Assessing the Coverage of Science and Technology news in Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation: The Case of FM Addis 97.1 ‘Addis Mereja’ Daily News Prime Time
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Date
2021-07
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AAU
Abstract
The main objective of this research was to assess the coverage of science and technology issues in FM Addis 97.1, particularly on „Addis Mereja‟ daily news prime time. For avoiding the inherent weakens of the individual
methods, the researcher used a mixed methodology; quantitative and qualitative. Content analysis and in-depth interviews were used as data
collection methods using the purposive sampling technique; to get an in-depth understanding of the issue from the appropriate source of information. The finding showed that FM Addis 97.1 gives less attention to Science and Technology news compared with others. The result of the content analysis indicated that only 3.63% of news was science and technology issues;
out of 2,202 from December 1, 2018, up to May 30, 2019; on the other hand, national and international current affairs (36.7%) and sport (28.2%) obtained high coverage. The result of the in-depth interview also indicated that FM Addis 97.1 was not covering science and technology news
adequately because the station was not allocated enough time, and was not
done in the required detail. In general, the results confirmed that science and technology news was given less coverage by FM Addis 97.1. The origins of most science and technology news were foreign 83.75%, and only 16.25% found to be local. The finding of the in-depth interview also showed that most of the news was of foreign origin because there was limited access to science and technology information at local. The knowledge of FM Addis 97.1 journalists in science and technology was less. Also, the station lacks vibrant media policy, strategy, and guidelines to cover science and technology news. The media's weak relation with scientists and science organizations was also the bottleneck problem for science and technology news. Finally, the study recommended interested researchers use this study as a baseline to investigate the relationship between media and science and technology.
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FM Addis 97.1,Addis Mereja daily news