Media and public sphere in Ethiopia: Mediated deliberations in public and commercial television programs

Abstract

This paper explores if televised deliberations constitute the public sphere in Ethiopia, analysing the public service and commercial TV stations focussing on the EBC’s ETV Medrek, FBC’s Zuria Meles and LTV’s Sefiw Mihdar programs. It has drawn on content analysis of the mediated deliberations of the three TV programs and an in-depth interview with hosts of the programs. The study found that these television stations have created permanent elitist platforms where experts, the academia and other prominent figures discussed and debated that did not exist previously. In contrast, these programs did not create forums for ordinary citizens and other marginalised groups, including women. Indeed, these programs created limited space as platforms for different views, opinions, perceptions and diversity of participants in their discussions. These programs anticipated to covering event-oriented issues that kept changing each week. The program hosts faced internal and external influence mainly from political leaders in the daily routines of producing the programs in their respective media houses. Overall, the role of these TV stations in creating a platform for public sphere, setting the public agenda consistently and promoting public opinion formation endured minimal.