Prioritizing Issues in Newsmaking: The Case of Addis Zemen Newspaper.
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Date
2023-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examines the prioritization of newsworthy issues that significantly impact the lives of citizens in the state-controlled Addis Zemen newspaper. In light of the assumption that news media filters and shapes reality to align with the media's agenda, disregarding the interests of citizens, The study was based on a qualitative research method and used a phenomenology research design. The study use purposive sampling and the sample size was four participants namely two news editors and two senior news reporters, and 200 news contents were also selected intentionally from October to march to find news worthy issues since several news worthy events happened during that sample period. Data were collected using in-depth interviews and content observation and analysed using thematic analysis. The responses gathered from the participants and from observation of content of the news were subjected to qualitative analysis to ascertain the approach employed in prioritizing news in the Addis Zemen newspaper. The analysis reveals that newsworthy matters of citizens are not prioritized based on professional news prioritization criteria in in media literature. However, journalists in the newsroom typically prioritize news solely guided by the norm of reporting government achievements exclusively. Consequently, the study deduce that the Addis Zemen newspaper fails to prioritize public-interest issues that significantly impact the lives of citizens based on news value principles during news production. The findings of the newspaper's sample publication survey further substantiate the opinions of the respondents. Therefore, the board members of the Ethiopian Press Agency, Ethiopian media authority and members of the houses of people's representatives should ensure that the newspaper acts professionally and allows news reporters to operate independently guided solely by news value principles.
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Addis Zemen newspaper