Investigative Reporting Within Development Journalism in Ethiopia: What Triggers Amhara Radio to Reconcile It?

Abstract

This study assesses the practice of investigative reporting within development journalism in Amhara radio. The study used quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Data was mainly collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews. 1326 pieces of news were selected for content analysis by using multi-stage sampling, and 13 reporters, editors, and media managers were selected for interviews by using multi-stage sampling and purposive sampling. The finding shows that Amhara radio tries to reconcile investigative reporting within development journalism by maximizing the number of news stories that engage in investigative reporting. As per the findings, 28.4% of the news stories were devoted to investigating and criticizing the wrongdoings of the government; this is by far higher than the previous four years’ average of 1.9%. However, the media didn’t touch on the fundamental structural problems of the government in its investigative reporting, and there was also a lack of in-depth investigation into issues. The main factors that trigger the medium to engage in investigative reporting are media managers’ and regional government’s commitment, social media pressure, and the public protest movement against the government. Generally, with different challenges, Amhara Radio is striving to change history and become a model for other state-owned media in the country.