Survey Of Ethiopian Mass Media

Prepared by: Sewmehon Alazar

May, 2024
Bahir Dar University,
Ethiopia
Course outline
 In this course we will see the historical overview of mass media development in
Ethiopia through the framework of
 Time,
 Media nature/ type, and
 The media- government relation.
 From the time perspective we will see the media development from the starting
point of the first newspaper in Ethiopia to the 21st c.
 From the media nature/ type perspective, we will see the development of print, and
broadcast media.
 From the government- media relation, we will see the media development
 During Menillik 2nd, Emperor H/sillase, Derge, EPRDF, and the current prosperity
government.
Chapter One:
1. Historical Development Of Media In Ethiopia
1.1. The development of print media(1895-1928, the first phase)
‘The newspaper is a great treasure to the people than uncounted millions of gold’
Henry Ward Beecherl
Were it left to me to decide if we should have a government without a newspaper, or a
newspaper without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,
Thomas Jefferson
 The traditional communication method in Ethiopia (negarit) was replaced by print
media(Gebir Medihn, 1993)
 The first printing press in east Africa was established in Ethiopia by Lorenzo
Biankery in 1863 at Masawa.
Cont’d
 Like did in other African countries, the development of print media in Ethiopia
pass through ups and downs.
 During the binging of first world war, there were two newspapers printed in
Ethiopia(Yetor worey in Amharic, and lekurier de Ethiopia in French),
Haleluya, 2008
 The development of print media in Ethiopia had five main phases
 1st phase(1895-1927)
 The first phase of print media development was from 1895-1928
 This phase was starting from the establishment of official written communication in government office and
going until the envision of Italy.
 Blatta Gebre Egziabher Gila Maryam's handwritten sheets produced in the capital before
1900( around 1895) was considered among the earlier papers in the country.
 He was the pioneer of media development in Ethiopia.
 Blatta Gebre Egziabher wrote satirical poems on sheets that were duplicated around 50 times and
circulated in the Emperor’s courtyard every Sunday in a format that resembled a newspaper, although its
title remains unknown.
 This written material was used in the Emperor's palace for communication purpose.
 After five years, the unnamed written paper get a name by Emperor Minllik since 1902, called Amiro
(Zeny Kemahu, 2009).
 In the meantime, the first Amharic 4-page weekly newspaper, Aimiro (Intelligence),
 was established in 1902 (alternatively 1895, 1900 or 1901) and then owned and edited by a Greek
merchant, Andrea E. Kavadia.
 After he assigned as a editor Andrea E. Kavadia imported a printing machine called Paleography to
replace the handwriting.
 But, in the same year the publication and the circulation of Amiro was challenged and break for two
years due to lack of finance and work routine.

 The name of the newspaper was chosen by the Emperor himself, Menelik II.
 The first volumes of Aimiro had a circulation of only 24 handwritten copies.
 It was distributed to the king and to his aristocracy and gentry by horsemen.
 The newspaper was fostering the agenda of the then kingdom i.e. sovereignty and unity.
 Aimiro passed through periods of temporary suspension and revival, owing to financial difficulties,
shortage of newsprint and the Italian aggression.
 With the aid of mimeograph machines, Aimiro had a weekly circulation of over two hundred copies
until it ceased publication in 1916.
 Revived in 1924, the paper appeared weekly for several years.
 Amiro NP as a medium
 It’s name
 Was given by Minillk 2nd (Hasso, 1994, & Mekuria, 2005)
 The name given to express the profession's sensitivity to critical thinking and universal knowledge
 It was the first NP within formal content and physical structure of NP
 It’s content
 Mostly it contain the idea of imperialists
 The accent and numbers were related with religion
 Additionally it was include contents to develop patriotism and unity
 It challenged and the publication was stop for five years and start again in 1907
 After 1907, this NP including contents about government rules, laws, proclamations to present it
 It exists until 1926 within ups and downs
 By following Amiro, there were around 14 NP that were published in the first phase of Ethiopian press
development.
2nd phase( 1928-1933)

