Probing the Efficacy of the Professional JOURNALISTS’ Associations in Ethiopia within the Journalism Arena; Roles, Challenges, and Prospects

Abstract

This study explores the roles, prospects, challenges and responsibilities of today’s professional associations in developing, maintaining and sustaining the professionalism that underpins the profession of journalism. To do so and to generate pertinent data, the study employed individual in-depth interview, focus group discussion and quantitative data gathering tool known as questionnaire. Accordingly, in-depth interviews were made with professional journalistic associations’ leaders, editors and reporters. To inculcate the views and opinion of members and non-members of professional journalistic associations, questionnaires were dispatched. And finally group discussion with five professional journalists was carried out.

Upon the data collected and analyzed and the relevant literatures consulted the study showed that part of the roles of the professional journalistic associations include  the activities and processes that establish boundaries for the profession; stake the territory in which the profession operates; promote the profession, develop the prestige of the occupation through education, safeguard and protect the specialized knowledge of the field and certify its attainment, develop the standards and regulations by which the profession operates, preserve the integrity of the profession; and keep up with innovations, developments and knowledge which are effectively disseminated to members through communications, publications, conferences, seminars and training processes to support them in improving the services they provide.

The outcome of the study also showed that the associations do not have a well thought temporary and constant financial base plan, timely research based guidelines and publications for members, skill and knowledge dissemination schemes, lobbying and promotional plans, and well equipped and accountable leadership and managerial staffs. Hence the residual effect became weakening the association from inside out.

The changing nature of the profession and the evolving relationships between members and the associations is a consequence of the wide-ranging experience over recent years. Although not unique to the profession of journalism, interms of the ever changing technology the media is using. These dynamism have altered the fundamental nature of our profession in terms of how we network, communicate and how we maintain our knowledge and skills. Hence, professional journalistic associations need to go along with the dynamic nature of the profession.

The finding also revealed that there indeed is a Divisive, distrustful, and suspicious relationships between government and private media journalists due to differing political orientation and inclination and professional ideological disparity. And the discrepancy has contributed to weak and fragile professional associations hence, forums for discussion and professional debate should be arranged so that a chance can be created to arrive at a shared view