The study has attempted to unearth the challenges and prospects of institutionalizing a mediarnself-regulatory body in Ethiopia. media in-house code of conduct is also a subset of this study.rnIn addition, the study discusses how media self-regulation is strongly attached to freedom ofrnexpression. As outlined in chapter two of the study various literatures and the experiences ofrnsome countries were taken as a bench mark and nucleus of discussion. The study employedrnboth qualitative, individual in-depth interview and document analysis, and quantitative,rnstructured questionnaires, research methods. Data were thematically analyzed based onrnrelated literature reviews, in-depth interviews and findings from questionnaires. Journalism isrna profession that highly demands freedom of expression. Freedom to seek, receive and impartrninformation are the backbones or the cornerstones for every single activities of the profession.rnFreedom of expression is clearly stipulated in the constitution of FDRE and subsequent pressrnproclamations. The outcome of the study illustrates that, there are inhibiting factors whichrnstrangled the establishment of an independent and inclusive media self-regulatory body inrnEthiopia. The polarization of the government and the private press, the existence of weak andrnfragile journalistsâ€™ associations, the disagreement among the private press, financial deficiencyrnand little awareness about media self-regulation has made the establishment of a media selfregulatoryrnbody in Ethiopia very remote. The findings of the study also indicate that in-houserncodes of conduct do exist in many media organizations, but they are not put into practice andrnneither there is an enforcing mechanism. As individual in-depth interviews revealed in-housernregulation of media houses is very poor and the codes do remain only on paper. Still codes ofrnconducts are violated and even do not referred while producing any form of journalisticrnoutputs.