War on paper: A critical discourse analysis of war reporting in Ethiopia

This study aims to examine the construction of the war between Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the central government, as well as its actors, in the local newspaper Bekur. Both a theoretical framework and a research methodology have been developed around critical discourse analysis (CDA). Methods for data analysis include Hodge's war discourse components and Van Dijk's ideological square. The findings indicate that Bekur constructed the war between TPLF forces and the central government as a war of existence. The stories portrayed the war in Ethiopia as a conflict between “country savers” and “dismantlers.” Furthermore, the TPLF forces—the out-group—are portrayed as country destabilizers, while the central government is portrayed as the country's saviour. The newspaper also represented the PM as central to winning the battle. Lastly, the positive representation of us, the in-group, and the negative representation of them, the out-group, in the newspaper seem to blatantly support the continuation of unequal power relations among those involved in the war in Ethiopia.