BY KFLEEYESUS ABEBE
The practice of Journalism in Ethiopia may have dated back to half a century or more. But the sense of journalism especially at this age of digital journalism seems to be lost. Previously, authorities were solely blamed for pseudo-journalism for continuous censorship or exploting it for their propoganda. In the meantime journalism especially in Ethiopia has faced a greater risk from people who have little or no knowledge of journalism.
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book The Elements of Journalism argues the purpose of journalism “is not defined by technology, nor by journalists or the techniques they employ.” Rather, “the principles and purpose of journalism are defined by something more basic: the function news plays in the lives of people.” Many people however associate journalism to a mere telling of a fact; just telling what happened somewhere and sometime. They don’t check the consequence of “truth” and whether as journalsits should be careful of the impact of their stories. For a person who took fundamental journalism, ethics of journalism and other relevant courses, the biggest difference of informer and journalist is being considerate of viewers, listeners or readers pschological welbeing. Does a given story have any positive contribution to betterment of society? Am I agent of good or bad? He/she will identify whether the story has postive or negative consequence. Taking responsiblity and being considerate of audiences condition is what makes a journalist different from any information teller. If he/she succeed in this, journalism can acheive its goal of development and democracy otherwise there is a chance it would be a tool of anarchy.
To make this into perspective, it is good to see how journalism in other countries is being practiced especially in hard times. How did countries used the best of it? In 2017, Britain has gone through two different disasters but the media has been effective in containing the crises as they were focused on saving people rather than fanning the story.
On May 22, 2017 Manchester Arena bombing happened while people were attending concert by American singer Ariana Grande. BBC was on the scene reporting the shock and grief of people. The story was majorly aimed at holding the country intact and showing the way out. Comments of politicians were also the same: reserved and practical. The opposition shows solidarity with victims and promised to be their voice. Government said it would give support to the victims and investigate cause of the incident. Among speeches heard were: “ It is hard for any of us to imagine the anguish that their families are going through right now. They are in our thoughts.” and.. “Remind people that Manchester will not be defeated.” Details of the events came after the nation become peaceful.
The second that occurred on June the same year was the Grefell tower fire. BBC’s live report gave much emphasis for the survivors voice. The BBC approached survivors and families of victims and made the report very human. Hence, the nation stands together in prayers and assistance to the victims. This and other similar ways Britain attempted to control and minimize the damage.
The digital world has made information accessible and we are witnessing a number of self proclaimed journalists. The technology itself is a blessing as a journalists can access information from all corners. However, very few people know what should be presented to public and what should be kept for greater benefit of society. It has become customery for self-proclaimed journalists releasing classified information. Or, doing their stories in a way that creates havoc. This might have been resulted from lack of knowledge to journalism or underestimation of it. As information has potential to break or make a country, corporates or private operators of media should be cautious of the impact of their stories. They can begin by reading the objective of journalism, code of conduct, identifying what their practice of journalism intended to acheive. Ethical journalism Network insists that: “Journalists should do no harm. What we publish or broadcast may be hurtful, but we should be aware of the impact of our words and images on the lives of others.”
As we clearly see many people have misunderstood journalism and are releasing information using through their timeline, it is vital to create basic awareness among the people. Social media users should know their stories might have unintended consequences to themselves and their country.
Journalism schools, responsible media and practioners have a responsibilty to raise basic awarenss among the public. Anyone who intends to act as journalist should be sure they will use it for the good of the people. The law should also be active in making those who violate ethics of journalism deliberately responsible. Otherwise, the country will be taken over by media practioners who don’t have objective, care and accountabilty to their story.
The Ethiopian herald September 1/2022
