Perception of Journalists on the Restructuring of Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA) to Corporation And Its Effect an the Newsroom
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2016-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to assess the perception of journalists on the restructuring of ERTA to corporation and its effect on the newsroom.
To collect data, the study employed in-depth interview and questionnaire. Besides, purposive sampling was used to select the respondents of the study.
Accordingly, in-depth interviews have been conducted with six informants while 30 questionnaires were distributed to respondents. Furthermore, the designed questions were open-ended with the objectives of encouraging informants to talk. This enabled the researcher to ask for clarification. Narration was the main method of analyzing data generated by informants. The researcher also found out that it was important to take structural contingency approach as theoretical framework .
According to the discussions of findings, the journalists have positive perception on the restructuring. But they were not in denial that their attitude came with the financial independence of the corporation, where they perceived would be awarded with more salary and benefits. The findings further reveal that fundamental changes have not been achieved in the newsroom following the corporation structure. The findings also indicate that while slight improvements have emerged in terms of agenda setting , news presentation, the other journalistic practices of the newsroom have remained unchanged at all. Similarly, the journalists perceived that the restructuring also did not make any difference in the newsroom management . The study also revealed that the key impeding factors affecting the major objectives the restructuring are lack of commitment , inadequate training , evaluation and tendency to adopt to new organizational structure. Unnecessary bureaucratic system of decision making and less readiness and commitment of subordinates are also among the main factors facing the corporation.
Description
Keywords
Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency