An Exploratory Study on News Sources Use in Case of Amharic Private Newspapers
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The first duty of the press is to obtain the earliest information and to provide the public with
trustworthy events which are timely and instantly. News is the major genre of newspaper,
where its name and its readability, derives. News making is possible through news sources.
Often times regarding news making, who said what become more important than what was
said or the maker of the news is more important than the news itself. One the major news
related challenges today are the issue of credibility. People who are interested in news from
newspapers are in search of what is accurate and reliable. For this reason, Exploring news
sources use in case of private Amharic newspapers attempts to highlight how far journalists
cross check or verify the sources of information for being credible and the study also
identifies the types of sources used. These things alone cannot determine the incompetence of
journalistic practices since news that reach to the readers has been decided long before. As a
result, the study assesses factors which influence news sources use. The study uses gate
keeping and social responsibility theories as supportive ideas. In the process, the study
selects the same numbers of news from all newspapers using simple random sampling
techniques so as to quantify and check how journalists verify sources of information and to
identify the types of news sources used. Interviews are made with reporters and editors as a
means of assessing the factors that influence the news sources use.
The study has the following findings: that are; the private newspapers have limitation in
cross checking or verification of information and they frequently use organizations as a
sources of information which is on form of veiled attribution. Finally, ownership, lack of
resources, the nature of environment out the newsroom and frustration of legal restrictions
are factors which influence news sources use.
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Keywords
Amharic Private Newspapers