This research attempted to study the coverage of development issues in government andrnprivate newspapers in Ethiopia. It was informed by modernization, dependency andrnparticipatory theoretical frameworks. Its focus was on a comparative analysis ofrndevelopment issues coverage in the Ethiopian Herald (the government newspaper) andrnthe Reporter (the privately owned newspaper). The emphasis was on the coverage ofrneconomic, social and political developments. To this end, it evaluated the extent of therncoverage of development issues, the aspects of the development issues in focus, thernsources of the development issues, and the prominent pages of the issues of developmentrnin the newspapers. A Content analysis was conducted on the stories carried by the twornselected newspapers to provide a description of the coverage of development issues. Thernanalysis shows that the private media covered less development issues than therngovernment media. The economic development was considered the most importantrnaspect of development coverage in both newspapers. In general, the Ethiopian press,rnparticularly the government owned one gave little or no shortcomings on its coverage ofrnsocial, economic and political issues in the country. This implies that the governmentrnpress advances the government’s point of view. Based on the findings, pertinentrnrecommendations were forwarded.