Competing loyalties: Journalism culture in the Ethiopian state media
Using Ethiopia as its case, this dissertation discusses a classic problem in journalism sociology, specifically the dilemma of media practitioners who face multiple commitments. One stream of research within this area has focused on the conflict that arises when journalists find their professional commitment to be challenged by a commitment to a non-professional community such as the nation. An accepted theory maintains that journalists in such situations will protect a sense of professionalism by shifting between loyalties, where media practitioners for a limited period exchange their ‘ordinary’ professional loyalty for loyalty to the nation. According to the theory, the professional mindset is eventually restored through a process of ‘paradigm repair’. This approach may be described as a model of ‘shifting loyalties’.
The current research project considers the theory through the case of Ethiopia, a transitional society characterized by strong state/government dominance in the media sector. The study applies a combination of personal interviews, newsroom observation and content analysis, with main emphasis on qualitative interviews with 67 journalists from three state-owned media institutions. The researched institutions comprise of a television station (Ethiopian Television), a daily newspaper (The Ethiopian Herald), and a news agency (Ethiopian News Agency), all of which in various ways are affected by government control.
The research finds journalism culture in the Ethiopian state media to be circumscribed by a combination of aspiring professionalism, vague control and personal opportunism. Through a culture of self-censorship and discourses of fear in the newsroom, journalists produce and reproduce a subservient reporting style. At the same time, reporters rescue a sense of professionalism by exploiting the journalistic adiophoron, trusting a critical public, and adhering to national interest. On the normative level, the journalists are found to express dual loyalty to the profession and the nation, while a potential loyalty to the government is observed as broken.
The research concludes that the recognized approach of ‘shifting loyalties’ does not convincingly describe the situation for journalists in the Ethiopian state media. The interviewed journalists do not portray an environment where they normally stay professional and occasionally swop to national loyalty, but rather describe how both loyalties are present at the same time, persistently and forcefully. Thus, the research submits that within the Ethiopian context, professional and national loyalties can hardly be treated separately as if the journalists subscribe to one identity the one day and another the next. In place of a model of shifting loyalties, the research therefore proposes a model of ‘competing loyalties’.
The current research project considers the theory through the case of Ethiopia, a transitional society characterized by strong state/government dominance in the media sector. The study applies a combination of personal interviews, newsroom observation and content analysis, with main emphasis on qualitative interviews with 67 journalists from three state-owned media institutions. The researched institutions comprise of a television station (Ethiopian Television), a daily newspaper (The Ethiopian Herald), and a news agency (Ethiopian News Agency), all of which in various ways are affected by government control.
The research finds journalism culture in the Ethiopian state media to be circumscribed by a combination of aspiring professionalism, vague control and personal opportunism. Through a culture of self-censorship and discourses of fear in the newsroom, journalists produce and reproduce a subservient reporting style. At the same time, reporters rescue a sense of professionalism by exploiting the journalistic adiophoron, trusting a critical public, and adhering to national interest. On the normative level, the journalists are found to express dual loyalty to the profession and the nation, while a potential loyalty to the government is observed as broken.
The research concludes that the recognized approach of ‘shifting loyalties’ does not convincingly describe the situation for journalists in the Ethiopian state media. The interviewed journalists do not portray an environment where they normally stay professional and occasionally swop to national loyalty, but rather describe how both loyalties are present at the same time, persistently and forcefully. Thus, the research submits that within the Ethiopian context, professional and national loyalties can hardly be treated separately as if the journalists subscribe to one identity the one day and another the next. In place of a model of shifting loyalties, the research therefore proposes a model of ‘competing loyalties’.
Publisert i 2012
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