Analyzing the Role of Citizen Journalism in Advancing Ethiopia’s National Interests and Shared Vision: The Case Study of ‘Ye'Abayi Niguswochi’

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2024-05

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This paper presents the significant impact of citizen journalism in advancing national interests and fostering shared values needs to be embraced about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) among Nile riparian states, as a vital infrastructure for sustainable development of the region. The paper examines how Citizen Journalist, especially Ye'Abayi Niguswochi or otherwise known as Kings of Abbaye, setting a profound Media discourses and narratives affecting the Hydro-politics of the region and world as a whole. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are utilized to gain meaningful perspectives on the subjects through the lens of Social Responsibility Theory. The study enfolded on quantitative data selecting 500 productions randomly and classifying in thematic areas, conducting a survey for 72 new media consumers, and an interview directed to Ye‟Abayi Nigusowchi (YAN) founder, Usthaz Jemal Beshir, are incorporated as a qualitative method to examine how citizen journalism is becoming an increasingly important alternative medium to advance national interests and foster a shared values. The Method triangulated these three approaches to find reliable results that could contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of citizen journalism in today's media landscape. Testing Inter-code dependability, and reliability coefficient formulas that yielded a result 0.896 which showed significant agreement with theoretical predictions that proves YAN dispositions has been socially responsible in advancing national interests of Ethiopia. The work presented here has profound implications on the future studies on flourishing opportunities and challenges of Citizen Journalism, and the New Media realms.

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Citizen Journalism

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