The aim of this research is to examine the Ethiopian defamation laws and the j ournali sts' perceptionrnand practices pertaining to the laws. The Public Sphere th eory and Social Responsibility Theory ofrnthe Press have been employed to inform the research. The research employed both quantitative andrnqualitative method of research. Moreover, the research utilized descriptive and thematic analysisrnmethod to ana lyze the quantitative and the qualitative data respectively. 2 10 questionnaires werernadministered to reporters and editors in the state run and privately owned media based in Add isrnAbaba thro ugh random samp ling, out of which the properly filled and returned 142 questionnairesrnwere analyzed. Besides, the data from the interview which were gathered from four media se lectedrnrandomly through lottery system and from the purposely se lected four journalists in those mediarnwere analyzed separatel y. What is more, the data gathered from two focus groups with eightrnmembers each se lected using purposive sampling were discussion and analyzed thematica lly. Thernvarious defamation laws of the country were analyzed against the laws on freedom of expression.rnAgain, the four defamation cases which appeared in the Federal First instant courts since 1999 werernse lected based on the ava ilability sampling and analyzed thematically. The research found out thatrnjournali sts have a negative perception towards the defamation laws; the various defamation lawsrnserve a chilling effect; and many defamation cases of the court have a deterrence factor to the extentrnof se lf-censoring.