Challenges of Journalists in Reporting Politics

Since 2007, FM radio journalists in Ethiopia are involved in the day to day reporting of political issues in one way or another. Nevertheless, reporting politics is not easygoing for them. They have faced many challenges. By taking their views and experiences in to account, the book has come up with the following major constraints as findings. Whilst the private radio journalists are in-between; that is to say, they have moderate relation with both the government and the oppositions; the government journalists are disliked by many of the opposition political party leaders and members. Second, journalists in government radio have more access to government information than the private ones. Lack of professional freedom is another constraint for the government media journalists than the private ones. Knowing the gaps and the current status of these FM radios will help government, media owners and journalists to minimize the differences and make the practice of journalists more professional regarding political issues. The findings could also be helpful for researchers who may want to further investigate on some problems of journalists in relation with political reporting.