The Coverage of Ethiopia in BBC and CNN News Websites
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
ISSN 2346-7479; Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 15-25; February, 2014
Online Journal of African Affairs
©2014 Online Research Journals
Full Length Research
Available Online at http://www.onlineresearchjournals.org/JAA
The Coverage of Ethiopia in BBC and CNN
News Websites
Anteneh Mekuria Tesfaye
Journalism and Communications Program, Faculty of Humanities, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. E-mail:
antenehmu(at)yahoo.com
Received 24 December, 2013 Accepted 9 February, 2014
This study evaluated the coverage of Ethiopia in BBC and CNN news websites. The 2011 edition of the
two news websites concerning Ethiopia were selected and content analysed. The analyses were made
focusing on the extent of coverage, theme, tone and sources of stories. The findings show that
although the two news websites gave reasonable coverage on issues of Ethiopia, stories that focus on
positive developments were relatively limited. The overreliance of the websites (especially BBC), on
higher officials of the Ethiopian government and NGOs as main sources and their focus on some
limited news worthiness criteria seem to show that the news websites were skewed towards one side.
Key words: CNN, media-coverage, BBC, media bias, Ethiopia.
INTRODUCTION
Despite its widely diverse peoples, cultures and pertinent positive developments were hardly reported
resources, Ethiopia is generally regarded as a despite the fact that such changes are newsworthy
homogenous country, characterised by famine, AIDS, events.
corruption and a low standard of living. This perception Researching the portrayal of Ethiopia in the Western
may be due to the way in which Ethiopia is portrayed by media may not be as such new because as one part of
international, especially Western, media. Given that Africa the coverage of Ethiopian has been mostly
international news is the major source of knowledge negative. A considerable number of researchers have
about other countries for most people [1], the reason why shown that the coverage of Africa by Western media
Ethiopia and the whole of Africa has been perceived this focus on the negative side [8-12]. Some commentators,
way may possibly be attributed to the Western in general however, contend that western media reporting of Africa
and Anglo-American in particular media coverage. The has in some way moved away from the tradition of
abovementioned face of Ethiopia somewhat holds true as reporting the continent in a negative light [13]. The
the country is still one of: the least developed nation [2], language has improved and coverage has expanded.
the poorest countries in the world [3], the largest Despite such claims, [13] further elucidated that little has
populations of HIV infected people [4,5] in the world, the changed in the mainstream coverage of Africa. It is
first five countries where many conflicts and serious difficult to substantiate commentators‟ claim using
tensions were registered [6]. The country has also been empirical research findings. Hence, it is important to
affected by recurrent famine and other problems. Yet, investigate the western media‟s coverage of Ethiopia, a
these truths do not seem to represent the whole picture country which has been a byword for famine. The
of the country. Ethiopia has an unreported or under- progress that the country has been making in recent
reported positive faces and some encouraging social, years coupled with the change in the media landscape
economic and political transformations. The remarkable because of the rise of digital media especially the use of
economic GDP growth rate of between 7 and 11 percent advanced cell phones, broadband, and all other
annually since 2005 [7], Ethiopia‟s peace building instantaneous technologies may either possibly change
contribution to Sudanese and Somalia conflicts, the some of the existing trends or strengthen the old ones.
country‟s effort of becoming a source of power for the The researcher, therefore, believes that there are
region by building hydroelectric power and some other reasons to study whether the international news websites16 Online J Afr Aff
have brought change in the coverage of Ethiopia. practice of journalism in general and the news making
process in particular.
Objective
The Portrayal of Africa
The main objective of this study was to explore the
coverage of Ethiopia in BBC and CNN news websites. The robust literature in relation to Africa and the Western
media have shown that Africa and its people have been
Research Questions mostly represented in a negative way. The portrayal of
Africa is highly based on stereotypes that present
The study was guided by the following research fragmented and sometimes misleading representations.
questions: Hunger, war, famine, HIV/AIDS, malaria, corruption,
nepotism and all other negatives seemed to be the focus
1. To what extent did BBC and CNN news websites give of the Western media whenever Africa was in the news.
coverage to Ethiopia? Some commentators have claimed that the trend of
2. What were the major themes of the news stories reporting Africa in a negative way has been recognized
posted in the BBC and CNN news websites concerning for long. Chavis [10 p.2] for example, pointed out that
Ethiopia? “The press of those early Darwinian years and its
3. What major sources were used in reporting about successor today, continues a tradition: stereotype and
Ethiopia? bombast, bias and disdain often are warp and woof of
4. What were the main tones of the stories? To what media coverage when Africa is the subject.” He further
extent did the websites give coverage to positive stated that “Nouns and adjectives like hut, dark, tribe,
developments of Ethiopia? King Kong, tribalism, primitive, nomad, animism, jungle,
cannibal, savage, underdeveloped, third world,
Theoretical framework developing, etc, are yet pervasive when Africa is the
story”. Michira [11] also outlined the most common
This study was mainly informed by the concept of images and stereotypes of Africa by the Western media.
framing, Entman [14] and agenda setting, McCombs and For example, Africa as homogenous entity, the Dark
Shaw [15] theories. Framing theory refers to the selection Continent, the wild/Jungle, the place of famine and
of story angles. According to, Tankard et al. [16 p.3] starvation, known for endemic violence, conflict and civil
framing is “the central organizing idea for news content war, political instability, the coup cycle, HIV/AIDS.
