Media Coverage of Human Rights Abuse in Oromia Region, Arsi Zone:
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Date
2022-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study aimed to assess the media coverage of human rights abuses in Oromia Region, Arsi zone by considering two major state and non-state-owned television channels, ETV & Esat TV, between June 30 - July 15, 2020. It tries to answer the question of how the media covers human right abuses, the challenges journalists face, how their values and priorities influences reports and what the causes of the Arsi zone human right abuses were in the first place. It employed a mixed methods approach using data from primary and secondary data sources. To collect quantitative and qualitative data, a questionnaire was distributed to randomly selected Adamitulu, zeway,& shashemene residents who watch ETV or Esat. For the secondary data, program data from two TV stations were analyzed in terms of the abuses that occurred during the specified period. Findings of the study showed that Esat Eletawi focused on the human rights violations that occurred, while ETV Wektawi focused on Hachallu's death and the government's response. Quantitative scoring of viewers on a 4.0 scale showed that viewers believe the production of each media is unbiased, and ETV scored 1.89 while Esat scored 3.06.The productions examined revealed that Esat's reports included various perspectives in the form of interviews. ESAT dispatched journalists to the areas where the abuses occurred and their productions were primarily focused on the victims by questioning respective bodies about why they had done so little to mitigate the situation. In general, it is agreed that the non-state media Esat, in its Eletawi program has reported human rights abuses far better than the state-owned ETV, during the research timeline.
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Human Rights Abuses,ETV & Esat TV