Exclusion of religion and religious identity in framing a terrorist attack

What is it about?

In 2015, 30 Ethiopian Christians were killed in Libya by the international terrorist group IS. According to the 29-minute propaganda video, which includes two brutal killing scenes and a narration of the reason for the killing, the Christians were killed because they belong to the "Nation of the Cross", which has "Muslim blood" in its hands. They were also killed because they refused to convert to Islam and because they were unable to pay what IS calls the "protection fee" - a fee paid by every non-Muslim to be in the area. Following the event, Ethiopia declared 3 days of national mourning and a series of social and political events took place in the country. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (EOTC), following a decision by its Holy Synod, named the slain Christians "Martyrs of the 21st Century". How is the religious dimension seen in the eyes of the secular private and state media? And how strongly are the two old Ethiopian institutions (the government and the EOTC) represented in the media? The findings show that the secular Ethiopian media ignore the religious identity of the killed Christians and the religious reason for the killing. Rather, the religious aspect is given a secular face. During the event, the state media sided with the government, protecting it from criticism and swaying public opinion towards the government's interests. Private newspapers are critical of this favouritism. The EOTC had a limited say in the reporting of the event and related stories in the media.

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Why is it important?

The paper shows how religion is paradoxically under-reported in the secular media in a country where over 95% of the population identify as Christian or Muslim. The paper argues that for Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo believers, religion is a quest for survival, a matter of life and death. For them, to lose religion is to lose one's life and to be counted as dead, so it is the source that gives meaning to life. The media is ignoring this important aspect by ignoring the religious aspect in a story where religion is at the centre of the framing of the terrorist attack against Ethiopian Christians by IS.

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