Media and Religion in Ethiopia: A Research Report

"...when there are conflicts and tensions in the country, religion risks becoming a center for polarization, either blatantly or subtly."

This study, published by Fojo Media Institute, seeks to assess the ongoing changes in media and religion in Ethiopia and explore trends in how religion is framed and reported in the Ethiopian media. The study is based on desk research and interviews and also contains an in-depth analysis of news stories on religion between 2020 and 2023. It is hoped that the study will inspire media developers and journalism associations to facilitate training workshops to discuss how to report on religion. The study can also be of use to academics who examine emerging trends in the Ethiopian media, where recent political tensions have shifted from party politics towards ethnic and religious identity politics, and as a basis for dialogue meetings between different stakeholders to foster a greater understanding of media, religion, and politics.

As explained in the report, "Religion has become an issue in the Ethiopian media. This is a new situation in a country which for many years excluded religious expressions from the public media. With the coming of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 and the Prosperity Party, the principle of the secular state, which is in the Ethiopian Constitution, has been challenged fundamentally. Religion is being brought into official speeches and reflected in the media. Presenters on state television are seen wearing Orthodox crosses and Muslim hijabs, which was unheard of just five years ago. The new media proclamation which came in 2021 allows religious organizations to apply for broadcasting licences for the first time in the nation’s history. By 2023, between 40 and 50 religious organizations have acquired such a licence. At the same time, religion has also surfaced as a conflict issue in the media. Quarrel within the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council in 2021, dispute around the ownership and use of Meskel Square in Addis Ababa in 2020-22, killings of religious leaders and followers in many parts of the country, burning of churches and mosques, and an attempt of schism within the Orthodox Church in 2023 are some of the hot issues which epitomize religious conflict as a topic in the current news scene."

 

In order to better understand the current trends of journalistic practice in relation to religion, the study sought to answer the following research questions:

• What does the historical narrative of religion and the government in Ethiopia look like, and what does it mean for the current media and political environment?
• How do Ethiopian media policy, legislation, and editorial policies address religious issues?
• What characterises the religious media landscape in the country?
• How do the media deal with religious matters?
• How do media practitioners see their roles in dealing with religious issues in the current political context?

The study used a combination of four different methods: interviews, content analysis, textual analysis, and document analysis. Researchers interviewed 20 representatives from the media, the religious community, and the regulator and conducted a content analysis of religious stories between 2020 and 2023. By selecting some stories from two private media outlets, a thorough textual analysis was made to highlight how the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) cases were framed. In addition, historical, legal, and policy documents were reviewed. The editorial policy of three media ownership types (one from the federal government media; one private; and one from the regional media) was assessed to show how different media outlets approach religious issues on a policy level.

The study found that the new-found openness to religion in the Ethiopian media has happened without the necessary policies and regulations in place or a clear stance on the role of the media around religion. The 'broadcasting licences' for religious organisations do not permit local radio stations or transmission through terrestrial television but are a registration system to map organisations that use the internet and satellite to distribute religious programmes to Ethiopian audiences. The authorities continue to be suspicious of religious broadcasting and fear that extreme actors will destabilise the social order if they get access to the airwaves. The state media - officially called public media - neglect and downplay religious conflict issues in their coverage. However, with the many private media outlets as well as social media, it has become harder for the state media to control the narrative around religious issues altogether.

In addition, the qualitative content analysis shows that polarisation is still a major problem in the reporting of religion in the Ethiopian media. Stories are often biased towards the journalist’s political and ethnic stance. Claiming they are 'secular', the state media ('public media') tend to ignore important religious issues and conflicts that have resulted in the loss of lives, burning of religious buildings, and displacement of people. The media appear to be ambivalent around applying a peculiar interpretation of 'secular' principles by either ignoring religion or deciding to report such issues.

The report calls for a clearer formulation of media laws on religious reporting so that regulatory loopholes are not open to manipulation by actors who want to push their religious or political agendas. It also stresses the importance of sensitising reporters about religious issues and making the media more ethically responsible when reporting on religion and religious tensions, conflicts, and controversies. It concludes that a viable long-term strategy for Ethiopian media policy could be inspired by the ideals of the 'civic public square' - one of three strategies (outlined by philosopher Os Guinness (2013)) on how to approach worldview differences. The two outermost positions of the three are the 'sacred public square' and the 'naked public square', whereby the sacred public square signifies a society where one particular worldview is completely dominant and state-sanctioned, such as Shia Islam in Iran, and the naked public square is a society where religion is officially excluded from public expression, such as in China. A civic public sphere, by contrast, respects differences in worldview and does not banish religion to the private sphere. A civic approach to religion believes that faith issues can be illuminated by public reason and gives no special rights to specific groups, whether they are religious or non-religious.