Journalists: Hijacked Press Freedom Day Conference

Journalists: Ethiopia Hijacked Press Freedom
Day Conference

03 May, 2011 | Peter Heinlein
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An Ethiopian observance of World Press Freedom Day was
marred Tuesday by a walkout of independent journalists after a
dispute with a rival group of state-run media employees.

It was organized as a

conference on critical

topics of interest to

Ethiopian journalists. But

before the meeting began,

staff

members of Addis

Ababa’s private

newspapers were

grumbling

that the

discussions were being

hijacked.

They said representatives of private media were far outnumbered
by those from Ethiopia’s numerous state-run news outlets.

The welcoming remarks included a speech from senior
Communications Ministry official Shimelis Kemal, in which he
blamed private newspapers for the poor condition of media-state
relations in the years after the current government seized power in
1991.

"The private press was from the outset dominated by members of
the former ruling party or those that shared its political
perspectives. As a result, the press took on an overt adversarial
political direction that set the tone and standard of journalism,"
Shimelis said.

Shimelis, who is a member of Parliament and government
spokesman, accused the country's private media of having taken
as their primary task during the early years of the current
government to delegitimize the state.

"This state of affairs somehow foreclosed possibilities for a
meaningful and constructive relationship between the government
and the private media, depriving the public the opportunity to
make informed decisions. This trend took a difficult turn, leading
the public into confusion during the 2005 post-election crisis that
was unfortunately exacerbated by the private press," Shimeles
said.

Shimelis said that although significant improvements have been
made in the quality of journalism, "there is still a lot to be desired”"

The meeting quickly deteriorated into a fierce argument between
private and government media over procedural questions. It
ended when many private media representatives walked out.

Conference co-organizer Argaw Ashine called the incident
"embarrassing” "The problem is mistrust between the media and
the government. It’s very sad because we had a lot of issues to
be discussed during this event," Argaw said.

Argaw said Ethiopian governments have contributed to the
atmosphere of mistrust through involvement with professional
journalists’ associations.

"There are some three other associations in this country, but they
are not legitimate. They are not accountable; they are not
independent. It’s part of the problem of the Ethiopian press. We
don’t have that much of a vibrant independent and active
association in Ethiopia media history," Argaw said.

Several private Addis Ababa newspapers last month ran a
coordinated front page statement, accusing the government of
imposing a 45 percent price increase at state-owned printing
presses to drive them out of business.

Human rights and press freedom groups regularly criticize Ethiopia’
s free media record. The Committee to Protect Journalists this
week listed the Horn of Africa nation among the top 10
oppressors of Internet freedom. Several websites are blocked,
including VOANews.com.

Ethiopia also has a history of jamming shortwave radio broadcasts
before elections and during other sensitive times. The Voice of
America is the only international radio broadcaster transmitting in
four languages spoken in Ethiopia - Amharic, Afan Oromo,
Tigrayan and Somali.

Courtesy