that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is Research findings have also shown that scant
through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion and coverage and distorted portrayal seemed to be the rule of
elaboration”. [17 p.75] also states that “news slant the day as far as the Western in general and Anglo-
significantly influence public opinion”. This shows that the American in particular media‟s coverage of Africa was
media do not only provide us with information on some concerned. Millner [9 p.8] on a survey of American Media
issues but they also provide us with “perspectives” on Coverage of African Democracies found that there is a
them [18]. Thus, in the process of framing the media limit negative bias by the leading sources of American media
audiences‟ knowledge of reality because they inform the in news coverage of African democracies. According to
audience about some events but not about others. this study the coverage is “at best, dismissive of the
The Agenda setting theory, which complement with continent‟s progress and potential, and thus leading to
framing theory, is the other relevant theory which helps to continued “exotification” and marginalization of the
look at how the news making process affects media African continent”. Another study which investigates the
productions. According to McCombs and Shaw [15], the coverage of African nations by four United States
media make some issues more “salient” than others. We television news-casts also reveals that despite the
think more about those issues the media present to us presence of some negative stories focusing on wide-
and regard them as more important than those that are scale famine, civil conflict, disputed elections and AIDS
not presented in the media [19]. McCombs argued that epidemic, the African continent received limited coverage
the media do more than selecting and presenting [8]. Other research by Trans Africa Forum in the USA
important issues, they influence the way we think about also shows that in a six-month period only 89 stories
these selected voices and issues. These place the events were published about Africa by The New York Times and
and issues within particular context and encourage Washington Post. This research shows that of the 89, 75
audiences to understand them in particular ways. Hence, stories were negative, and 63 of the 89 were about
this theory helps to understand the power of the media conflict [20].
and its effects on public perception. Framing and agenda- The coverage of Africa in the British media is not
setting theories will be used as a theoretical framework of different from what has been observed in the US media.
this study in view of the fact that they go together in A Study of British Television Coverage of Developing
evaluating the various process that come into play in the Countries shows that the language and visuals of someTesfaye 17 of the items depicted Africa as a place of poverty, Conducting an empirical study on BBC and CNN‟s disease and destitution. Although some news reports coverage of Ethiopia may therefore create benchmark provided explanations of the events and their historical concerning Western media‟s treatment of Ethiopia. causes, many of the accounts given were very brief and move little beyond traditional accounts of Africa, some of which suggested crude views of “tribal” behaviour reports METHOD on Africa mainly focused on aid and charitable projects organised by western countries [12]. The widespread This research employed content analysis approach. One negative coverage of Africa seemed to create a problem year coverage of BBC and CNN news websites for both Africans and the Western society. For Africans, concerning Ethiopia (spanning from January 1, 2011 to apart from the psychological pain the coverage has been December 31, 2011) were taken as samples of this study. scaring away tourists and investors from many workable These news websites were selected because they are sectors. This to some extent implies that the Western among the most popular international news websites and media has become a reason for slowing down Africa‟s they are relatively visited by a number of people all over development. The negative image of Africa in the media the world [23]. The time span was purposely selected has also created psychological problem for the other because taking the current samples is believed to be due world. Chavis [10 p.2] stated that “Images of Africa in the and logical to show the current state of the news Western Media, many times, are deeply troubling websites coverage of Ethiopia (N.B. data was collected in psychologically and emotionally, especially to those 2012). The on-line archives of the BBC and CNN news claiming her as primordial heritage, lineage, and websites were used to identify lists of all stories. The descendancy”. Repeated exposure to pictures and video word Ethiopia was used to search for stories. First, all footages of skinny children with bloated bellies, fragile stories which mentioned the name Ethiopia were arms and legs, glazed eyes has been mentioned as a identified. Then, those stories which mainly treat cause for compassion fatigue. Ethiopian related issues in their headlines and lead or There are historical and contemporary forces intro paragraphs were selected and coded. Those stories underlying the negative portrayal of Africa in the Western which did not mainly deal with Ethiopian issues as a main media and therefore it would be necessary to shed some theme were excluded. Articles or stories were mainly light on this. The main culprit for the negative used as the unit of analysis. The coding categories were; representation of Africa in the Western media can be extent of coverage, theme of story, source of story and seen in two major ways. The first one is a historical tone of story. In identifying the sub-categories under the reason. “European explorers, colonial officials, and categories theme and sources of stories, inductive missionaries created representations of Africa and manual-holistic approach was used. Themes and sources Africans through narratives that were consonant with their were first generated by a qualitative analysis of stories beliefs and supportive of their agenda (e.g. Africans as and then coded as holistic categories. heathen and uncivilized-incapable of governing themselves)”. The second reason is related to the The following are brief descriptions of the coding contemporary media situation. Among the reasons are categories: lake of background knowledge among individual journalists (parachute journalism), profit oriented motives Theme of story; refers to the central message or the of entertainment media organizations, the criteria of predominant theme of stories. Stories were