Development journalism revived: The case of Ethiopia

Abstract

In 2008, Ethiopian authorities presented a draft policy document which established development journalism as the official reporting style for the state media. The policy prescribes that the media and journalists should play an active role in the country's development scheme. Assigning such a role to the media is controversial – not the least since it is seen to be at odds with media independence and press freedom. The present study discusses the Ethiopian development journalism policy in light of other recognised development journalism models. The study also uses in-depth interviews with journalists in the Ethiopian state media, to consider how the new policy has been received in the newsroom. The overall conclusion is that the journalists are favourable towards development journalism as a professional framework, but they are challenged when they try to convert the framework into actual media practice. The problems are threefold: the ambiguity of development journalism as a concept and practice; the political inclination of the state media; and a lack of participation by the public.

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