Journalism and Communication
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Problématique de la production écrite chez les élèves de seconde au Lycée Guèbre Mariam d'Addis-Abeba(Addis Ababa University, 2026-04-30) Gebre Elias; Yohannes BeyeneThe study aimed to identify the difficulties encountered by second-year students at Lycée Guèbre Mariam in Addis Ababa in terms of written production. The study sample consisted of students from the secondary school during the 2016 academic year. The study was conducted with 20 students, using a written production test to collect data. In addition to the tests conducted with the students, questionnaires were administered to the teachers of the second-year class at Lycée Guèbre Mariam to obtain more reliable results. The conclusions of the study highlighted significant difficulties encountered by students in the area of written production in French as a foreign language. Specifically, students showed difficulties in generating ideas, structuring them logically, choosing appropriate words, as well as frequent errors in spelling and grammar, in addition to a lack of confidence. This study, based on the analysis of researchers' theories and the corpus of students in the French language, involved questionnaires aimed at teachers of the second-year class at Lycée Guèbre Mariam. The results allowed the researcher to make suggestions to overcome the obstacles encountered in learning written production in French as a foreign language. The recommendations from this study aim to improve and expand students' written production skills by developing their writing techniques and strategies in French as a foreign language. Suggestions include increasing writing practice, improving vocabulary, receiving feedback and support from teachers, learning planning and organizational techniques, as well as reading to enrich their knowledge and exposure to quality writing. Teacher comments were also taken into account, highlighting the challenges encountered by students and the factors that influence their writing performance. In response to these results, targeted interventions were recommended, including explicit instruction on writing techniques, creating a learning environment conducive to writing practice, and a communicative approach to strengthen the written production skills of second-year students.Item Assessment of Awareness Raising Efforts by Addis Ababa City Administration Traffic Management Agency to Reduce Road Traffic Crashes(Addis Ababa University, 2021-11-01) Elia Tesfaye; Solomon Gbebre-GhiorgbisRoad traffic crash has been a horrific and devastating life situation every single day. In Addis Ababa on average one person loses his/her life per day or 480 people die per year on the roads. The research is conducted to assess the awareness raising efforts by Addis Ababa City Administration Traffic Management Agency (AATMA) to reduce road traffic crashes. To meet the objective of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used. A questionnaire was administered to 141 respondents. In addition, in- depth interviews and a focus group discussion session were held with participants from AATMA. Qualitative data was presented by descriptive narration and the quantitative one was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and presented in the form of table and chart. The findings of the study showed that the road safety awareness raising efforts of the Agency include among other things offering awareness-raising education mostly in a planned and organized way, preparing contents that address the behavioral and ethical problems of road users, working with education sec/or to include road safety and traffic management system in the curriculum, working at grass roots level i.e. having specialized and scheduled awareness creation plan at public gatherings, utilizing media to educate or inform the public despite some constraints. Hence, the findings of the study revealed that the awareness-raising efforts played key role for the reduction of road traffic crashes. The study shows that such decline is due to a combined effort of the three interventions of the Agency: education, enforcement and engineering though the Agency gives first priority to engineering. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher suggests possible recommendations for the problem. These include media are believed to be key strategy and upper hand of awareness-raising strategies. The finding of this study revealed that due to budget constraints and harsh financial rules, the Agency is not fully utilizing the electronic media. To conduct up-to-date and better road safety awareness-raising programs using the media, the City Administration has to allocate suffiCient budget for awareness-raising programs. The upper management of the Agency has fo remain engaged in lobbying media houses and other concerned bodies to largely discount road safety program costs as road safety issue is a common social responsibility. Eventually, the study gives some suggestions for further research.Item Analysis of Newsroom Management: The Case of Etv News Channel(Addis Ababa University, 2021-06-01) Mekdes Tilahun; Teshager ShiferawThis study entitled Analysis o newsroom management: the case of ETV news channel, gives analysis on how ETV newsroom operates. Thus the aim of this paper