coded; newsworthiness or news values are the main once [21]. Drought, famine and aid, Agriculture and Economy, Recently, there are some claims that Western media‟s Bilateral and International relations, Population growth, coverage of Africa seems to be changed. This is because Migration, Internal Conflict, Accident or disaster, press most international news media outlets have now freedom and other human rights issues, Corruption, programmes produced to uphold positive developments Culture and History, Children, Education, Science and of Africa. The economist, for example, which once Technology, Sport and others. presumably reported about Africa as a „hopeless Source of story; refers to the predominantly used source or continent‟ [22], has started to report positive sources of stories. Sources were coded; Government developments of the continent. The story under the officials, NGOs, Individuals, Experts and Critics, Journalists/ headline Africa‟s hopeful economies, the sun shines News agencies, Studies, Anonymous and Others bright; the continent‟s impressive growth looks likely to Tone of Story; refers to the main tone or direction of continue [22] is a case in point. Other western media stories. Stories were coded as positive, negative and outlets have also covered Africa positively. Although such neutral. coverage has somehow shown some changes, commentators claim that little has changed in the overall Detailed definition of the categories coverage. No recent research has been conducted either to prove or disprove the abovementioned claims. The categories under theme or the central focus of the
18 Online J Afr Aff
story were defined as follows: official agencies, ranging from the president to small town
administrators, documents from the government of
Drought, famine and international aid: This category Ethiopia or other countries, ambassadors of different
was used when stories mainly focus on drought, famine countries
and international aid related issues NGOs: any non-profit originations, International and local
Agriculture and economy: Stories were coded under NGO, and their officials, spokes persons, workers,
this theme when they specifically deal with agricultural documents from NGOs
production, method; Stories which mainly focus on Individuals: individuals from different walks of life and
progress of the country‟s economy were also coded celebrities who did not belong to governments and/or
under this theme. NGOs were coded under this category
Bilateral and international relations: Stories were Experts/Analysts/Critics: This included individuals who
coded under this theme when they mainly cover the have the expertise knowledge on the issue that they were
countries relationship with other countries (military, used as a source and even when they did not belong to
economy, political, social relationship); participation of the neither governments nor NGOs. Experts, analysts and
country in the international affairs. critics of political, social, economic and cultural issues
Population growth: This category was used when Journalists/News Agencies: When the article use
stories focused on issues of population growth. journalists from other media outlets or News Agencies as
Migration: It was used when stories treated migration a main source of information
issues. Anonymous sources: When the names of the main
Internal conflict: Stories dealing with conflict between sources were not clearly indicated
political parties, government and other political groups, Others: This category was used when source could not
ethnic and religious groups were coded under this theme. be classified as any of the above.
Accident or disaster: Stories dealing with any causality
other than drought and famine The categories under tone of story were defined as
Press freedom and Human Rights Issues: This follows:
category was used when the focus of stories was on the
unfair treatment of journalists and media organizations Positive tone: Stories were coded as positive when they
Corruption: Stories that deal with the unfair use of public report good news or positive and admirable
recourses by individuals, officials working in government developments e.g. cooperation, harmony within the
or NGOs country and between nations and nationals, construction,
Culture and History: Stories that deal with the life style inauguration of projects, economic growth, successful
of different societies in Ethiopia; Ethiopian music, design, development activities, political stability, easing of
fashion, food etc. stories which treated the country‟s tensions, rural development etc.
history, or the history of different societies in Ethiopia Negative tone: Stories coded as negative when they
Education, science and technology: Any development portrayed a country in a bad light or focus on conflict,
in the countries education system, policy. Adoption, misunderstanding, crisis, human or natural disasters,
creation and use of science and technology poverty, disease, migration, corruption, riots, crimes,
Others: This category was used if a story had a theme droughts or famine, war, etc.
other than the abovementioned ones or if story did not Neutral tones: Stories were coded as neutral when they
have a clear theme. were not inclined in either of the two.
N.B. Some categories were first coded separately. For Inter-coder Reliability
example, the category Drought, famine and international
aid was first coded in two parts, drought and famine as Two coders - the researcher and one of his colleagues
one category and international aid as another. But most did the coding. To insure the reliability of coding and
stories were found to include both themes together in a avoid disparities specific definitions were given to the
single story. Hence, to make the analysis easier, the two coding categories. Also, the categories were piloted and
categories were collapsed into one. The same thing has inter-coder reliability was performed using the holsti
made in Agriculture and Economy, Bilateral and method (see Appendix A), which is one of the most
international relations, Journalism and human rights, widely used methods in communication research [24].
Education, science and technology themes. The sample period yielded a total of 96 stories. A total of
318 judgments were made pertaining to theme, source
The categories under source of story were defined as and tone of stories. From the total, 29 disagreements
follows: were found and resolved by double coding. An overall
inter-coder reliability coefficient exceeded 0.90(90.88%)
Government officials: This category was used when (Table 1). This number is believed to be more than
articles were mainly sourced from government officials or adequate because as a rule of thumb most publishedTesfaye 19
Table 1. Inter-coder Reliability.
