Does a private press guarantee free press?
An overview of the journey to free press in Ethiopia

By Tesfu Telahoun

May 3, 2007 was observed as World Press Freedom Day in a somewhat somber atmosphere as it highlighted 2006-2007 as the deadliest, most dangerous year for journalists and other media professionals. From Moscow to Mogadishu, Asmara to Abuja too often transiting through Addis Ababa, from Guatemala to Gaza… Beirut to bloody Baghdad and on to Beijing, the media worker has been targeted by all sides of the story.

Some may shrug it off as an occupational hazard just like in any other job, others would say reporters put themselves in harms way, in reckless pursuit of a super scoop for their 15 minutes of fame and a ticket to fortune. Certain others who believe in killing the messenger would even consider prying reporters, journalists and their technical crews as fair game. After all, they say, the media makes a living over the misfortune of others.

Rationalizations aside, from May 2006 to May 2007 a total of 107 journalists and media workers have lost their lives and hundreds have suffered critical injuries including loss of sight and amputated limbs. Over 3,000 were or have been detained in the countries which view press freedom with the lowest contempt. Scores of other journalists have been abducted, including the BBC’s Alan Johnson who was snatched in Gaza 56 days ago.

Years after Ethiopians were allowed to exercise their inalienable right to freedom of expression, in what state of health is press freedom to be found? Any discussion on this topic is bound to raise more questions than answers-a socio-political fast breeding nuclear reactor.
As Capital was gathering opinions from Mr. and Mrs. Every person, journalists, activists and resident expatriates, it soon become clear that the state of press freedom in Ethiopia is perceived in many different shades.

‘What press? was not uncommon question; followed closely by, ‘What freedom of the press?’ To a large number of the reading public polled, freedom of the press died right after the 2005 elections.

Of course, the more pragmatic admit that there is a free press on the face of it but then point out that existing publications and media productions survived the “great newspaper purge” because they are somehow ‘favored’ by the state.

One of the many burdens of trying to be impartial – a near impossibility in Ethiopia, is that the reading public, spoiled by reckless journalists and publications cannot tolerate even the slightest hint of praise for the state or the merest whiff of criticism of the opposition.
The most immediate impact of the post 2005 press clamp down was that a major portion of the reading, listening and viewing public has turned off state media almost completely. The only outlets of state media that remain popular are the three music and feature FM stations.

Capital brings you the excerpts of the opinions of some notable figures in the profession and others with related insights.

Professor Mekonen Addis

“Private press doesn’t always imply to free press. If one entertains his/her private idea or agenda, it is a private press but not a free press. If it has to be a free press, it has to be free to entertain all kinds of ideas and should be open to every body.”

Emrakeb Assefa,President, Ethiopian Media Women Association, EMWA

Amare Aregawi

“There are obstacles that one faces while trying to implement Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution. Ethiopia has no problem in signing international laws and including them to the local laws such as the constitution. The problem occurs when it comes to practice or implementation.
In addition to the problems observed in implementing the laws properly by the government, there is also the misunderstanding of journalists as well as the government in properly realizing the essence of press freedom. Real press freedom can be expressed when a press is accountable only to the public, not to the government or political parties or advertisers.”

Amare Aregawi, Editor in Chief of Reporter newspaper

Emrakeb Assefa

One of the major reasons that we exist as an association is the reality that Ethiopian women have little or no access to the media. The world we live in is one where men control media outlets. We know that if a household owns a radio, it is controlled by the husband, and there are many instances where the father removes the batteries when he leaves to tend the fields or go to other work, leaving the mother/wife with no access to the media.
As such, one of the Ethiopian Media Women Association's (EMWA) objectives is to contribute to women's access to media outlets and encourage their freedom of speech and expression. We have a lot to do in raising the awareness level of women, that they have the right to communicate, to have their voices heard. As one of our activities in this regard, and in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day, EMWA plans to organize a forum on media's role in promotion of women's freedom of speech and expression on Thursday 10 May 2007. This forum is part of one of the permanent features of EMWA, which organizes every two months a discussion forum for its members and other stakeholders at its office.

Professor Mekonen Addis, Guest Lecturer, speaking at a recent gathering on press matters organized by the United States Embassy in Ethiopia.

Ato Tsegaye Taddesse Representative of Reuters News Agency in Ethiopia.

We don’t have to deny the changes in the industry that we have observed. The problem comes, when we fail to realize our rights and obligations as journalists. We must be crazy if we think that anything the government does is always wrong. When we compare what the countryside looks like with some thirty-five or forty years ago, there are visible changes that I personally can’t deny.
Therefore, the private press should also have to courageously fulfill its responsibility of public awareness creation, by entertaining these success stories.
On the other hand, government officials should also realize that it is the duty of a journalist to report stories accurately even if these stories are sad and tragic. We are not reporting such stories to attack the government; we are only playing our role of watchdog to the society.”

