The Practice of Online Journalism: The Case of the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) Website News
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Date
2014-11
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The innovation of the Internet, among others, has brought about a paradigm shift in the way
journalism has been practiced and consumed for ages. The introduction of the World Wide Web
in the early 1990s has enabled journali sm to go online, something that has minimized the control
of producers over content and capacitated the audience/users. The Ethiopian Broadcasting
Corporation (EBC), formerly known as the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA), is
one of the major media houses in Ethiop ia that has gone online in 2009 side by side with its
operation in radio and television.
This study has attempted to find out what the practice and presentation of EBC's Webs ite news
looked like, particu larly in terms of employing the key features of online news: interactivity,
hypertext and multimedia. Informed by the network theory, the study employed a qualitative
approach: document analysis, in-depth interview and observation were used as data collection
tools. A two-week news of EBC's Website was analyzed to find out whether and how those key
features were utilized. The familiarity of the journalists and editors working on EBC's Website,
Amharic version, with those key features of onl ine journalism was also probed through in-depth
interviews.
The finding indicates that EBC's Website was not interactive at the time of the study. The
journalists were also not accustomed to the use of hypertext. Among the multimedia formats,
video and still pictures were the only ones employed but with their own limitations. The study
also shows that journalists currently working on EBC's Website lack the necessary training in
online journalism. Based on the findings, some pertinent recommendations were made for
improving the practice and presentation of on line journalism in EBC's Website in particular and
in other similar web based journalism in general.
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Keywords
Online Journalism, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC)