Competing journalistic roles in a state-controlled media society: The case of Ethiopia
The media in transitional societies reflect ambigious journalistic roles. On the one hand, journalists subscribe to globally acknowledged professional ideals such as autonomy and critical reporting, but these standards tend to be countered by a commitment to national unity as well as loyalty to the political leadership. These negotiated roles could appear as incongruent, but research has shown that journalists adopt strategies to reconcile the seemingly conflicting ideals in their professional practice.
This study is an in-depth assessment of journalistic role performance in a transitional country on the Horn of Africa, specifically Ethiopia, where journalists traditionally come out strongly in favour of the loyal-facilitator and interventionist dimensions. The media in Ethiopia have been dominated by state ownership and heavy regulation. However, a regime change in 2018 gave promises of a more liberal media environment, epitomized by the 2021 media law which has been described as one of the most liberal media legislations in the global South. From 2018 to 2020, Ethiopia advanced from 150th place to 99th place on Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Journalists were freed from prison and the notorious anti-terrorism legislation was no longer used against the media. Ethiopian diaspora journalists began to return to their homeland. By 2020, the Ethiopian media scene was diverse and healthy compared with the situation in the past. However, since then, the condition for journalists has once again deteriorated.
The material for this study was collected in 2020 when the Ethiopian media environment was marked by optimism. The study consists of content analysis of news articles and current affairs programmes of ten different local outlets (print, radio, television and online). Altogether 1200 stories were coded towards six predefined roles: the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, infotainment and civic role. The study confirms that the loyal-facilitator and interventionst roles are dominant. However, a further breakdown shows that ownership is a key predictor of role performance. State media outets are drastically more loyal in their orientation than private outlets, and they are also more interventionist, service-oriented and civic-oriented. The private media lean more towards watchdog and infotainment roles.
The study demonstrates the extent to which journalistic role performance persists despite changes in media policy. The redirection towards liberalization is less visible. To the contrary, the media of different ownership continue to reflect known commitments and practices. Diversity of points of view, for example, is persistently higher in the private media where there are four times as likely that different viewpoints will appear in a story as in the state media. The private media continue to report about court cases and social problems, while the state media focus on less controversial issues such as health and energy. Thus, the study underscores that journalistic role performance in a transitional society such as Ethiopia is still subject to ownership linkages and political commitments.
This study is an in-depth assessment of journalistic role performance in a transitional country on the Horn of Africa, specifically Ethiopia, where journalists traditionally come out strongly in favour of the loyal-facilitator and interventionist dimensions. The media in Ethiopia have been dominated by state ownership and heavy regulation. However, a regime change in 2018 gave promises of a more liberal media environment, epitomized by the 2021 media law which has been described as one of the most liberal media legislations in the global South. From 2018 to 2020, Ethiopia advanced from 150th place to 99th place on Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Journalists were freed from prison and the notorious anti-terrorism legislation was no longer used against the media. Ethiopian diaspora journalists began to return to their homeland. By 2020, the Ethiopian media scene was diverse and healthy compared with the situation in the past. However, since then, the condition for journalists has once again deteriorated.
The material for this study was collected in 2020 when the Ethiopian media environment was marked by optimism. The study consists of content analysis of news articles and current affairs programmes of ten different local outlets (print, radio, television and online). Altogether 1200 stories were coded towards six predefined roles: the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, infotainment and civic role. The study confirms that the loyal-facilitator and interventionst roles are dominant. However, a further breakdown shows that ownership is a key predictor of role performance. State media outets are drastically more loyal in their orientation than private outlets, and they are also more interventionist, service-oriented and civic-oriented. The private media lean more towards watchdog and infotainment roles.
The study demonstrates the extent to which journalistic role performance persists despite changes in media policy. The redirection towards liberalization is less visible. To the contrary, the media of different ownership continue to reflect known commitments and practices. Diversity of points of view, for example, is persistently higher in the private media where there are four times as likely that different viewpoints will appear in a story as in the state media. The private media continue to report about court cases and social problems, while the state media focus on less controversial issues such as health and energy. Thus, the study underscores that journalistic role performance in a transitional society such as Ethiopia is still subject to ownership linkages and political commitments.
Publisert i Paper presented at the 13th annual conference of the East African Communication Association (EACA). , 2024
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