Media and Politics of Representation: A Critical Decolonial Analysis of the Protests Against Addis Ababa’s Integrated Master Plan

ABSTRACT

This study explores both the coloniality of knowledge and politics of representation and the dominant political ideologies manifested within the Ethiopian Brodcasting Corporation (EBC). It also deepens media coverage of protests by interrogating how the media in Ethiopia construct knowledge and negotiate politics of representation in every aspect of the political scene. The study employed an exploratory case study research design through the lens of decolonial epistemic theory to scrutinise the mass media coverage of protests deployed in the EBC. This study mainly discusses the colonial matrix of power, dominant discourses and their ideologies in EBC regarding protest representation against Addis Ababa’s Integrated Master Plan (AAIMP). The study extends its argument to how decolonisation occurs in the struggle for economic control through the land-grabbing political system of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government of Ethiopia. The study’s central argument regards AAIMP’s goal to annex the neighbouring Oromia regions, proposed in 2014. Through this colonial matrix, as emphasised by the work of Tlostanova and Mignolo, the study elaborates on how the government imposes restrictions on the media representation of protests and how and why the media partially or fully ignore or distort the coverage of social movements.

KEYWORDS:

• Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan; colonial matrices of power
• EBC; land grabbing
• Oromo; protest movements

Acknowledgements

This research is part of the PhD thesis, “A Decolonial Perspective of Mass Media Representation of Protests: The Case of the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation" at the University of South Africa (UNISA). We extend our gratitude to the UNISA M&D Bursary fund and the Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MoE) for their financial support of the PhD project. The UNISA M&D Bursary fund played a crucial role in supporting this research project by providing financial assistance to the PhD candidate. This support allowed the researchers to dedicate their time and resources to conducting in-depth analysis and gathering valuable data on the representation of protests in the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 EBC. 2014. Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation Editorial Policy. Addis Ababa: EBC. (A policy document that helps to guide the entire operation of EBC.

2 EBC's reports on protest movements in the Oromia region obtained from its organizational website (https://www.facebook.com/EBCzena).

3 EBC' Establishment proclamation (Proclamation No. 858/214. A proclamation to provide for the establishment of Ethiopian broadcasting corporation) found in Negarit Gazeta, 8 November 2014.

4 EBC. 2015. Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation Content Compiled News Room Manuals. Addis Ababa.

5 The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. 1995. Addis Ababa. Berhanena Selam Printing Press.