The history of the press in Ethiopia goes as far back as the second half of the 19thrncentury. In spite of its long history, the press is still in its infancy materially,rnprofessionally and economically. Other than serving the public interest, the press hasrnbeen muzzled by successive governments to serve their interests. Even at times whenrnthe grips of the state have become moderate, the majority of the private press in itsrnearlier days opted to serve political interests whose ramifications sustain to this dayrncreating a polarized press environment. The polarization of the private press in turnrnhas resulted in many negative consequences which culminate in jeopardizing its veryrnexistence. As a result, in the last couple of decades, the private media market inrnEthiopia has seen the coming and going of hundreds of private newspapers wherernonly a handful of them have sustained over a decade. This research had the objectivernof investigating and explaining factors responsible for the survival of those fewrnnewspapers focusing on Reporter and Addis Admas thereby implicating how andrnwhy the others vanished from the market. In order to address its objectives, thernresearch has been generally informed by the Political Economy Theory. Among thernmodels that can be included in the theory, Polarized Pluralist Model and the PoliticalrnEconomy of the Mass Media, Propaganda Model, have been selected.rnTriangulation of data in the realm of qualitative research method employing in-depthrninterview and document analysis has been employed. Thirteen key informantsrnrepresenting the surviving and defunct newspapers, media associations, mediarnresearchers and/or scholars and a government representative have been purposely selected. In addition, convemence sampling has been used to analyze availablerndocuments.rnThe findings of this research have revealed two things. Firstly, they have ascertainedrnprevious research findings about the existence of multiple challenges that have keptrnthe private sector fragile and prone to extinction. Secondly and mainly, despite thernexistence of a myriad of challenges in the sector, factors that have helped thernsurvival of Reporter and Addis Admas have been uncovered. These arernprofessionalism, discharging roles and responsibilities, maintaining independence,rngetting access to ads and decreasing the likelihood of charges by maneuveringrnresponsibly and defending the unavoidable ones likewise.rnThe findings imply that in order to survive the challenging private press situation inrnEthiopia, the press needs to work in a professional and responsible manner avoidingrnconfrontational approach with the government. This does not mean that the pressrnshould not be critical to the governn1ent; rather, it should present its criticismsrnconstructively but not in a hostile intent as it has been proven counterproductive.