Decisions on Reliability
No of Decisions on
which the two
Categories Coding which the two Percentage of
coders
Decisions coders agree Agreement
disagree
Theme of story 96 89 7 0.93 93.75
Source of Story 126 113 13 0.89 89.68
Tone of Story 96 87 9 0.90 90.62
Total 318 289 29 0.90 90.88
content analysis typically report a minimum reliability shown in Table 2, 14 stories which accounts for (25.92%)
coefficient of above .75 when using pi or alpha or about were posted in July, BBC while 11 stories representing
90% in percentage agreement. (26.19%) were posted in April, CNN. BBC‟s large
coverage in July is attributed to the serious drought which
occurred in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa at this specific
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION time. As shown in Table 2, a number of stories which
dealt with Ethiopia were found in both BBC (43) and CNN
After coding all the selected articles using the (42) news websites in July. But most stories were not
aforementioned categories, analysis was made using included in the sample because of the fact that they did
both quantitative and qualitative methods. Simple not mention the name Ethiopia in either their headlines or
descriptive statistics, in particular, percentage was lead paragraphs. If the stories which dealt with Ethiopian
employed to analyze the quantitative data. Qualitative drought and aid related issues together with other horn of
analyses were also made taking some relevant stories as African countries were not excluded, the number of
an example. stories would have been escalated in both news
websites. Had it not been the occurrence of drought in
Extent of Coverage the horn of Africa in late June and July, BBC might have
not covered the given number of stories. The numbers,
As shown in Table 2, the initial search within the time however, demonstrate that the coverage of Ethiopia were
span under consideration, which is from January 1, 2011- relatively intense during the drought. While BBC‟s large
December 31, 2011, yielded 132 stories in BBC and 215 coverage in July, which covered one fourth of its total,
in CNN. A total of 347 stories were found to have seemed to go in line with the argument that Western
mentioned Ethiopia. From this total number, only 96 media treatment of Ethiopia becomes large when there is
stories 54 in BBC and 42 in CNN which mainly focus on some causality; CNN‟s large coverage in April, which also
Ethiopian issues were identified and analyzed. The covers one fourth of its total, appeared to be deviated
remainder 251 stories (78 from the BBC and 173 from from the abovementioned claim as there were no special
CNN) were excluded because these stories did not happenings at this specific time.
specifically deal with Ethiopian issues as main themes. The two news websites treatment of themes or topics
Concerning the quantity of coverage in each news appears to be different (see Table 3). While BBC largely
website, as Table 2 shows, stories which specifically gave emphasis to drought, famine and international aid
dealt with Ethiopian issues were found to be greater in issues, CNN gave more attention to Journalism and
BBC (54) than in CNN which covered (42) stories. The Human Rights issues. Among BBC‟s total 54(100%)
findings pertaining to the extent of coverage could be stories which were selected as samples, 12 stories
interpreted in different ways as there are no clear-cut representing 22.22 % dealt with drought, famine and
criteria to judge the extent of coverage based on international aid as a main theme. Out of CNN‟s total 42
numbers. However, given the various countries that the (100%), 10 stories which accounted for (23.8%) treated
websites could cover as international news websites and Journalism and Human Rights theme. CNN‟s large
looking at the total number in tandem with the average coverage of journalism and human rights issues, which
distribution per months of the year (BBC 54:12= 4.5 and nearly accounted one fourth of its sample stories, could
CNN 42:12= 3.5) the two news websites seemed to give be attributed to the arrest of the two Swedish journalists
a reasonable coverage to issues of Ethiopia. In average in Ethiopia (two Swedish journalists-photographers;
BBC covered one story per week while CNN‟s average Johan Persson and reporter Martin Schibbye were
was 0.88 per week. arrested in Ethiopia during the sample period). Out of the
Seeing the stories distribution within the sample span total 10 stories, 8 stories which represented 19.04 % of
of time, a relatively large number of Ethiopian stories its total coverage treated this issue as a main theme.
were posted in BBC in July while in CNN in April. As BBC did also give a relatively large coverage to this20 Online J Afr Aff
Table 2. Frequency of coverage.
Total number of Stories which
stories which mainly deal with
Month mentions Ethiopia Ethiopian issues
BBC CNN BBC CNN
January 6 11 3 4
February 3 8 3 1
March 3 12 1 -
April 6 16 - 11
May 9 9 5 3
June 23 17 9 1
July 43 42 14 3
August 13 34 4 2
September 10 18 6 2
October 5 12 2 -
November 4 18 3 6
December 7 18 4 9
Total 132 215 54 42
Table 3. Main theme of stories.
Themes of stories BBC CNN
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Drought, famine and aid 12 22.22 4 9.52
Agriculture and Economy 3 5.56 6 14.28
International relations 5 9.25 - -
Education, Science and 3 5.55 4 9.52
Technology
Migration 2 3.7 - -
Internal Conflict 2 3.7 - -
Accident or disaster 3 5.56 1 2.38
Press freedom and Human 7 12.96 10 2.38
Rights Issues
Corruption 2 3.7 - -
Culture and History 4 7.4 7 16.67
Children 4 7.4 1 2.38
Population growth 1 1.85 1 2.38
Sport 1 1.85 6 14.28
Others 5 9.25 2 4.76
Total 54 100 42 100
issue. Out of its 7(12.96%) stories which covered actors on it.
journalism and human right theme, 6(11.11%) stories As mentioned, BBC‟s large coverage of drought and
mainly treated the two Swedish journalists‟ case. The aid themes, which also covers nearly one fourth of its
news websites large treatment of this case can likely coverage, was attributed to the severe drought which
show their interest of covering Ethiopian issue when it is occurred as of late June and July 2011 in the country. In
related to Western countries or when there are Western view of the fact that Ethiopia and the whole of horn ofTesfaye 21
Table 4. Main Sources of Story.