is to examine ETV news channel newsroom management and analyze of the relationship between newsroom management and the final output of news. Qualitative research paradigm has been used as a method of study. Since qualitative research is deemed appropriate to examining words and ideas and as it is helpful to explain complex social phenomena. Accordingly, in-depth interviews, document review and participant observations were conducted. The interviewees were selected purposefully with the intent to engage both genders and all job categories. Moreover, both active and passive participants of the newsroom were also included based on the researcher's observation. Overall, the researcher conducted the in-depth interview with 10 members of the newsroom including two top managers. The other respondents include three reporters with titles from reporter one to three, four editors and deputy executive editor in-chefs and one news presenter. From these, three of them are female. Each of the interviewee was given an average time of 50 minutes. Being colleague to all the interviewees has in many ways benefited the researcher in the course of the in-depth interviews. The respondents shared their ideas freely and in a friendly manner which enabled the researcher to ask many follow-up questions. Data were also gathered through participatory observation. The researcher noted a single day of the newsroom activity. Starting from the morning editorial conference to the night ETV 57 news show. Issues regarding the newsroom wrote on EBC editorial and content reform document used as data for this research. The major finding oj the study indicated that the overall system of the management has an impact on the output oj the news channel. Problems in the newsroom started from the government, not the management. There is a huge intervention by the government but not in a formal way. Informal interventions break the system, content, and format of ETV news. On the other major finding of the study. the transition time can take as an example of working with existing infrastructure and show the capacity of managers and journalists at the station. The "transition"time of government gives freedom to the newsroom. The newsroom was working professionally. Bing free from government and government officials' interference has a contribution to the effectiveness of the newsroom. Based on the analysis, the limited number of editors in the newsroom and the incompetence of the existing ones have affected the work. The fact that income and financial capacity are equally important to content has put a strain on the operation of the newsroom.Item The Credibility of ESAT News as Perceived by Some Civil Servants in Addis Ababa(Addis Ababa University, 2021-06-01) Kibru Mare; Getachew DinkuThe purpose of this study was to understand how audiences perceived the credibility of ESAT Amharic television news broadcast between March 2018 (when Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed look over office) and the time of data collection for this study (April, 2022). Both qualita/ive and quanitative approach employed. Out of 350 respondents, 1-40 were chosen for questioning and 10 were chosen for interviews by the convenience sample method from the federal urban job creation and food security agency and the Addis Abeba Road and Transport Bureau. According to the data analyzed in this study, 71% of respondents believed that the media reports trustworthy news and 64% of respondents also believed the media have skilled competence. ESAT news reliability was also investigated in terms of message, and sources; 54% of respondents believed ESAT's messages and sources during the study period were sometimes reliable. Similarly 39% of them responded the media was usually credible. According to the findings, journalist source selection, media political stance, and coverage of sensitive issues are all factors that influenced, message, and source credibility. According to the result of cross tabulation of variables, religion did not appear to influence audience perceptions of ESAT news believability. On the other hand, we can infer that the viewers' political affiliation, age, educational status, and sex were the most important factors influencing their perception of the credibility of ESAT news. As its slogan suggests, serving as the public'S eyes and ears and attract more viewers the media should avoid using sources with undisclosed names and identities. News reporting on ethnic or religious issues must be handled with caution; otherwise, it could have negative implications and damage the media's credibility.Item Press Freedom Challenges and Opportunities of Accessing Public Information in Selected Ethiopian Commercial Media(Addis Ababa University, 2025-10-20) Tesfaye Solomon; Mekuria MekashaThis study examines the challenges and prospects of access to public information and press freedom in the private commercial print media in Ethiopia. The fundamental goal is to assess the state of media independence, legal limitation, and explore avenues for enhancing press autonomy. Employing a mixed-methods research strategy where 22 questionnaires administered for three prominent media outlets Capital, Fortune, and Reporter with consolidating qualitative interviews and media practice content analysis. The findings depict the existence of negative perception of media freedom due to censorship by the government, legal ambiguity, resource shortages, and cultural factors. The advent of digital transformation initiatives and legal tools brought potential avenues to promoting media freedom. The study contemplates that it is essential to correct systemic problems through legal amendments, capacity building, and cultural transformation in an effort to encourage an independent and responsible media. The study recommends reforming the media laws, establishing independent regulatory bodies, enhancing journalists' professional competence, and boosting media literacy among the citizens as a condition to democratic progress.Item Survey on ETV News Channel’s Conflict Reporting: In the case of Tigray Conflict.