News Framing Analysis of First Round Filling of GERD. Comparative Study on The Ethiopian Herald, Sudan Tribune and Ahram Online Media outlets.

Master's Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Communications - Journalism, Journalism Professions, grade: Excellent, Addis Ababa University (Humanities, Language Studies, Journalism and Communications), language: English, abstract: The issue of the GERD has reached its climax when Ethiopia was ready to impound the reservoir leading the three riparian countries /Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt/ to a new round of intense debate disagreement and controversy. Taking this crucial historical moment as an interesting and significant topic of research, this thesis is set out with a key purpose of examining how the media outlets in the three countries reported and framed issues related to the first round filling of the GERD. The Ethiopian Herald, Sudan Tribune and Ahram online with their news stories written from June 1st to July 31st have been examined. Ten news stories from each media outlet have been studied in conjunction with in-depth interviews and close examination of related literatures to provide the thesis with additional substance. Theoretical framework utilized for the study is framing and agenda setting theories. Key word: GERD, Nile River, Impoundment of the GERD Reservoir, Controversy over the GERD, Blue Nile/Abbay