Sources BBC CNN
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Government officials 19 29.23 10 16.39
NGOs 21 32.30 13 21.31
Individuals 4 6.15 21 34.43
Experts /Critics 11 6.92 7 11.48
Journalists/ News agencies 6 9.23 4 6.56
Anonymous 1 1.54 - -
Studies - - 2 2.78
Others 3 4.62 4 6.56
Total 65 100 61 100
Africa were affected by severe drought, it is not surprising which can be reported in a positive light. The scant
that BBC placed more emphasis on this theme. The coverage of these issues in the two websites, in particular
focus of the website on drought and aid themes can be in BBC, could possibly demonstrate their lack of interest
interpreted in two ways. On the one hand the websites in covering positive developments of the country.
focus on such issues can be seen positively because In comparison, there exist differences in the emphasis
informing the world about the drought would help and frequency of themes in the two news websites. BBC
engender aid for drought affected people. It is believed gave slight coverage for International relations 5(9.25%),
that the extent of media coverage is one of the important Corruption 2(3.7%), Internal Conflict 2 (3.7%) and
factors that determine the level of emergency assistance Migration 2(3.7%) themes; whereas CNN had no
for any humanitarian crisis [25]. On the other hand, such coverage of these issues. On the contrary, CNN tended
coverage can be seen as negative as it keeps on to be relatively concerned with Agriculture and Economy,
depicting the country‟s image in a negative light. Despite Culture and History and Sport themes by giving
their positive contributions, the websites focus on drought 6(14.28%), 7(16.67%) and 6(14.28) respectively. BBC gave
seems to go with the general trend of Western media relatively a fair spread across Agriculture and Economy 3
coverage of Ethiopia and the whole of Africa that is giving (5.55%), Children 4(7.4%) and Culture and History
more attention to the continent when there is a problem 4(7.4%). Both websites posted one story about population
or some negative developments [26]. growth which accounts (1.85%) in BBC and (2.38%) in
The other important point worth mentioning here is the CNN. CNN did not seem to be interested in Children‟s
fact that the contents of the selected stories that focus on issues. It only covered 1(2.38%) story about the issues of
drought and aid were framed from aid organizations Children. Only one story was found under sport theme in
angle. Though media framing of drought and famine is BBC. This might be because BBC covers sport in
important in “defining the problems, suggesting solutions separate sport page. Although education and technology
and attributing responsibilities for solving the problem” are said to be the other areas in which the country has
[14], many of the stories did not specifically frame the been making some progress, the websites did not seem
issue on how the drought affected people were facing the to be interested to give better coverage to these issues.
problem; they rather focused on the activities of aid Education, Science and Technology theme got 3(5.55%)
organizations. For e.g. almost all the 12 (22.22%) stories in BBC and 4(9.25%) in CNN news websites.
which treated drought and international aid as main Local and international NGOs and government officials
theme in BBC and out of 4 (9.52%), 2 stories in CNN were predominantly used sources of information in BBC‟s
mainly focused on the activities of aid organizations. coverage of Ethiopia (see Table 4). They were also the
Such ways of framing may be relevant in showing the second and third largest sources used in CNN‟s
magnitude of the case and how donor countries and aid reporting. NGOs accounted for 21 (32.30 %) in BBC and
organizations were responding for the problem but they 13 (21.31%) in CNN. Government officials were used as
did not seem to show the real picture of the problem. a main source 19 (29.23%) in BBC and 10 (16.39%) in
Agriculture, which is said to be “the backbone of the CNN. Surprisingly, individuals which accounted
country‟s economy” [27] and economy, which is “one of 21(34.43%) were predominantly used source in CNN.
the fastest growing among very poor countries”, UNDP Experts/Critics and Journalists/News agencies were the
[28]; and BBC [29] account for 3(5.55%) in BBC and third and fourth largest sources used in both BBC and
6(14.28%) in CNN of their total coverage. The growth in CNN news websites. They accounted for 11(16.92%) and
agriculture and economy that Ethiopia has been making 6(9.23%) in BBC and 7(11.48%) and 4(6.54%) in CNN
these days seem to be something new and unusual respectively. For CNN anonymous sources and for BBC22 Online J Afr Aff
studies did not seem to make up as important sources. its use of individuals as predominant sources of stories
The finding pertaining to the use of sources shows that appear to be a special case which demonstrates the
almost all stories which focused on drought and aid websites interest in championing positive stories of
themes were written using NGOs as main sources. Most Ethiopia. Such stories would help change the image of
of these stories did not include the voices of victims the country in the eyes of the other world. The reason
despite the fact that drought affected people could have why a considerable number of stories mainly used official
been used as the main sources of information. Consult sources from the government and NGOs may probably
the examples in news stories published about aid and go with the usual criticism that reporters have been
international aid under the headlines: reporting most African issues from a distance. Hunter-
Gault [30] wrote about foreign media coverage of Africa
Ethiopia drought; UK pledge 38m in food aid (3 July that “much of the shallow coverage of death, disaster,
2011) in BBC Horn of Africa drought: UK charities issue disease, and despair… derives from what is called
appeals (5 July 2011) in BBC Famine donations 'making “parachute journalism”- dropping in for a brief look at a
a difference' say aid workers (21 July 2011) in BBC situation, then flying back out without taking the time to
Cornwall charity Shelter Box sends aid to Ethiopia (14 delve deeply into the background or put a story in
July 2011) in BBC As famine hits, East Africa needs you context”. Such practice may also go with Paletz and
(22 July 2011) in CNN. Entman‟s [31] argument that journalists prefer official
sources not only because it takes less time to retrieve the
In these and many other news stories victims of the information but official sources are easier to contact and
drought who could be used as the main subjects of the they are judged as being both more informed and more
issues seemed to be sidetracked to share their ideas and credible than „people on the street‟. Although the use of
views about what they have experienced. As it has been officials somewhat helps the story to be acceptable by
seen, it was higher officials of NGOs and governments readers as to Brinson [32 p.13] “over-reliance on powerful
who were used as main sources largely. Such sources tends to reinforce the status quo bias exerted by
overreliance on government officials and NGOs as main political and economic interests over news content”. The
sources likely indicate that the websites gave more focus of journalists on official sources also attributed to
prominence to the activities of these bodies than the suitability of these sources for the existing routine
important information about how the victims of droughts process [33].