(Addis Ababa University, 2024-07-20) Metasebia Dereje; Samson MekonnenThis research is conducted to assess the portrayal of Tigray conflict on ETV.The Tigray conflict which is also known as the north conflict has lasted two years. During this time, people usually watch news for further information about the situation and Medias, specially the public ones has given wide coverage day and night. ETV as a national media has committed itself in reporting the conflict from the studio and from the places where the conflict were active. The research questions have focused on how ETV portrayed the root cause of the conflict, how ETV covered the incident in regard to professional discipline and its psychological impact on reporters who engaged in the conflict reporting. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches are applied here to conduct the research. Among reporters in ETV, 20 respondents who reported the incident and 3 interviewees who are in a different position to give directions to reporters are included. In addition, some sample news productions are also analyzed. The research is guided by framing theory and social responsibility theory. For the findings identified by the research, conclusion and recommendations are also included.Item Evaluating the practice of PR in customer compliant handling: The Case of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia”(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-10) Behailu Eyosyas; Amanuel AbdissaThis study examines the effectiveness of Public Relations (PR) work in handling customers' complaints in the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) case. With an awareness of the significance of customer satisfaction as a key driver of banks sector success, the study aims to investigate complaint management practices, identify areas where improvement can be made, and examine the role of PR in the development of a good customer relationship and organization's reputation. Using mixed-methods, 141 bank customers were surveyed with structured questionnaires and employees and stakeholders with key informant interviews. Quantitative testing using SPSS showed moderate perceptions of efficiency in complaint management and handling with substantial variation allowing for improvement. The study illustrates technological integration and responsiveness is significantly perceived to be favorable, yet the remaining areas within the clarity of communication, speed of response, and transparency of process. The study identifies the strategic importance of PR in managing customer perception, crises’ reputation management, and building trust. The recommendations are for incorporating new technology tools, standardizing complaint procedure, augmenting staff training in empathetic communication, and incorporating mechanisms of continuous feedback. The research contributes in building the overall knowledge regarding service quality improvement in developing economies and offers practical implications for bank organizations that seek to strengthen customer loyalty through effective public relations and complaint handling practices.Item Public Perception of Branding Strategies Implemented by the Addis Ababa City Administration, Ethiopia(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-10) Siymay Girmay; Abdisa ZeraiIn the 21st century, cities compete not only for economic growth but also for reputation, identity, and global recognition. City branding has emerged as a strategic tool to craft a distinctive urban image and stimulate socio-economic development. This study critically examines the public perception of branding strategies implemented by the Addis Ababa City Administration in Ethiopia, a rapidly urbanizing African capital. Despite the city's efforts in beautification, infrastructural investment, and promotional campaigns aimed at repositioning its global image, there is limited empirical evidence evaluating how these strategies are perceived by the public and how well they align with community values, civic pride, and urban identity. Grounded in stakeholder theory, participatory governance, and place identity frameworks, this research adopts a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative survey data from 194 administrative officials and qualitative interviews. The study assesses public awareness levels, the alignment of branding messages with community expectations, and the perceived impacts on city image, pride, and trust in local governance. Key findings indicate that while branding initiatives have enhanced Addis Ababa's visibility, challenges remain in ensuring inclusivity, cultural representation, and coherence between administrative intent and citizen experience. The analysis reveals a gap between top-down strategy formulation and grassroots engagement, with public perception influenced by factors such as transparency, message consistency, and sociopolitical dynamics. