Analysis on Media Framing of Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia (From April 2-October 2, 2018): The Ethiopian Herald and the Reporter Newspapers in Focus
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Date
2019-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Conflict is as old as human history. It is a clash of ideas resulted from the presence of incompatibility of beliefs, ideas, values, wants and goals of people. This definition shows that the presence of incompatibility is the cause of conflict. Ethiopia has been experiencing the most widespread and worst ethnic conflicts after the coming of Abiy Ahmed into power. This was really a tragedy for Ethiopians. The purpose of this study is to assess how the two print media namely, The Ethiopian Herald and The Reporter newspapers, frame the ethnic conflicts that occurred from April 2, 2018- October 2, 2018. These newspapers were deliberately selected since they are well known and interested in dealing with critical issues and current affairs. These newspapers are from government and private print media. The English version of the newspapers was selected, because this avoids ambiguity during translation of its Amharic version. Similarly, the period was intentionally chosen because there were several ethnic conflicts during that particular period. Media were also allowed to cover issues freely. To meet the main objectives of the research, four main research questions were set. These are: what were the data sources for The Ethiopian Herald and The Reporter newspapers during covering ethnic conflicts? What are the frames of The Ethiopian Herald and The Reporter newspapers used during covering ethnic conflicts? How do The Ethiopian Herald and The Reporter newspapers cover causes and consequences of ethnic conflict issues during the study period? Why The Ethiopian Herald and The Reporter newspapers choose to use these types of frames in ethnic conflicts? The research used textual analysis and interview to answer the questions. The research has found the following findings: four frames: the annihilation, the attribution of responsibility, incapability of government officials and law and order, crime and justice are identified in the study. Government offices were highly used as sources by The Ethiopian Herald. The Reporter mostly uses victims, government officials and academics so as to cross-check the credibility of the source. The sources influenced the selected newspapers to frame the stories the way identified above. It also influences the newspapers to cover mostly the consequences ignoring the root causes of the ethnic conflict. The research also identified that the ownership and political ideology of the media has an impact in covering ethnic conflicts.
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Journalisme