The Framing of Political Uprising on Social Media: The Case of Amhara and Oromia
Regional States

Tazeb, Aragaw

dc.contributor.author	Tazeb, Aragaw
dc.date.accessioned	2017-10-18T09:30:58Z
dc.date.available	2017-10-18T09:30:58Z
dc.date.issued	2017-10-18
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/8041
dc.description.abstract	This study aimed at examining how social media framed the recent political unrest of Amhara and Oromia regional states. To this end, Facebook pages of Aiga Forum, Dire Tube, and Zehabesha were selected in their coverage’s from 7th of July 2016 up to 8th of October 2016 the period the protest moment spread out in the Amhara and Oromia regional states until the state of emergency has been officially declared in the country. Relevant data of the study were purposively sampled. For investigating how the news contents were framed, both qualitative and quantitative content analysis methods were used. Accordingly, Aiga Forum Facebook page falls short in its protest coverage. The page seems to have privileged official sources over citizen sources and most of the time it marginalized and discredited the protesters claims and actions. In the pages, the protesters were portrayed negatively just like they were terrorists, extremists, chauvinists, and rent collectors. Although the page had a better position to contextualize and explain the root causes and background history that led up the protesters, the authors potentially served as more political activists and protagonists of the government than as actors of the deviant behavior of the protesters. In Dire Tube Facebook page, to some extent the citizen sources were given preferential coverage over official sources. Most of the time it made clear that the protesters were portrayed as if they were fighting for democracy, and against injustice. The protesters were labeled to have the real and legitimate reasons to protest, although they were blamed for their devastating actions towards the public wealth and institutions. In its implications it remains of a neutral stance. As much as possible, the authors of the page being -free from visible burden of partiality, they served as analyzing the action of those involved in the conflict and portrayed perspectives as well as opinions, as a neutral account, typical of traditional reporting. Dire Tube Facebook page failed for adequately explaining the ground serving as driving vehicles which move the protesters. On the other hand, Zehabesha Facebook page significantly privileged non-official sources over official sources. Hence, the page can be taken as a qualified alternative media viewpoint with its protest coverage. The page seriously highlighted and recognized claims of the protesters fostering the public support, emphasizing the numbers of protesters involved and articulating the government military forces excessive use of force. On the contrary, Zehabesha page failed to adequately explain the root problems which caused the citizens to protest though it was absolutely detached from the government viewpoints as it held antagonistic viewpoints. The writers of these pages seemed like political activists and clearly sided with the protesters. Hence, they tried to serve as catalyst for change. In general, this study reveals that there are different array of framing the issue. It illuminates the bias among the news of the studied Facebook pages. There were higher frequencies of exaggerated extremism in between Aiga Forum and Zehabesha pages. Furthermore, there was no clear demarcation between journalism and political activism in light of the coverage considered in this study. 1	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Media and Communication	en_US
dc.title	The Framing of Political Uprising on Social Media: The Case of Amhara and Oromia Regional States	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US