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for more participatory and adaptive branding approaches that reflect the city’s diverse cultural heritage and evolving socioeconomic landscape. The implications of the findings are significant for urban policymakers, communication strategists, and branding practitioners seeking to foster sustainable, inclusive, and authentic city identities. This research contributes to the growing body of African urban branding literature and offers a contextualized model for understanding the dynamics between administrative branding efforts and public sentiment in emerging urban centers.Item Digital Marketing Public Relations in Ethio-Telecom: A Case Study(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-30) Misganaw Asnake; Elias WorkuThe study is conducted mainly to assess effectiveness of digital marketing strategies in EthioTelecom’s public relations effort to enhance customer engagement through platforms such as Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and the company website. The study employed a mixed methods approach, qualitative data were gathered through interviews with three managers at Ethio-Telecom headquarters directly involved in digital marketing, PR and digital media platforms while quantitative data were collected via a survey of 364 customers using Google Forms and analyzed with SPSS. Findings revealed that Ethio-Telecom actively leverages multiple digital marketing and PR channels to promote its services, products and strengthen communication with existing and potential customers, as well as to connect with the external market environment. Despite the benefits of digital media, challenges such as fraud, technological barriers, misinformation, trust issues, cyber-attacks, and increased competition present risks to the company’s operations. The study recommends that Ethio-Telecom implement a robust digital security framework supported by skilled cyber security professionals to manage digital risks effectively. This approach will help safeguard the company’s digital presence while maximizing the advantages of digital marketing.Item Evaluating External Communication: A Case Study of Ethiopian Athletics Federation with Selected Stakeholders: A Case Study of Paris Olympic(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-20) Tamrat Abera; Teshager ShiferawThis research paper Evaluate external communication performance of Ethiopian Athletics Federation with selected stakeholders for last two Years. The study integrates data from EAF resource Mobilizing and communication department, selected athletes and coaches, some sport journalists, Ethiopian Athletics Federation Executive board former members and selected regional Athletics Federation representatives. Based on the data that collected from the stakeholders; the analysis done on the performance of EAF external communication in last two years. This research analyzed by using mixed (Qualitative and quantitative) research design. EAF tools of communication, the methods of communication, Challenges that faced Ethiopian Athletics Federation are illustrated. Out of 37 respondent 35; almost 95% prevailed Face book Social media plat forms and the remaining two preferred Telegram plat forms. The study identifies challenges such as lack of materials, shortage of Professionals, negative attitude towards External communication, lack of Human resources, intention of disobeying rules and regulation of Ethiopian Athlete and Coach selection scales, lack of need to improve external communication appearance and other date are stated on the research. The research also acknowledges the positive decision on Changing to external communication performance for the feature of Ethiopian Athletics Federation on the area of External communication with stakeholders. The findings of the research show that EAF’s Resource mobilizing and communication department last two Years external communication performance is poor. In order to solve such weakness, revising its strategies, minimize its conflict with stakeholders, willing to adapt change and ready to accept the public opinion, working corporately with other departments and federation’s stake holders, changing attitudes towards communication allocating modern media Facilitate and logistics to the department, Solving lack of budget and employed trained professionals, empower to exercise its power freely to maximize the performance of external communication and working with media are some of the recommendation of this research. In general the research reveals that EAF’s external communication practice against selected stakeholders (Athletes, Coaches, Medias and regional federation) is poor.Item Assessment of Market Penetration Communication Strategies for Electric Vehicles Assembled in Ethiopia: The Case of Belayneh Kindie Group Electric Vehicle Assembly Plant.