Coverage of Corruption in the Ethiopian Print Media: The Ethiopian Herald. The Reporter, Fortune and Capital in focus.
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Date
2015-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Thi s study intends to look at the ro le of print media In the fight agai nst corruption In
Ethiopia by focusing on coverage.
Both quantitative and qualitative methodology were used to analyze the data. Content
analysis was employed as a main method. In depth interviews were also made wi th edi tors
and journalists of the newspapers. Agenda selling and social responsibi lity theories were
used as theoretical framework .
To gather the data for the content analysis, five month's editions of the fo ur newspapers
(The Ethiopian Herald, The Reporter, Fortune and Capital) spanning from May 13 ,20 13 to
September 13,2013 was taken as samples of the study. All corruption related stories found
were coll ected and content analyzed. The analysis was made based on the type, theme,
source and placement of stories. The data found from the interviews were used to back up
the anal ys is.
The result of the study reveals that all the newspapers gave considera ble coverage to
corruption issues. The newspapers coverage of corruption was dominated by news genre.
Most of the articles were informative rather than educative. Fraud was the leading form of
corruption themes. In terms of source used, even though there were differences among the
newspapers, law enforcement bodies served as their major sources of corruption stories.
Regarding placement, The Reporter was better in placing corruption related issues on its
front page than Capital, Fortune and The Ethiopian Herald. Based on the slUdy, a couple of
recommendations that might help to lessen the li mi tatio ns of the press are suggested.
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Keywords
Ethiopian Print Media, Coverage of Corruption