, Befrdu; Simon, Gebremedhin (PhD)
    This study was an inquiry into the perception of Ethiopian journalists with regard to the watchdog role of journalism. In this regard, the researcher has employed Western model of journalism, Development model journalism and propaganda model as theoretical underpinnings to answer the designed research questions. To come up with a seeming finding, qualitative research methodology was employed with an individual in-depth interview and focus group discussion as instruments for data collection. Hence, using a purposive sampling, a total of six practicing journalists were interviewed in the in-depth interview category, of which two were editors-in-chief, the other two, deputy editors-in-chiefs, one assistant editor and finally a producer. In the focus group discussion domain, six journalists were interviewed from one media house. The participants for the individual in-depth interview were also drawn from both government and private media institutions. In the findings, journalists from both individual and focus group fronts have the orientation toward watchdog journalism as the Western literature portrays it; „to be the public‟s eye in monitoring and exposing power abuse and misuse, maladministration, and corruption, to serve as a check and balance on the government or a fourth estate to monitor the three branches of government.‟ Except one who learned it at school, the rest were informed about it through reading and actual practice. When it comes to our context, the government media has espoused development journalism, while the private media claimed to exercise watchdog journalism with all its challenges. At last, it was found out that since the practice of the Western model of journalism was not compatible to our situation, development journalism seems to be the available option that works in our condition. Moreover, it was also shown that watchdog journalism has a part to play in the realm of development journalism. Furthermore, it was suggested that the practice of watchdog journalism needs a redefinition in our context.