(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-20) Goshu Melisew; Gashaye BelewThis study assesses the market penetration communication strategies employed by Belayneh Kindie Group (BKG) Metal Engineering Complex Assembly Plant; a domestic electric vehicle (EV) assembler, to enhance its market presence by promoting locally assembled EVs within Ethiopia’s emerging electric mobility sector. The research is motivated by Ethiopia’s push toward green transportation, supported by favourable policies and the country’s abundant renewable energy resources. Despite Ethiopia's policy incentives, including tax exemptions for local EV production, BKG faces significant challenges in driving consumer adoption, characterized by low awareness, infrastructural gaps, and high cost. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combined quantitative data from structured questionnaires (n=102) and qualitative insights from interviews with key stakeholders, including company officials, marketing experts, and government representatives. The research explored consumer awareness levels, perceptions, and the effectiveness of BKG’s communication tools and channels. Findings reveal that 71.6% of respondents possess only partial EV awareness, with social media (45.1%) and TV/radio (26.5%) serving as primary information sources, yet 76% report no engagement with BKG's digital campaigns. Main obstacles include high prices (43.9%), charging infrastructure gaps (20.9%), and concerns about battery life. While 86% of respondents view EVs as Ethiopia's transportation future, fragmented messaging and underutilized policy incentives hinder progress. Findings reveal that the need for integrated strategies: targeted digital campaigns leveraging influencers localized educational initiatives, and transparent cost-benefit communication. Policy recommendations emphasize expanding charging infrastructure through public-private partnerships and formalizing tax incentives. Theoretically, the study advances the “Diffusion of Innovations and Strategic Communication” frameworks in emerging markets, while practically offering a roadmap for BKG and policymakers to align communication, infrastructure, and affordability strategies, fostering Ethiopia's transition to sustainable mobility.Item Investigating the Dynamics of Dialogic Communication on Facebook: In the Context of SOS Children's Villages in Ethiopia(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-20) Beza Teklu; Samson MekonnenThe thesis investigated the dynamics of dialogic communication on Facebook in the context of SOS Children's Villages in Ethiopia. This thesis employed qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the dynamics of dialogic communication. A quantitative content analysis of Facebook posts was conducted using social media analytics tools to examine post frequency, engagement metrics, and response times. Qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis were also applied to categorise and interpret the content types found in the Facebook posts. Additionally, in-depth semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and content analysis of comments on selected Facebook posts provided further insights into the organisation's dialogic communication. This study examined the dialogic communication strategies of SOS Children's Villages in Ethiopia on Facebook, revealing a range of effective strategies that fostered community engagement and a sense of community among online stakeholders. Key findings include a significant increase in engagement metrics, alignment with the organisation's objectives and target audience, and a perceived positive impact on the organisation's reputation and ability to fulfil its mission. However, challenges such as managing comments, addressing linguistic and cultural diversity, and ensuring timely responses were also identified, providing opportunities for improvement. The study offers insights and recommendations for SOS Children's Villages and other nonprofit organisations operating in similar environments.Item An exploratory study on perceived impact of esat and EBC news framing influence on Addis Ababa residents(Addis Ababa University, 2024-08-10) Tsegalem Dagne; Yohannes ShiferawThe goal of this study is to pinpoint the influence of framing techniques of ESAT and EBC on the perception of Addis Ababa residents. The study attempts to explore the relationship between news framing techniques of the two media and the resulting public perception, it also identify news framing techniques on public perception among the audience of the two media houses, and factors influencing the framing techniques. In order to achieve the specific purpose both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used. To collect the essential data and information survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used. A questionnaire was used as scientific tool to collect data from 135 randomly selected respondents of 9 weredas among many weredas of Addis Ababa. And in –depth interview was also used to gather information from 5 purposively selected news room personnel of the two news organization. Selection of respondents was based on whether they consume news from ESAT and EBC.” Therefore 135 respondents were selected accordingly. The findings indicate that every respondent responded that news framing have influence on public perception and the difference is the degree. A lot of respondents stated that demographic characteristics and