Perceived ideological tensions in a donor-initiated journalism programme: A case study from Ethiopia
A basic question for any journalism programme in Africa is whether journalism in Africa should be taught like in the West or in a distinct African way. That different social and political conditions require a distinct knowledge base and research skills for journalists in different countries is obvious, but it is less clear whether the fundamental understanding of journalism should also be distinct when crossing national and continental boundaries. This paper discusses these questions by means of the experiences of a graduate programme in journalism that was erected at Addis Ababa University in 2004 with support from the Norwegian government. The programme had personnel from both Ethiopia and other African countries, as well as from Europe and North America. The programme tried to be sensitive to local cultural values while at the same time maintaining that certain journalistic values were inflexible. The experiences, in short, came to be that issues of professionalism vs. non-professionalism caused more tension than issues of broad cultural differences.
Publisert i Paper presented at the Norwegian Association for Development Research annual conference, University of Agder, Kristiansand, 2009
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