in Ethiopia have been coping with such problems. As the As far as the tones of stories are concerned (see
drought victims are the first encounters with the issue, Figure 1), the coverage of both news websites was
failure to include their perspectives might not give the slanted towards the negative side. As shown in graph 1,
true picture of the issue. The information was not straight 34 stories which accounted for (62.96%) of the total in
from the horse‟s mouth. Such information could lead BBC and 23 which accounts (54.76%) in CNN
readers to miss the context of the stories. emphasized on negative tones. From the total 54 stories
CNN is better in using individuals as a main source of only 8 (14.81%) in BBC and 16 (38.10%) in CNN have
information in many of its stories. This is because it gave positive tones. Relatively CNN accorded better priority to
a considerable coverage for prominent Ethiopians under positive developments of Ethiopia. BBC‟s focus on the
its regular portrayal of persons who have most engaging negative tone can still be attributed to its relatively large
personalities in Africa. For example, it gave coverage for coverage in July 2011 which entertained drought, famine
some successful or exemplary Ethiopians such as super and international aid issues in Ethiopia. Here, one may
model Anna Getaneh, dress designer Amsal Aberra, argue that this period may not represent the common
jailed journalist Dawiet Kebede, track runner Haile treatment of Ethiopian related issues owing to the
Gebresilassie, co-creator of Ethiopian children's TV show drought which occurred coincidentally within the selected
Bruktawit Tigabu under the following headlines: time span. But taking aside July‟s coverage, the number
of stories focusing on negative tones still outnumbers the
Fashion and charity go together for former supermodel combination of both the positive and the neutral once.
(30 January 2011) CNN‟s wide coverage of the two Swedish Journalists
Dress designer to the stars set for reality TV show (5 case in December seems to add to its negative coverage.
January 2011) 8 stories which represent 19.04 % of its total coverage
Jailed journalist: 'I will never hesitate from criticizing' (24 treated this issue largely in negative tone. If we take this
May 2011) issue aside, CNN positive stories will outnumber the
Haile Gebrselassie shares secrets of his success (15 negative ones. When we compare the two, it appears that
April 2011) CNN‟s treatment of Ethiopian related stories has been
Ethiopian 'Sesame Street' teaches life-saving lessons (26 fairly improving. Because if we merge the positive and
April 2011) neutral tones together and compare the two with that of
the negative tone the difference in CNN do not seem to
CNN‟s special treatment for exemplary individuals and/or be as such significant. Generally speaking, however, inTesfaye 23
70
62.96
60 54.76
50
38.1
40
BBC
30
22.23 CNN
20 14.81
10 7.14
0
Positive Negative Neutral
Figure 1. Tone of stories.
both news websites more than half of the stories were values such as “newness”, “unusualness” and
covered in a negative tone. Even those few stories which “unexpectedness” could have better sold the news than
were coded under agriculture and economy theme were “badness”. Because most negative news are no more
mainly reported negatively despite the fact that Ethiopia „unusual‟, „new‟ and „unexpected‟ for the majority of the
has been showing some progress in these themes. See audience. This argument of the researcher is informed by
for e.g: his interaction with people whom he met in his overseas
experiences. The researcher observed that people
The danger of Ethiopia‟s economic growth (23May 2011) became surprised while they have heard some stories
in CNN which the mainstream media did not give attention to
Newspaper renters in Ethiopia (19 April 2011) in CNN such as positive developments of Ethiopia and other
Ethiopian farmers Swap coffee for Kaht (12 July 2011) in African countries.
BBC
Concluding Remarks
These stories and the video footages that they used are
mostly negative. This finding somehow goes along the The content analysis of BBC and CNN news websites
lines of the already existing trend of Western media‟s coverage of Ethiopia shows that the websites give a
coverage of Africa. One reason on why more than half of reasonable coverage in quantity. 54 stories in BBC and
the stories inclined to negative tones and/or why positive 42 stories in CNN mainly covered Ethiopian issues in
developments of Ethiopia have still been down the 2011. Also, a reasonable number of stories were covered
agenda might have gone with the usual argument that in positive and neutral tones. In particular, CNN‟s
„bad news makes good news‟ which has to do with relatively large coverage of successful and exemplary
Western which is often referred to as „universal‟ individuals seems to show the website‟s interest of
newsworthiness criteria. Or „people give less attention to covering Ethiopia in a positive light. This could possibly
good news than to bad news‟ [34] or „people tend to contribute to changing the negative image of the country.
