Media Framing of the Peace Negotiation between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front: A Comparative Analysis of EBC and BBC

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to analyze in a comparative perspective how EBC and BBC framed the peace negotiation between the Ethiopian Federal Government and TPLF forces.. The news stories were collected from EBC and BBC websites within a selected time frame between November 04 2022 and March 30 2023. Framing theory and agenda setting theories were employed as theoretical framework of the study. The research was conducted through qualitative as a research design. To portray the framing used in the media stations, the researcher attempted to analyze the dominant frames of the news these media stations used within the selected time frame. Based on this, the study found that both BBC and EBC used different framing perspectives. EBC used national interest frame, restorations of service frame and happiness frame whereas BBC used consequence of the war frame, blaming frame and restorations of service frame during the sampled time frame. The issue of the peace negotiation between the federal government of Ethiopia and TPLF has been reported and framed by sampled media in a distinctive manner that goes in line with foreign policy of the nations, editorial policy of each media and their agenda settings. Media shall not be biased, instead, it must report based on facts on ground and it should be loyal to the people, not to the government. Thus these media stations should be more objective and balanced in their framing. Impartiality, balance and professionalism have also been recommended for the two media outlets.