Ethiopian Media Coverage of the South Sudan Conflict;-The Case of the Ethiopian Herald, Fortune and Reporter
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Date
2015-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The ma in aim of t hi s study was to exa mine how the Ethi opi an Media covered the South Sudan
conflict in the stud y period. In order to undertake the assignment, framing theory was employed.
The stud y was cond ucted on t hree Eng li s h newspapers : th e Ethiopian Herald, Fortu ne and the
Repo rter. A fo ur- m onth data was taken from each newspaper. Quantitative content a nalysis ,
Textua l a nalysis and in-d epth in terv iew were the teclmiques used. Quantitative content analys is
and qualitative Textual ana lysis were applied to inves ti gate how the iss ue of South Sudan was
framed in the newspape rs a nd to identify whi ch frame types were used. In-d epth interview was
conducted to support the re sults found from the two me thods.
The st ud y re ve als t hat the conflict frame was the domina nt frame used by Fortune and The
Repo rter. A nd th e next frame was the attribution of responsibility frame which was the dominant
fiĀ·ame for The Eth iopian Herald. Co nfli ct and human interest frames were the common fram es
used by the three papers. The Ethiopian Herald and fortune showed simil arit y in using
Attribution of re s ponsibility frame. For th e two newspapers the e lites from the ri valry groups are
re spons ible for the ca use of the confl ict and also to brin g about so lu tion. different to the two
newspapers, for The Reporter, Ethi op ia is more responsible in bringing peace because of the
prox imit y it ha s w ith so uth Suda n and also in defending herself from the contagious nature of
th e confl ict. The contingency fram e was found only in The Reporter's coverage to s how that the
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conflict may spillover to Ethiopia, Unlike the Reporter, The Ethiopian Herald and Fortune
preferred to say noth ing though aware of it. And also the economic frame was found only in
Fortune which is business focused newspaper.
In using news sources, it was found that Fortune was highly dependent on international media
sources. While, The Reporter tried to use different sources in a balanced way. On the other side,
almost all the stories in The Ethiopian Herald were event based whi ch coated the officials'
speeches at the events and reports from different organizations. In the case of Ethiopian Herald,
The study also prevails how ownership matters in delivering information on time. Based on the
finding, some recommendations were forwarded.
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Keywords
Ethiopian Media Coverage, South Sudan Conflic, Ethiopian Herald