News Source Usage in the Addis Ababa Based English Newspapers
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News Source Usage in the Addis Ababa Based English Newspapers Daniel Shitaye A Thesis Submitted to School of Journalism and Communication Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Journalism and Communication Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa, Ethiopia January 2013 Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Daniel Shitaye entitled: News Source Usage in the Addis Ababa Based English Newspapers and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Journalism and Communication complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the Examining Committee: Examiner_______________ Signature______________ Date__________ Examiner_______________ Signature_______________ Date__________ Advisor________________ Signature_______________ Date__________ ________________________________________ Chairman of Department or Program Coordinator ABSTRACT News Source Usage in the Addis Ababa Based English Newspapers Daniel Shitaye Addis Ababa University, 2013 In order to write news the presence of a news source that can tell to the reporters is vital. The fundamental thing that the reporter must do is that to broaden the knowledge about sources. To make the news trustworthy and accurate, knowing and understanding the type of source and where to get the information is a key job of any journalist. This paper assesses the source usage in the Addis Ababa based English Newspapers with the main objective of identifying the source used in the news and analayze the weakness and strength on their attributions. To come with a sound and valid conclusion, content analysis, interviews and questioners have been used as the major method of data analysis. A consecutive three months, January to March 2012, newspapers issues have been taken as a sample, besides, a questioner has been distributed to the newspapers staffs and other media practitioners including Ethiopian News Agency journalists. Subsequently, the assessment has discovered that reported issues are very much influenced by attribution problems which make most of the news not objective and trustworthy. The findings of this research indicate that most news in Addis Ababa Based English newspapers mainly focuses on Addis Ababa; and especially focus on agendas related to social, political and economy sectors. These newspapers also used anonymous sources mainly in their news stories. In contrast to the newspapers editorial policy, it has been found that Governmental sources are mainly used in the Addis Ababa based English news papers more than other sources. The type of sources that appeared frequently in the news stories that are reviewed in this research shows inbalance and unfairness clearly. Although the policy states that the newspapers backs each story with a source and usage of anonymous sources is prohibited, the data gathered on the stories of the newspaper indicates the opposite, that the most quoted source are either used unnamed source or partial attributions. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My first thanks must go to Almighty God for His help and providence. I proudly salute my advisor Dr. Negeri Lencho and thank him for his invaluable support. I am grateful for his great deal in providing me genuine and remarkable comments. I am deeply indebted to my Dad, Mom and families for all their relentless aid. I am also grateful to my wife Bethlehem and my sister Emebet and my best friend Ermias for their editorial help. Daniel Shitaye ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………….. ................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements. .............................................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents………….. .................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables…………….. ......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures…………….. ...................................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Objectives of the Study .................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Questions ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.5 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.6 Limitation of the Study .................................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER TWO 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Theoretical Frame Work ................................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Sources ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Types of News Sources .................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Sources of Information .................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Attribution ............................................................................................................................................ 12 iii 2.6 Anonymous Sources ...................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.7 Place of Attribution ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER THREE 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.1 Content Analysis.............................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.2 Subjects of the Study ..................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Justification of the Method .................................................................................................................. 22 3.4 Data Sources .................................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Analytical Tools ............................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.6 Sampling Technique ...................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.7 Sampling ............................................................................................................................................................................. 25 3.8 Reliability and Validity ......................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER FOUR 4. Results And Discussions ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 4.1 Type of News Attribution Used in the Newspapers .......................................................................... 28 4.2 Place of Attribution ........................................................................................................................................................ 49 4.3 Discussions ........................................................................................................................................................................ 53 4.4 The Editorial Policy of the Newspapers ............................................................................................. 56 4.5 The Ideas of Journalist on the Newspapers .......................................................................................