Media and Peace Building: Is the media in Amhara fostering peace or fueling conflict?

Media reportage on conflict contributes to the resolution or escalation of conflict. In as much as they contributed to the development of the democratic system, the media in Ethiopia have
equivalently played a destructive role in fuelling ethnic tensions in the country. Different political groups were able to exploit the mass media to push their narratives including categorization of certain groups as a threat to the country’s unity escalating an already polarized political environment due to tensions over surviving as a nation.

Yellow journalism, a practice usually characterized by sensational reports and media coverage of dubious accuracy and taste, has been widely practiced by both mainstream as well as social media outlets during wartimes and conflicts. Such reports tend to depict eye-catching headlines; exaggerated events, and news of threat in an unprofessional and unethical manner. Such sensationalism in news reporting is often intended to attract readers at a high scale and promote a certain agenda with the objectives to either influence or hoodwink the viewers.

While internet access is available to only around 2.5% of the population, the role of social media has extremely increased and become more visible in Ethiopia during the multi conflicts happening in the country. The platform served as an important tool to access information that would have otherwise not been available on mainstream media given the challenges of journalists to provide them without ramifications. As a result, it was not uncommon to see public denouncement of human rights abuses alongside narratives of events associated with conflicts as reported by armed groups themselves as well as other national political agendas.