remember negative than positive news‟ Strömbäck 2008 In some respect, therefore, the findings showed that the
cited in Kahlström and Norin [35]. Although these points two websites coverage has somehow moved away from
appear to be generally true, it can be argued that there the traditional account of reporting Ethiopia. Yet, looking
are situations in which they can work the other way at the total picture such as the websites tendency of
around. In the case of Ethiopia, the outside world might focusing on the negative side, their large use of negative
give more attention to good news than to bad news framing, their propensity of using official sources mostly
because the country has long been known as a byword from NGOs; it can be argued that not so much has been
for famine, a place of drought, disease and all other changed in the websites portrayal of Ethiopia. It is,
negatives. Hence, at present people might not give therefore, safe to conclude that despite some
attention to such negative issues as they are not new for improvements, negative portrayal which represents the
them. They may rather be „interested‟ to some positive partial face of Ethiopia, seem to be continuing. Partly, this
developments. Those stories which meet other news result appears to be somehow compatible with the24 Online J Afr Aff
findings of previous studies which showed the Western overemphasizing the negative themes and putting aside
media‟s focus on the negative side of Africa [8,30]. some positive developments could very likely serve
Within the time span under consideration, there were communications dysfunctional function as it limits in-
some positive developments in Ethiopia which could depth understanding of the outside world pertaining to
meet Western media‟s newsworthiness criteria. The Ethiopia. A case in point is that youngsters in Britain who
efforts that Ethiopia has been making to „catch up‟, for were born after 1984 equate Ethiopia to famine. Though
example, the remarkable and continues economic growth, the two words (famine and Ethiopia) only come together
building of asphalt roads, the country‟s participation in the in one news story first, the impact on mainstream audiences
peace building process of the region by sending its peace is great enough. Now, the word Ethiopia comes to
keeping force to the neighbouring countries, Sudan and represent the issue famine [37]. Owing to the fact that
Somalia could have been covered in a positive light. many people have gained information from the Western
Apart from this, the fact that Ethiopia is and has been a media, the knowledge that they have about Ethiopia is
multifarious country with more than 80 ethnic groups, 80 not complete or even it may be contrary to the truth. Also,
different languages and different cultural practices could framing issues such as drought from the officials‟ angle
have also been reported positively. These and other and letting down or not including the voice of the victims
positive developments, however, were garnered scant or make the coverage somewhat fragmented. Such actions
no attention in both the BBC and CNN news websites. of the news websites can very likely limit the audiences‟
This shows that the two websites coverage of Ethiopia knowledge of reality.
has not yet been well straightened out. And the famous Apart from damaging the country‟s image, the news
„all the news that's fit to print‟ did not seem to work well in websites tendency of covering more negative stories
the two news websites as far as the issue of Ethiopia is seem to serve another communications dysfunctional
concerned. This could be attributed to what the gate function as it causes strain on the side of the international
keeping theory suggests- that is journalists prefer events public. There are evidences as the emphasis of the
that fit a number of criteria related to time, place and Western media coverage on the plight of Ethiopia‟s severely
„potential audience demand‟. This said, however, weather malnourished and dying children make donors show
the audience demand negative news is a controversial worrying signs of compassion fatigue [38]. All in all, despite
issue which needs to be investigated. In view of the fact some improvements such as the extent of coverage in
that Western media‟s coverage of Ethiopia has been BBC and the relatively large coverage of prominent
largely negative for long and the knowledge that the individuals in CNN, the two news website‟s selection and
outside world have about this country is negative, it can framing of Ethiopian stories tend to focus on the negative
be argued that the audience may demand positive side. This demonstrates that the issue of balance,
developments of the country. Covering positive diversity and fairness which are related with journalism‟s
developments could have sold the news as doing so can objective role seem to be undermined.
still met some of the news value criteria.
Obviously, the negative coverage should not always be
References
seen in a negative way. There are evidences which show
that such coverage have contributed for the betterment of [1] Wu H. Investigating the Determinants of International News Flow.
life in Ethiopia. For e.g., in situations where Ethiopian Gazette, 1999; 60(6): 493-512.
governments were underestimating or unwilling to speak
[2] UNCTAD/LDC. The Least Developed Countries Report. 2011;
out the existence of recurrent looming famine for the rest Retrieved from http://unctad.org/en/docs/ldc2011_en.pdf on April 18,
of the world, the coverage of BBC, CNN and other 2012.
Western media organizations helped the starved
Ethiopians get humanitarian aid from donor countries and [3] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Human Poverty
Index, 2011.
international aid organizations. The Western media
coverage of the 1984 Ethiopian famine best epitomizes [4] Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (FHAPCO), 2010.
this point. According to Smith [36] it was the power and Retrieved from
presentation of the pictures taken by an African http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/2010
progressreports en.pdf on May 03, 2012.
cameraman, Mohammed Amin of VisNews, a European
television news agency, and the accompanying commentary [5] Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). World AIDS
by Michael Buerk, a correspondent for the BBC which Day Report. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.unaids.org on May 03,
generated public response for the Ethiopian famine. 2012.
Though their focus was largely on the activities of aid
[6] Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research Crises - Wars
organizations, BBC‟s and CNN‟s reporting of drought in - Coups d‟E´ tat Negotiations - Mediations - Peace Settlements 19th
Ethiopia in particular and the horn of Africa in general in annual conflict analysis: Conflict Baromete, at the Department of
June and July 2011 made the issue salient and thereby Political Science, University of Heidelberg, 2010. Retrieved from
played an important role for raising the world‟s http://www.hiik.de/en/konfliktbarometer/pdf/ConflictBarometer_2010.pdf
on December 21, 2011.
consciousness and galvanizing the efforts of donor
countries and humanitarian organizations. However, [7] Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The World Factbook, 2011.Tesfaye 25
Retrieved from http://www.cia.gov/library/publication/the-world-factbook- Research Projects, 2005. Retrieved from Temple University website:
/images/bg-body.gif on June 28, 2012. http://www.temple.edu/mmc/reliability/ on November 10, 2008.
