Analysis of Conflict Reporting In Ethiopia Broadcast Media, Focus On OMN &ASRAST TV

Abstract

Ethiopia is grappling with internal conflicts, causing widespread killings and property destruction. The main causes include political instability, unbalanced historical narration, resource depletion, and boundary demarcation among neighboring regional states. This study aims to assess how these conflicts were reported in selected broadcast media, Oromia Media Network (OMN) and Amhara satellite radio and television (ASRATTV), from November to December 2019. The study focuses on four research questions: the extent of focus on reporting the conflict among ethnic groups, how they frame conflict stories, the dominant sources of conflict reporting, and the challenges of conflict reporting. The results reveal that conflict reporting in these media is minimal, not using the right source of the incident, and the media grouping conflicting issues into "us-them" categories. The study also identifies that the media propagates the conflict as non-stoppable and does not clearly show cause, course, and consequences. The findings suggest that Ethiopian media practitioners need to receive repeated training on handling conflict issues.