Chalchisa Gemechu

An Assessment of Status of Afan Oromo Print Media in Ethiopia: Challenges and Practice Chalchisa Gemechu

Ethiopia has a large population that has to be informed properly in order to achieve strong socio-economic and political establishment in the country. Thus, the country has to establish and encourage independent and diversified mass media as many as they can satisfy the information need of these large and diversified ethnic groups. But there is no such practice in the country. Even the majorities, Oromos are not represented in the press of the country. The main objective of the study is to assess the status of Afan Oromo Print Media in Ethiopia and to identify major factors that hinder the growth of the media. Data were qualitatively collected through in-depth personal interviews and questionnaires with open- ended questions. The study concluded that Afan Oromo Print media are insufficient to satisfy the information need of Oromo people. There are only three print media that are owned by the government and there is no private print media in the country that are published in Oromo language. Different challenges like political, economic, professional and social challenges were ascribed for the less development of the media were identified by the study.