 This phase is left for another class to make a balance to section A!!
Today’s session will cover total of 50’
 Remind the last class by students(3’),
 Opening question and ( sharing expectations by students, 6’),
 Give clarification by the teacher(2’),
 Follow up question and ( sharing expectations by students 5’),
 Give clarification by the teacher(2’),
 Lecturing ppt slides by the teacher(20’)
 Summarize the topic(5’)
 Question and answer(7’)
 Ending the class(0’)
Media during Emperor Menelik II
 “Every time a newspaper dies, even a bad one, the country moves a little
closer to authoritarianism” Richard Kluger

 Dear students, what do you understand from the above thought? Think
individually, discuss in pair, and share in group.
 For your self evaluation
 The thought of Richard Kluger indicates
 The medias’ role as a fourth estate.
 What do we mean by medias’ fourth estate?
Cont’d

 Legislative
 Executive
 Judiciary
 Journalism, journalists, or (media)
 Though Ethiopia is one of the very few countries in Africa that have long history of writing,

 newspapers emerged in the country very late at the end of the 19th century( during emperor
Menelik II)

 The first Ethiopian newspaper came to birth around year 1900.

 The exact year and name of the earliest newspaper is, however, uncertain.

 Newspaper were the first medium in Ethiopia.

Cont’d
 The beginning of the print medium in Ethiopia, sporadic and foreign-inspired for the
most part,
 and catering predominantly to religious subject matter, has been traced by some to the
mid nineteenth century,
 when the first printing press was set up in 1863 at Massawa by a Lazarist
missionary known as Father Lorenzo Biancheri.
 Later on, the Swedish Evangelical Mission established a small press at Mankullo,
near Massawa was able to secure Emperor Menelik's acknowledgement,
 if not actual support, and expand his operations into commercial printing.
Cont’d

 Blatta Gebre Egziabher Gila Maryam's handwritten sheets produced in the

capital before 1900 was considered among the earlier papers in the country.

 Blatta Gebre Egziabher wrote satirical poems on sheets that were

duplicated around 50 times and circulated in the Emperor’s courtyard every
Sunday in a format that resembled a newspaper, although its title remains
unknown.
 It is reported that the Amharic printing press was imported for the
first time by a French merchant in 1897, who was he?.

 The reign of Emperor Menelik could, indeed, be said to have

represented a crucial stage in the initiation of an Ethiopian
journalism in terms,

 for instance, of press ownership and issues covered.

 The rise of a 'modernized' empire-state with its attendant

consequences contributed a great deal to the expansion of the
printing enterprise.
Media during Emperor Haile Selassie
 Print media
 The print media challenged by the Italian evasion,
 new developments were also happened as well due to the completion of Ethio-Italian war
 Berhanena Selam, for instance survived the next five years, after the Italian war ended
since 1933,
 printing presses were demolished when printing press in Harar and Jimma
destroyed by Italians.

 The press in Ethiopia during Emperor Haile Selassie covers the longer time of
the countries press history.

 Even if it were challenged by italian invasion, the press media were changed
their content, structure, publication, and cerculation.

 According to the Ethiopian press agencyreport, Addise Zemen NP was started

to publish since may 30,1933 E.C
 The first copy of Addis Zemen NP was 2-page tabloid
 Around 1940, the format of the NP changed into broadsheet,
 The name of Addise Zemen indicates the new era of Ethiopia after the invasion of
Italy.
 Bilata wold Giorgise wold yohans was the first publisher of Addis zemen NP
 In the rule of H/Silasse, the multilingualism of NPs were good
 1934 E.C was, the starting time of the revival of Ethiopian press after the Ethio- Italian
war
 English, French, Amharic, and Arabic languages were dominantly used NP languages
 The first press law in the country was proclaimed by H/Silasse since 1934
 This proclamation was promoted private press company
 But there were a lot of restrictions on the press including:
 The publication should get the government’s approval,
 The government ideology must be respected,
 The journalist may punished, if they do any mistake, their mistake decided by the
government
 The year 1940s were the time of more NPs
 Ethiopian heraled,
 Ethiopian review,
 Ye Eritrea dimtse, and
 Birhan ena Selam were the dominant NPs
 The establishment of African Economic commission, and African
Union were the two trigger factors for the development of media
during emperor H/ Selassie's rule.
 Even if the development and change of media in Ethiopian were
good in this period, the government was the sole controller of the
media.
Cont’d

