Assessing Media Accessibility for Deaf Community:-The Case of Addis Media Network Television Program.
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Date
2022-08
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The number of deaf people in Ethiopia roughly estimated that up to 1 million persons with hearing impairment live across the country (as cited Wakuma, 2015,p.17). Therefore, this researcher believes that Media presentation has tremendous power in shaping society’s perception of any community, especially the hard of hearing and the deaf community.
Therefore, having more than one million deaf people in the country and observing media inaccessibility lead the researcher to identify the challenges in Addis Media Network Television programs accessibility to deaf. The ultimate objective of this research is to assess program of Addis Media Network television program`s Accessibility for Deaf Community. For the research, a qualitative research methodology had used. As result, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with journalists and deaf people conducted, and the researcher used a program guideline checklist to evaluate the accessibility of the AMN program for deaf people. The results show that 50 percent of news programs on television are partially accessible. Of those sample programs, 50 percent of AMN's regular programs (documentaries, current affairs, and so forth) are not completely accessible to deaf people. AMN journalist’s reporters and producers have participated in-depth interview have no or little knowledge about deaf people and how to make television message accessible them. Absence of proper awareness is the main problems to mark television message accessible for deaf people in AMN. Except for the newsroom, there is no responsiveness provided to deaf individuals to make television program accessible in AMN TV. According to the findings, the researcher suggests that journalists take the following actions: raising awareness of closed captioning and assisting the hearing impaired in obtaining digital television; developing an obligatory legal framework of laws; and revising AMN editorial policy to make television news messages accessible to the deaf.
Key word: - Deaf Sign language Disability Accessibility Media.
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Keywords
Deaf Sign language Disability Accessibility Media