Media, Democracy and Development in Ethiopia: Lessons to be Drawn from Largest Democracies

In a democracy free media, which is often referred as free press is believed to be the guardian of the public and it is a means to serve public interest. It is also thought that the media is the harbinger of democracy by upholding citizens’ rights and, as a result, free media is taken as the litmus paper for democracy. At the same time, media has been considered as the promoter of national development. Therefore, media, democracy and development are thought to be inseparable where the existence of free media and its journalistic practice implicates the presence of democracy and becomes a building block of development of a given country. The media practice in one hand and its role in democracy and development of Ethiopia on the other have been in a constant debate. So the study aimed at examining the condition in which the media has functioned along with the political dynamics of the nation. For the study, the methods used include data from primary source and reviewing of documents from secondary data. Besides, both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed. In order to indicate the overall working situation of the media in the nation comparative analysis was made by taking the experiences of the largest democracies. Finally, it was found out that though there have been some improvements in the media practice of the country, the entire practice of the media has been hampered by political, professional and technical problems.