State and Private Broadcast Media Ownership and its Effect on Media Freedom in Ethiopia
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Date
2011
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abstract
The growth of broadcast media industry in Ethiopia over the past decade has presumably had a significant impact on public interest to seek and receive information through media. In this connection, this study examines the role of broadcast media in promoting freedom of expression and how media space and discourses are shaped by the types of media ownership in practice. Diversity of idea forms the foundation for democratic participation, control, and the shaping of public opinion in modern societies. The media is a major vehicle for the expression of diverse views, passions and ideas in a given society. This research compares the way private and State owned broadcast media in Ethiopia carryout information acquisition, storage, retrieval, interpretation and dissemination in order to entertain diverse idea and practice media freedom. Media freedom assists people to make informed decisions and facilitate democracy. In this context, media freedom becomes an issue without which it is impossible to advance and protect other human rights. Therefore, professionalism among journalists and editors and quality in sources of information are vital to the defense of human rights for all. Otherwise, media owners including the government, advertises and gatekeepers would be engaged in self-promotion and institutionalizing propaganda by having only a single source of information against journalistic ethics. This thesis explores the extent to which the State and privately owned media in Ethiopia comply with conventional ethical standards of journalism. The findings of study demonstrate that the private press in Ethiopia strives to make profit, and State owned media fundamentally serves government’s interest. Thus multiplicity of ideas will not flow from diversity of ownership since all the ownerships are captives of their own interest. This study contends that freedom of the media will have little meaning if citizens cannot make use of it and be part of the agenda setting process regardless of its ownership. Therefore, the responsibility of facilitating forum for the society to enjoy media freedom belongs to the governmentally and privately owned media that serves as a means for dialogue and acquisition of knowledge.
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Private Broadcast Media Ownership