Beyene, Zenebe (PhD)Hailu, Ashagre2021-03-312023-11-082021-03-312023-11-082014-12http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/25827The major purpose of this s tudy is to asse ss the hi sto ry and ro le of The Vo ice of Ameri ca (VOA) Amha ric service, one of the internationa l radio broadcasters to Ethio p ia. It a lso examines its relations h ip with th e d iffe re nt r egimes that rul ed the co untry du rin g it s three decade of broadcasti ng news a nd in fo rm a tion. T he st ud y is pure ly used a hi s toric al a ppro ach of th e qualitat ive m ethod and it empl oyed Edwa rd Herma n and Noa m Chomsky' s th e Political Eco nomy of the Mass Media as it s theoret ical fra m ework. Quali tative data was co ll ected f rom differen t printed or e lectro nic d ocuments and pe rso nal interviews w ith fonner a nd c urre nt emplo yees of th e VOA A mhari c se rvic e and o th er people who a re direct ly and ind irect ly famil iar w ith the service of the radi o station. VOA sta rt ed it s record ed broadcast on Radi o Ethiopia durin g the Imperi a l period but it d idn ' t last lo ng. Afte r th e mi lit ary re g im e turn ed it s face towards the soc ialist ca mp VOA began its Amharic br oadcast l ive from Was hin g ton DC in 198 2 to co unte r a nti- US pro paganda and to w in acceptance among the populatio n, a nd a ft e r the e nd of Cold War the need to continu e o r to e nd the Amh a ri c service was an iss ue amo ng VOA officia ls and US diplomats to Ethiopi a. But a lon gsi de the A mh a ri c serv ice VOA s tart ed add itiona l broadcast to Ethiopi a in Afan Oromo a nd Tigregna in 1996. The stu dy find o ut that VOA Amharic service se rved as an alte rn at ive source of info rmat ion, started o ther language broadcast as Ho rn of A fri ca se rvi ce, co nn ected th e Et hi op ian diaspor w ith ho me, served as a re liabl e so urc e of new s a nd information fo r th e pr iva te press, crea ted a fo ru m for ope n di scu ss io n among a nta go nisti c gro ups in the co untry a nd di as pora. B ut the Ethiopi an gove rn men t accused t he rad io broadcast play ing a negati ve rol e as a mouth pi ece of th e op pos ition. A nd most of th e t im e E thi opia n offi c ia ls we re no t w ill ing to spea k the ir s ide by p utt ing VOA Amhari c se rvice as bi ase d and un he lpful , engaged in des ta bi liz ing an d hate propaganda. T he gove rn ment a lso admi tt ed t hat it has tried to j a m t he broad cast in res ponse to it s c rit ic ism . The study recommended that rathe r than accusi ng and tryin g to take dow n VOA Amharic broadcast off a ir th e go ve rn ment s ho ul d feat ure it s sid e of an y sto ry to g ive the lis tene r a cha nc e to u nd ers tand it a nd mak ing d i ve rse an d bal anced info rmation ava il able to th e publi c thro ug h th e go ve rnment c ontro ll ed medi a . Further studi es are need ed to u nde rstand VOA ' s broadcast s to Ethi o pia mo re and thi s st ud y c an se rve as a sp ring boa rd fo r it.enAmerica(VOA)Amharic Radio BroadcasThesis