Survival Ignored? Ethiopian Media’s Framing of the Terror Attack against Ethiopian Christians in Libya

Abstract

Abstract The paper explores whether Ethiopian media report on the religious reasons behind the terrorist attack against 30 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (eotc) followers in Libya in 2015. A framing analysis of newspaper articles reporting on the event reveal that the religious identity of the victims, and the religious justification for the massacre, have been suppressed, and it has been presented as a common, criminal offence, and political act. The government is found to be the dominant framing force creating and shifting public opinion in the reports, while the eotc’s influence is found to be restricted. The state newspaper Addis Zemen shows favoritism towards the government in its framing of the event. The private newspapers are critical of this favoritism. It is found that journalists’ perceiving that secularism means writing articles and news reports that are free of religion, and anti-eotc rhetoric that has been voiced by consecutive governments since the 1970s appear to be contributing factors to this framing negligence.