An Investigation of the Practice of Journalism in Ethiopian Television

Abstract

The main focus of this study was to investigate the practice of journalism in Ethiopian Television (ETV). The study assessed how journalists in ETV see the discrepancies between journalism and public relations and the impact of public relations on the real practice of journalism. It was the main objective of this study to investigate the factors that affect news and source selection in the media institution. Data was collected using qualitative and quantitative content analysis as well as in-depth interview. A total of 147 news stories ETV broadcast were selected purposely from the first two weeks of three months news stories (December, 2012 up to February, 2013). The findings of the study showed that most of the news was event and development oriented. As a result, very few news stories were critical of the government and most news dealt with success stories. The selected news stories revealed that most of the news stories were presented not from the public interest point of view, but from the government interest view. The study further revealed that ETV’s journalists were cognizant of the differences between journalism and public relations. However, due to the lack of journalistic independence in the media, journalists were coerced to select news and sources which served government interest. Journalists were influenced to report the positive sides of government and conceal the wrong doings of government officials. The findings of the study also indicated that ETV’s use of public relations professionals as one of their sources of news tainted the real practice of journalism. Overall, the study concluded that the principles of journalism, like; the obligation to the truth and loyalty to citizens were, not portrayed in ETV. Rather the media served as the major rhetorical tool for the government. Therefore, ETV may be advised to look into these and other principles to produce news and to maintain credibility in front of public.

Keywords: Journalism, Practice, Public relations and Media