Media Framing of Violence Against Children in Ethiopia: The Case of the Children's Program of Ethiopia Radio
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Date
2009-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Violence against Children is a social problem that is very prominent in Ethiopia and
is affecting children everyday. The study was conducted based on the premise that
the media has a role to transmit relevant information in order to curb social
problems such as violence against children. The study also highlighting the
importance of frames in determining the understanding of the audience had used
the framing conceptual framework. The media chosen for this study was the
Ethiopia radio children's program, "From the world of Children". Focus was on the
coverage of the programs broadcasted on Violence against Children for three
consecutive years that is, 2007ยท2009. Six dominant frames were used as reference
to study the types of frames used by the children's program. These were: The
Economic Frame, The Conflict Frame, The powerlessness frame, The Human
Impact Frame, The Morality Frame and the Attribution of Responsibility frame.
The research hence found that in covering violence against children the
Powerlessness, the Attribution of Responsibility and the Conflict frames were the
most prominently used frames. The study further found that major factors that
affected the coverage of programs on violence against children were editor's
conscious decision; lack of awareness of editors, producers an d journalists on the
subject; sensitivity of the issue and lack of appropriate age classification as target
group. The research finally gives a conclusion and recommendations for further
studies in the area of violence against children and framing in general.
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Keywords
Media Framing of Violence Against, Children in Ethiopia