individual characteristics were the factors which affects public perception. Time constraints, editorial policy, and audience preferences were also found to be factors which affect news framing techniques in news room. And a lot of respondents stated negative thoughts were developed when they hear news from ESAT, whereas positive thoughts were developed when they hear news from EBC. The type of news framing technique used by ESAT found to be conflict framing and EBC’s found to be thematic framing. The researcher recommended not to expect scientific names or terms from respondents in order to find out the type of news framing techniques of any news media. Since news framing plays a great role, the taking care of news organizations also recommended.Item Analysis of Local Television Coverage of Religious Conflicts:The EOTC Case Infocus(Addis Ababa University, 2025-04-01) Biruk Askenaw; Yohannes ShiferawThis thesis examines how Ethiopian mainstream media have reported religious conflicts, with a focus on the recent division within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC). Specifically, it evaluates the reporting practices of Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), Asham Television, and Prime Television in terms of fairness, impartiality, factual accuracy, and professionalism. The study employed a mixed-methods research design, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data. A structured questionnaire was administered to 110 respondents across Addis Ababa, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 9 news room editors, media professionals and regulatory bodies. In addition, a content analysis news stories from the three media outlets was carried out. The findings indicate that a majority of the audience perceived the media coverage as inaccurate, biased, and lacking objectivity. Interviews and content analysis further revealed editorial limitations, insufficient access to information, political interference, and the sensitive nature of religious topics as key challenges to balanced reporting. The study concludes that the selected media outlets did not meet the expected journalistic standards in covering the EOTC incident, Ultimately, Ethiopian mainstream media have fallen short of their responsibility to inform the public fairly and professionally, and recommends systemic reforms to promote more inclusive, factual, and neutral reporting on religious matters. It recommends capacity-building for journalists, adherence to editorial guidelines, and greater transparency and inclusivity in reporting religious issues.Item Audience perceptions of OBN news shows Afan Oromo television in Oromia region: The case of Burayu and Holeta Cities.(Addis Ababa University, 2024-11-10) Gemechis Tariku; Getachew DinkuMedia theory has shifted focus to how audiences create meaning, emphasizing the importance of audience interpretation of media texts. This study aimed to explore how viewers in Buray and Holte perceive OBN television’s Afan Oromo news shows. The researcher employed a mixed-methods approach, beginning with quantitative data collection through a survey of 362 respondents, followed by qualitative data from open ended questions and in-depth interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS Version 23, while qualitative insights were gathered from purposefully selected participants. Findings indicated challenges in accessing Afan Oromo news on social media and highlighted a lack of accurate information in the broadcasts. The analysis revealed that OBN news primarily promotes government success, lacking diversity and failing to represent marginalized voices. This pointed to a positive bias towards the government and a deficiency in addressing social issues. Additionally, OBN’s reliance on audience input showed a significant gap in understanding audience satisfaction. The researcher recommends that OBN conduct regular audience research to better engage with the public and remain competitive in the media landscape.Item Corporate Rebranding: - An Internal Perspective from Ethiopian Electric(Addis Ababa University, 2025-06-10) Eleni Fekadu; Samson MekonenThis research aimed to assess corporate re-branding from an internal perspective, with a focus on the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU). The study employed a quantitative research approach to examine employee perceptions regarding internal communication, leadership support, and involvement in the re-branding process. Primary data was collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire. The target population consisted of 342 employees from three selected departments Marketing, Engineering, and Communication representing the broader workforce of 1,294 employees at the EEU head office. The sample size was determined using Yamane‘s (1967) sampling formula, resulting in a sample of 184 employees. After conducting validity and reliability tests (Cronbach‘s Alpha = 0.92), 182 completed questionnaires were returned and used for analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and the results were presented through tables, bar graphs, and pie charts. The findings revealed that employees were not involved in the re-branding process, and the institution did not provide them with meaningful opportunities to participate. The results also demonstrated that effective