A critical study of the treatment of public relations information in Ethiopian News
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Date
2006-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Government public relations in Ethiopia have been strengthened over the past three years.
The Ministry of Information has repeatedly underlined that the role of public relations in
informing the public through the media must be strong and sustainable. One can easily
see the contribution of public relations in the daily news-making process when reading or
listening to news.
For several governmental and non-governmental organizations, the primary role
of public relations is to promote the activities of the organization. The media on the other
hand are expected to use diverse sources in order to present different sides of the story.
This typically leads to a tense relationship between journalists and public relations
officers.
Nonetheless, there is a symbiotic relationship between the two professions (media
and public relations). Public relations need the media as a channel to broadcast its
message, while the media need public relations to get access to source material.
This research has interrogated two issues. The first is the extent to which
journalists in Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) use public relations information, and the
second is what impact the relationship between ENA and public relations offices has in
the news-making process. The research has used qualitative methods by means of data
analysis, in-depth interviews as well as database material analysis.
The study shows that ENA do not consult other sources to crosscheck the
information it receives from governmental public relations.
The study shows that the relationship between ENA journalists and public
relations officers is a protective one because ENA journalists do not crosscheck the
information they receive from the latter and public relations departments are almost the
only way to access government information. The research also identified internal and
external factors as reasons for the failure to crosscheck public relations information.
Journalists cited lack of professionalism; trust in public relations; deadline
pressure; competition; and amount of news expected as internal factors that impede to
crosscheck public relations information.
Journalists being powerless; geographical distance and poor infrastructure; public
relations ‘dictatorship’ and gender issues were identified by journalists as external factors
that hold back the critical investigation of public relations information.
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Keywords
treatment of public relations