 The progress of the Ethiopian press was interrupted for

about five years (1928-1933) as the result of the
country's occupation by Mussolini's force.
 Printing
presses were demolished, as happened in Harar
and Jimma,
 or were into centers for the production and
dissemination of Fascist propaganda, as happened to
those in Addis Ababa.
Cont’d
 The expansion of the capacity of the Berhanena Selam Printing Press in
1965 and
 the increase in the number of new printers installed were but important
additions to the development of the print medium.
 However, the real turn for the newspaper enterprise came in the late 1960s
with establishment of the Economic Commission for Africa (1958)
 and the Organization of African Union (1963).
Cont’d
 Of particular significance in this post-war expansion of the Ethiopian press,
especially in its early phase,

 Blatta Wolde Giyorgis Wolde-Yohannes (a man who was considered as “a

Father of Ethiopian Journalism." His name was linked, originally, with
Berhanena Selam as main editor, and later on and more closely, with Addis
Zemen was played a significant role.
Cont’d
 There was, in this period, a larger number of both daily and weekly
newspapers and other press products,
 all, with the exception of a few, being government-owned and catering to a
limited circle of an elite readership
 mostly top bureaucrats and members of the urban-based intelligentsia.
Cont’d
 In the post-liberation period the publication 'industry' witnessed a
comparatively significant expansion in terms of the number of periodicals and
the size of their circulation.

 Such influential and long-lasting weekly papers as Addis Zemen and The
Ethiopian Herald came onto the scene in 1941 and 1943, respectively.
Cont’d

 Both became dailies after December 1958.

 They served as the main official press organs of the state and as the main
source of information for literate people.
 In 1952 Yezareyitu Etyopia 'L’Ethiopie d’Audjourd’hui' (Ethiopia Today) in
Amharic and French was added to the list of newspapers.
 In 1950 Alemena Tebeb (The World and Wisdom) in Amharic.
Cont’d
 Ye-Eritrea Demts (The Voice of Eritrea) published by the Ethio-Eritrean
Unionist Association, was launched in Amharic and Tigrinya.
 Two monthly papers, Ethiopian Review, in English and Berhanena Selam in
Amharic, were published in 1946.
 In 1947, three Amharic and one English paper appeared.
 These were Zena Bete Kristyan (News of Churches),
 Nuro BeZeday (Living Wisely),
 Tekle Haimanot (Saint Tekle Haimanot) and
 The Daily News Bulletin in English.
Cont’d
 During this post-liberation period, several quarterly and yearly departmental journals
and publications,
 such as those of the State Bank of Ethiopia, Ministry of Education, Commerce and
Industry etc. also appeared.
 Magazines too were published during this period.
Some of these monthly magazines were:
 The Ethiopian Mirror (English)
 Menen (one each in English and Amharic re-named as Yekatit in Derg regime and
 Zemen in EPRDF)
 Assignment

Group 1, Government print media( the historical development, what are these( NP&
Magazine, the language they use, etc.(7)
Group 2, Private print media ( the historical development, what are these( NP& Megazin,
the language they use, etc.(7)
Group 3, Problems in print media (7)
Group 4, Press during the Derg period (7)
Group 5, Political, social and economic role of print media(7)
Group 6, Political, social and economic role and impact of social media (7)
Group 7, the overview of Broadcast media in Ethiopian (8)