internal communication plays a critical role in ensuring successful rebranding. Furthermore, the study indicated that when employees are adequately informed and engaged through training and discussion forums, positive changes are more likely to occur. The research concludes that organizational re-branding efforts are more effective when employees are actively involved, as excluding them can lead to confusion among both employees and customers. Therefore, the study recommends that EEU prioritize employee involvement in future rebranding initiatives, particularly regarding changes to the organization‘s name, colors, and logo. These findings contribute to improving internal branding practices and offer practical recommendations for strengthening institutional reforms in public enterprises like EEU.Item Assessing the Organizational Structure of Ethiopian Airlines Group PR and Corporate Communications Department(Addis Ababa University, 2022-09-10) Ashenafi Zeray; Amanuel GebruThe aim of this paper is to look at the implementation of the organizational structure of the Ethiopian Airlines PR and Corporate Communications and it examines the causes of the overall challenges of the department structures, the decision-making process in the department, and the organizational communication of the Ethiopian Airlines PR and Corporate Communications. The qualitative research paradigm was used as a method of study. Accordingly, focus group discussions with two groups, in-depth interviews with four members of the department, and participant observations were conducted to explore employees' and management views on the operation of the organizational structure. The researcher found out that it is important to take the dominant coalition, classical and excellence theory of communication approach to organization as theoretical framework. The major findings of the study indicated that, although the organizational structures have been changed repeatedly; fundamental changes have not been achieved within the department. The structure creates a knowledge gap and external customer dissatisfaction, an unnecessary bureaucratic system of decision making, and not being represented in the organizational structure are among the main factors that affect the effectiveness of the department. There were also gaps revealed by the study like the place of PR in the organizational structure which affects the practices and the absence of public relations research in the department. Therefore, restructuring the organizational structure based on knowledge-based research, empowering the PR professionals, and updating all recent strategic information to the professionals were some of the recommendations madeItem The Practice of Media And Politics in Promoting Human Rights in Ethiopia: A Case Study on EBC(Addis Ababa University, 2024) Zelalem Kassahun Bizuneh; Agaredech JemanehThis study investigates the interplay between media performance, political communication, and the promotion of human rights in Ethiopia, with a specific focus on the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC). The primary objective is to assess how effectively the media serves as a platform for human rights advocacy and political accountability in a complex and often restrictive political environment. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining content analysis of selected EBC news broadcasts with survey data collected from journalists at EBC and university students as well as one-to-one conversations with audiences. The content analysis focused on media framing, thematic representation, brief analysis of constitution, and visual symbolism related to human rights, while the survey explored perceptions of media freedom, political expression, and media credibility. Findings reveal that EBC's coverage of human rights is limited and often shaped by government agendas, with journalists facing editorial restrictions and legal uncertainty. Students and journalists alike perceive the media as biased, cautious, and ineffective in holding power accountable. Additionally, the Ethiopian ―political‖ landscape is seen as confusing and inconsistent to human rights, further weakening the media's ability to contribute meaningfully to civic awareness and human rights discourse. The implications of this study are multifaceted. Practically, it highlights the urgent need to strengthen the editorial independence of public media institutions. Policy-wise, it suggests reforms to enhance legal protections for journalists and ensure institutional accountability. Theoretically, the study contributes to media performance theory by situating it within the context of authoritarian states where state media and political structures are deeply intertwined. The study recommends further research into the role of private and digital media in Ethiopia‘s human rights landscape, comparative studies across regions, and longitudinal analysis to track changes in media performance. Strengthening philosophy and civic education, promoting human rights journalism, and fostering institutional transparency are essential steps toward realizing the media‘s potential in safeguarding democratic principles and human rights.Item National Allegories in Selected Contemporary Anglophone African Novels (2005-2015)(Addis Ababa University, 2024-12-01) Alem Sitot Getaneh; Molla