Drought and famine have remained the recurrent problems in Ethiopia. The 2002-2003rndrought and famine were one of the most serious ones in recent history. This studyrnprimarily intended to examine how the Ethiopian newspapers framed these problems inrnterms of themes dealt with and sources quoted. Further, it also proposed to study whatrnfunctions the media played during the 2002-2003 drought and famine. Framing theoryrnwas used as a conceptual frame work for the current research.rnThe research was carried out through a combination of quantitative and qualitativernmethods. The four sample newspapers (The Ethiopian Herald, Reporter, Fortune andrnAddis Admass) were purposefully selected in order to ensure diversity in content andrnownership. A content analysis was used as major research method. Two trained codersrncoded 178 articles, which met the criteria set by the researcher. Further, in-depthrninterviews were conducted with key informants who worked for these four newspapers.rnThe result of the study indicated the newspapersâ€™ focus on the relief and recovery stagesrnof the drought and famine. The newspapers employed a number of different frames inrncovering the 2002-2003 drought and famine. There was a much higher use of the eventrnand appeal frame compared to the diagnostic and prognostic frames, and the newspapersrnframed the problem as natural phenomena that require urgent short term solutions. Thernnewspapers largely attributed the responsibility of solving the problem to therninternational communities and the Ethiopian government respectively.