Due to my short visit in Ethiopia in 2007 I had the interest to find out how the PR is conducted in that beautiful country. I started my research with enthusiasm and found already many interesting paradigms…
Ethiopia is considered one of the oldest human settlement areas as well as one of the oldest countries in the world dating back to amazing 1000 BC. Ethiopians are also Africa's second-most populous nation by estimated population of over 79,000,000. So there has been interpersonal communication for long time and there are a lot of message senders and receivers. However PR seems to be still a very hidden phenomenon.
Some other facts of the country may also help us to understand the background of PR in Ethiopia. In addition to mostly spoken official Amharic the country has eighty-three other indigenous languages, which is a challenge for PR and countrywide communication (as earlier Tiiu discussed at Overview of PR in Africa)
I got the impression that Ethiopians are very proud of their history and highly value their beautiful mountain country. Historically, people in Ethiopia practiced some of the oldest democratic systems in the world, but according to The Economist’s Democracy Index, Ethiopia is now-a-days closer to Authoritarian Regimes than real democracy. For example radio and television are under the control of the Ethiopian government. As we YVIA313 students know after our first lecture, democracy is a necessity for real PR to be able to take place.
One more challenge for the nationwide PR practises are several main religions, which include Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Paganism. There is a freedom of religion, but also some tension exists between the different religions.
Neverthele
ss there must also exist some high level of international PR since Ethiopia is known as the Africa's "Diplomatic Capital". It is for example one of the United Nations original members. The headquarters of both the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are in Addis Ababa.
The PR field now and in the future is certainly changing as the country has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In 2008 the GDP per capita was $898 which meant 11,11 % increase. (Source). Despite these economic improvements, urban and rural poverty remains an issue. Due to poverty and low literacy rates (42.7% ) print media serves only a small portion of the population. The government restricts the freedom of the press and assembly. ENA (The Ethiopia News Agency) seems to be the propaganda tool of the Government. You can have a look at their new web pages here. If you still are interested in reading more you can find Ethiopian news links from Abbaymedia and at DOMZ. 
At first I doubted whether PR even exists in Ethiopia, but I’m determined to find it. :) So you’ll be sure to hear more interesting findings about my search of the PR in Ethiopia… Keep your fingers crossed and feel free to help me with any interesting questions or ideas.
With exiting PR explorer greetings,
Anna
Photos:1. Flag of Ethiopia
2. Bakery
3. Shop
4. Coming from work
General sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_in_Ethiopia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_in_Ethiopia
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html
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3 comments:
I had a look at the webpage of the Ethiopia News Agency, and I agree that it seems to be a propaganda tool for the government - only "good" news were there. I have to warn you that when I tried to click on "About us" at their page, my anti-virus program gave me a warning of Trojan and blocked the page...
Could one argue, that there isn't really scientific or managed PR around there?
Tiiu: Thanks for the virus warning. Everybody Be aware.
Aleksi: My understanding at the moment is that there is no scientific PR in Ethiopia, but how ever there are many organizations that manage PR - i.e. global organizations as the Red Cross and WHO. And as well I find it interesting to research what kind of PR there is.
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