Feleke DestaNational allegories are important critical tools in the study of postcolonial literature. They serve to examine the themes and strategies of postcolonial literary writers. This study aimed to explore the socio-historical and cultural conditions of postcolonial African nations that received huge impacts from the aggression of colonialism and the spread of imperialism by interpreting novels that are written to reveal these impacts. It was also intended to investigate the visions of contemporary African literary writers about the future goals of the post-independent nations. To address these, the study designed a textual analysis approach. The novels were selected purposively based on the significant socio-historical backgrounds they reflect. Basically, the following generic criteria were used in the selection process: the prominence/influence of the writers in modern African literature, the novels’ recapturing of the African socio-political situations, the persistence of the writers in reflecting the situations, the periodic contemporaneity and the main Anglophone literature’s regional representations. There are also specific aspects that were used to identify the allegoricity of the novels. Some of these include: the parabolic nature of the novels, the presence of satire, the presence of elements of myths and symbols, the polarized views of the characters, and the inclusion of cultural and historical references in the novels. The novels were analyzed against the idea of national allegory by employing critical reading followed by analytical interpretations. Accordingly, the authors reflect the national cultures and traditions, histories and struggles of their respective countries in the novels. Ben Okri represents the Nigerian oral traditions and the history of its ancient kingdoms in his Starbook. Ngugi wa Thiong’o reveals the conditions of Kenyan culture and history in the post-independent period in his Wizard of the Crow. He also exposes the nature of the authoritarian regime in the country under the leadership of most probably Daniel Arap Moi. Zakes Mda depicts the socio-cultural and historical conditions of the amaMpondomise people in South Africa during the colonial aggression in his Little Suns. Particularly, he unveils the impacts of colonial war against the native community. Themes like loss, exile, love of culture and history, perseverance and resilience are significantly reflected. These authors use the novels to respond to the colonial narrative against the colonized subjects and histories, the patriarchal hegemony against women, the oppressions of the ruling class against the lower class, and the arrogance of an authoritarian regime. They also show the impacts of unity and division. They reflect the tension between the ethnic, cultural and social groups that resulted from the legacy of colonialism. Lastly, they indicate their future visions for the countries. They address themes of hope, regeneration, unity, perseverance and resilience, change and transformation. Importantly, building a unified national identity through mass mobilization and organization and regenerating the past socio-political complexities for the socio-historical transformations are among the keys forwarded as solutions for the persistence crises that Africans are languishing until today. Hence, examining African contemporary novels against the idea of national allegory helps to understand the trends of development in African literature thoroughly.Item Machine Learning Models for Amharic Clinical Chatbot(Addis Ababa University, 2024-12-01) Bezayt Yewondwossen ; Demeke AsresThis master’s thesis focuses on experimenting with and evaluating deep learning techniques alongside various classical machine learning models for the development of an Amharic chatbot. The models examined include decision trees, support vector machines, random forests, logistic regression, Naive Bayes, multi-layer perceptron , and Bi-LSTM. Additionally, the research aims to identify the most effective feature extraction method. The methodology encompasses data collection, preprocessing, feature extraction, model training, and evaluation, with accuracy serving as the primary performance metric. The results demonstrated that using TF-IDF with hyperparameters 'n_estimators': 100, 'min_samples_split': 2, the Random Forest, SVM, and Decision Tree models achieved an accuracy of 0.9286, while Naive Bayes and Logistic Regression had accuracies of 0.6964 and 0.7679, respectively. Using CountVectorizer with the same hyperparameters, the SVM, Naive Bayes, and Logistic Regression models achieved the highest accuracy of 0.9286. The Decision Tree model followed with an accuracy of 0.8929, while the Random Forest model had an accuracy of 0.8214. Precision, recall, and F1 scores were also evaluated, with SVM, Naive Bayes, and Logistic Regression models showing consistently high performance across these metrics. These findings suggest that the choice of feature extraction technique and hyperparameter tuning significantly impact the performance of certain models. Interestingly, the MLP Classifier model outperformed the other models when using the TF-IDF feature extraction technique, achieving an accuracy of 0.9643, In General, from the experiment, we observed that the Bi-LSTM model performance is lower than the other models.