| dc.description.abstract | Women in Ethiopia make up close to half of the total population. Like in other African countries, Ethiopian women live under high dominance of men. Also, the society does not portray women positively. In the study of media and women, three areas have characterized most of the research tradition: a portrayal of women in media content; women representation in the media institutions; and women as sources of information. Little attention has been paid to the practice of female journalists in the Ethiopian media. Hence, the purpose of this thesis is to assess how female journalists in Ethiopia report issues. Four research questions were set: How are news stories reported by female journalists in the newspapers; what are the major themes in the stories reported by female journalists; how do female journalists use their professional autonomy when reporting news stories, and what challenges do female journalists experience in the process of reporting issues in the sampled newspapers. For the purpose of this study, four newspapers were purposively selected, namely Addis Admas, Reporter, Fortune, and Capital (all privately owned). These are some of the strongest newspapers in the media market in the country, where there has been much pressure on the media, particularly on the privately-owned press. By using textual analysis, 12 stories reported by female journalists were analyzed. Five female journalists and an expert were also interviewed. The data collected through interviews and textual analysis indicate that female journalists in the selected newspapers highly depend on events in their reporting; they use one or two sources for the most part; and they have a preference for reporting on social issues. Also, the stories of the female journalists expressed high concern towards public interest. | nb_NO |