[8] Golan GJ. Where in the world is Africa? Predicting coverage of [25] Olsen GR, Carstensen N, Høyen K. Humanitarian crises: what
Africa by US Television Network: Int Communicat Gazette, 2008; 70(1): determines the level of emergency assistance? Media coverage, donor
41-57. interests and the aid business. Disasters, 2003; 27(2): 109-126.
[9] Millner M. A Survey of American Media Coverage of African [26] Ndlela N. The African Paradigm: The Coverage of the Zimbabwean
Democracies: 1994 – 2004. Prepared for the African Presidential Crisis in the Norwegian Media. Westminster Papers in Communication
Archives and Research Centre 2005 Johannesburg, South Africa. 2005. and Culture, 2005 Retrieved from
Retrieved from http://www.westminster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/20176/006zi
http://www.bu.edu/aparc/resources/studies/mediacoverage062805.pdf m_art5.pdf on November, 11, 2008.
on December 01, 2008.
[27] ATA (Agricultural Transformation Agency), 2012. Retrieved from
[10] Chavis R. Africa in the Western media. Paper presented at the http://www.ata.gov.et/ on September 27, 2013.
Sixth Annual African Studies Consortium Workshop, October 02, 1998.
Retrieved from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Workshop/chavis98.html on [28] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Delivering as
November, 10, 2008. One in Ethiopia. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org on what date
[11] Michira J. Images of Africa in the Western media. 2002. Retrieved [29] British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Ethiopia Profile, 2012.
from Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13349398 on
http://www.teachingliterature.org/teachingliterature/pdf/multi/images_of_ February 10, 2013.
africa_michira.pdf on November 21, 2008.
[30] Hunter-Gault C. New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's
[12] Department for International Development. A study of British Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
television coverage of developing countries, 2000. Retrieved from
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/viewworldsum.pdf on December 01, [31] Paletz DL, Entman RM. Media power politics. New York: Free
2011. Press, 1981.
[13] Hirsch A. The west's lazy reporting of Africa: The Guardian. 2012. [32] Brinson P. Reformulating news media bias: A new theoretical and
Available at methodological approach, 2005. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/15/west-lazy- http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~pbrinson/Linked%20Files/Media%20Bias.doc
reporting-africa on 17 April 2012. on November 10, 2008.
th
[14] Entman R. Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. J [33] McQuail D. McQuail‟s Mass Communication Theory. (4 ed)
Communicat, 1993; 43(4): 51–58. London: Sage, 2000.
[15] McCombs M, Shaw D. Agenda-setting Theory, 1994. Retrieved [34] Shoemaker PJ, Cohen A. News around the world. UK: Routledge,
from http://www.afirstlook.com/manual6/ed6man28.pdf on December 1, 2006.
2011.
[35] Kahlström J, Norin E. Media framing – As time goes? A qualitative
[16] Tankard JW, Laura H, Jackie S, Kriss B, Salma G. Media Frames: longitudinal study. Master Thesis, 2012. Retrieved from, http://uu.diva-
Approaches to Conceptualization and Measurement. Paper presented ortal.org/smash/get/diva2:546877/FULLTEXT02 on February 9, 2013.
at the annual meeting of the Association for Educators in Journalism
and Mass Communication, Boston, August 11-16, 1991. [36] Smith S. Famine reports show power of TV. New York Times, 1984
November 22. Retrieved from
[17] Entman R. Democracy without citizens: Media and the decay of http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04EEDF1638F931A1
American politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. 5752C1A962948260 on November 9, 2008.
[18] McCullagh C. Media power: A sociological introduction. China: [37] Clark DJ. Representing the MAJORITY WORLD famine,
Palgrave, 2002. photojournalism and the Changing Visual Economy, Durham theses,
Durham University, 2009. Retrieved from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/136/
[19] Griffin E. A first look at communication theory (6th ed.). Boston: Mc on February 9, 2013.
Graw Hill Companies, Inc, 2006.
[38] United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
[20] Ankomah B. Reporting Africa. Global Media J, 2008; 2(2): 143-146. UNICEF calls for end to compassion fatigue over Ethiopia‟s dying
children. Press Release, 2005. Retrieved from
[21] Exploring Africa. Exploring the diversity of Africa. A teaching http://www.unicef.org/ethiopia/ET_media_PR_Fatigue_05.pdf on
module, n.d. Retrieved from December 2, 2011.
http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/teachers/curriculum/m1/notes.php
on December 2, 2011.
[22] The Economist. Africa‟s hopeful economies: The sun shines bright, Appendix A: Inter-Coder Reliability
2011. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21541008 on
February 10, 2013. Reliability= 2M
[23] eBizMBA. Top 15 Most Popular News Websites, 2012. Retrieved
N1+ N2
from http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites on February 10,
2013. Where M is the number of coding decisions on which two
coders agree, and N1 & N2 refer to the total number of
[24] Lombard M, Snyder-Duch J, Bracken C. Practical Resources for st nd
coding decisions by the 1 and 2 coder respectively.
Assessing and Reporting Inter-coder Reliability in Content AnalysisYou can also read
