On Press Freedom and the Ethiopian Elections

On Press Freedom and the Ethiopian Elections

28 May, 2010 | By Mesfin Negash

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"No free and fair election can be held in the absence of a
vibrant and free media, whether it is in Ethiopia or
elsewhere."

This year’s election in

Ethiopia had no chance of

being free and fair from

the outset mainly because

of what the ruling party

has laid down over the

last five years. A free and

fair election requires a

free society in which

journalists can obtain independent sources of information and have
the full freedom to voice opinions without any fear of reprisal. No
free and fair election can be held in the absence of a vibrant and
free media, whether it is in Ethiopia or elsewhere. Ethiopia has
failed miserably on both counts: It has no free and vibrant media,
and it failed to hold a free and fair election.

Most people were suffocated by government propaganda,
particularly in rural areas. In the run-up to this election, the
government did everything to silence or bar all influential
independent sources of information. It forced the closure of Addis
Neger and terrorised other weeklies; furthermore, the ruling party
jammed Voice of America and German broadcaster Deutsche
Welle - the only sources of independent information for most rural
Ethiopians. The ruling party controlled and used all ‘public’ radio
stations and the only TV station solely for party purposes. On the
other hand, a huge campaign of persuasion coupled with material
benefits including promotions, scholarships and jobs was
launched, supported by continuous propaganda.

In the meantime, in addition to insulating the public from
independent sources of information, an organized campaign was
under way to pressurize the public at a family level to side with the
ruling party. In some parts of the country, the ruling party spread
messages of fear, to present itself as the only savior. This is
particularly true among minority ethnic groups including Tigray, the
base of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. There, his party exhorted
people not to vote for the opposition by claiming that ‘if the
opposition is elected, the people of Tigray could face attack by
other groups, particularly Amharas …’. I don’t think a public so
terrorized by such messages, and insulated from other
independent sources of information, can vote without fear. This
incident reminds me of the referendum our Eritrean brothers and
sisters had in 1991, to vote for independence/freedom from
Ethiopia; the choice on the card was to choose between
‘freedom’ and ‘slavery’.

Unfortunately, the Ethiopian media cannot play the role it should
be playing because there is no conducive environment for such an
exercise. The government media outlets, both print and broadcast,
have practically been turned into party propaganda machines such
as are to be found in Communist North Korea or Cuba.
Everything done by these media outlets is highly controlled by
party people working at every level of news production and the
production of commentaries.

The private or independent media is also crippled by internal and
external constraints. Internally, most of the independent
newspapers lack the capacity to provide quality and influential
information. Their circulation is very small, and limited to the big
cities. The few that have the potential to provide such quality
information are restrained by fear and economic interests. As a
result, they are too shy and apologetic in dealing with major issues
of democracy and freedom of speech. It is very risky for an
independent journalist/newspaper to share all views on the
political sphere with readers. Entertaining the views of some
opposition groups is criminalized by recently-approved laws.
Apart from this open criminalization of freedom of speech, a
journalist or newspaper confronting the ruling elite and their near-
hegemonic ideology can be listed as an ‘agent’ of ‘anti-
peace/development…’ forces.

In general, Ethiopia’s political and legal framework does not
enable the media to play a role in ensuring a free, fair and
democratic election. This situation is the deliberate creation of the
ruling party. There was no chance for the independent media to
fulfill its role. Not only does the ruling party exercise full control
over public media outlets, it is also creating and financing new
pseudo-independent newspapers to force independent
newspapers out of the market. The ruling party is consciously
setting up these newspapers to address urbanites who don’t trust
government outlets, and prefer to give the benefit of the doubt to
‘independent’ newspapers. They did it in 2005, and tried it in the
run up to this election as well. These pseudo-independent papers
may manage to create confusion among readers, but no trust at all.
They publish internal discussions from the opposition party in
these papers. It is well known that the papers are getting these
reports from the security apparatus of the government - which
uses sophisticated technology to infiltrate the high leadership of the
opposition meetings.

Media outlets, particularly online media, have the freedom to play
a role. But their impact is limited by two factors: insignificant
access to the Internet in Ethiopia, and lack of capacity and
professionalism. One can gather relatively more independent
information about Ethiopia online than through in-country sources.
However, the online outlets are extremely polarized and
politicized; when a website is moderate it tend to lack the capacity
to provide comprehensive and timely information. As a result,
most are rather opinion-oriented, and are aggregators. Only a few
of them are managed by full time staffers, but those that are don’t
have more than two staff.

Outlets based outside Ethiopia are the best sources of information
for the Diaspora and for those with Internet access within
Ethiopia. Their main role has been entertaining the views of the
opposition (as most of them side against the government),
providing a few very limited news items, and finally, aggregating.

On the election date, nonetheless, a few websites played an
instrumental role in following up on the process and updating the
public. Addis Neger especially had a successful LIVE Election
Day Blog covering most parts of the country. Two others, one
belonging to an opposition party, also followed suit and had a live
blog, but they were updated with far less frequency. Our Live
Blog created a new sense of eagerness - both at home and
abroad - to follow the process from an independent perspective,
despite the fact that the result was a foregone conclusion. Our
blog reports were in stark contradiction with those of government
and affiliated sources.

Therefore, I can see a good future for media outlets, such as
Addisnegeronline.com, managed from outside Ethiopia, if they can
gather support that allows them to have a functioning presence at
home.

Mesfin Negash is the Managing Editor of Addis Neger
newspaper, a popular independent weekly founded in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2007. Publication of the paper
ceased in December 2009 after editors and managers there
received a credible warning that they were to be targeted
under anti-terrorism legislation. They subsequently fled the
country. Addis Neger has since started publishing news and
commentary online, and is now operated from outside
Ethiopia. Addis Neger can be found at addisnegeronline.com.

Courtesy