State of press freedom in Ethiopia

By Andualem Sisay

In commemoration of May 3, 2007, UNESCO’s World press Freedom Day, a half-day workshop was conducted on the state of press freedom in Ethiopia at the Hilton Hotel. The workshop was attended by various scholars as well as both local and national journalists and officially opened by Birhane Haile, Minister of at the Ethiopian Ministry of Information.
Papers were presented by the ministry of information, Amare Aregawi, Editor in-chief of private newspaper-The Reporter and by Dean of the Addis Ababa University School of Journalism and Communications, Professor Abiy Ford.
In his presentation, Amare clearly listed the obstacles that one faces while trying to implement Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution. Ethiopia has no problem in signing international laws and including them to the local laws such as the constitution. The problem occurs when it comes to practice or implementation, according to Amare.
Access to information and heavy penalties are presented as the obstacles set by the government for the absence of free press after the country began its new journey of democratization by ratifying press law in 1992 that allowed more than one thousand private press products at that time.
In addition, inconsistency of media laws with the constitution, guidelines and regulations from the executive organ of the government that nullifies the legislative, restrictive provisions in both press and broadcast laws such as content restriction, illegibility, registration, licensing, suspicion and banning were listed by the presenter as major obstacles that need to be corrected for the realization of free press in Ethiopia.
In addition to the problems observed in implementing the laws properly by the government, he also mentioned the misunderstanding of journalists as well as the government in properly realizing the essence of press freedom. “Real press freedom can be expressed when a press is accountable only to the public, not to the government or political parties or advertisers,” he says.
Lack of professionalism, low institutional capacity, lack of ethics or code of conduct, absence of a self regulatory body of press council, lack of a common platform or association are also listed by Amare as the failures of journalists of both private and/or government media that hindered the realization of free press in Ethiopia.
Speakers from the UN country team have also promised to contribute their level best for the realization of free press in the country.
The realization of school of journalism and the recent trend of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to call both private and government media for press briefing were mentioned as the good signs and actions taken and underway that showing the government’s commitment to realize free press in Ethiopia, according to the presenter from the Ministry of Information.
Comparing the duty of a journalist with that of a car driver whose speed is governed by factors such as the road type, engine type etc, Abiy Ford on his part also stressed the need for considering the surrounding factors of a country that is different from another country. A press freedom in a developed country might not be totally copied and pasted in Ethiopia while there are many factors that should be taken into consideration.
The workshop delivered a final communiqué that includes urging the Ethiopian government to adhere it self for the realization of its own constitution Article 19, which is the copy of Article 19 of UDHR that says “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Four dedicated decades

By Tormod Nuland
for Capital

He first arrived here in 1963, following his parents. Since then, Øyvind Aadlands professional and private life has been closely connected with Ethiopia. He has lived here, and worked on several projects including the establishing of the School of Journalism at Addis Ababa University. Seeing him gives you an impression of a tall and friendly faranji, yet when he opens his mouth he speaks flawless Amharic. "I consider myself half Ethiopian, although my passport says Norwegian," states the versatile academic who is now moving on to a new job.

"When I first came here, the country was very different. There population was only 30 to 35 million people. I came during the rainy season, and I remember all the green, it was so fertile. When we were driving from Addis to Awassa on a road without a tarmac, I remember the Acasi forest, it was green, the vegetation was different from today. That fertile green land made quite an impression on me. My parents were involved in education in Ethiopia, working for the Mekane Yesus Church, and my father was the director of a teacher-training institute in Southern Ethiopia. I came as a kid, spent my adolescence here as a student of Sandford School, and after my education I spent a number of years working for the Mekane Yesus Church in several positions. After my doctorate i was working with the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, and through this I became attached to a project with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Addis Ababa University for about five years."
Dr. Aadland says he feels at home here, he has hoped that he could play a part in developing Ethiopia, share the aspiration of building this country into a better place to live for the large number of people who are still living in poverty. He is very much attracted by the culture, the atmosphere and the country itself, which he thinks has a very big potential;
"I think there is a lot of human talent, and human resources still not utilized. The country has a lot of beauty. When you ask people on the streets of Europe about their connotations with Ethiopia, I am sad to say that most of them refer to conflicts and famine and other negative aspects. I think there are quite a lot of political challenges, a lot of poverty to overcome. But at the same time, there is more to it, Ethiopia's beautiful nature, its great people, its cultural heritage, so I think we have to re-new the image. I really hope that Ethiopia could end up having peace, the framework of peace would make it possible to develop the potential. "

Westeners should be more humble
When asked to compare his two home-countries, Øyvind Aadland says it is quite difficult: " Norway is just a small country with 4,5 million people. In Ethiopia we can speak of 70 million plus that. It is a country with more than 80 different ethnic groups, The history, culture and the religious backgrounds differ very much while Norway is more homogenous. They are difficult to compare, and I think we should take this into consideration when we from the West come and somehow try to impose solutions to the problems here. There has to be found solutions of its own kind in the context of Ethiopia. I think we should be much more humble when we come from a small, wealthy country with a very homogenous culture."
The Norwegian with an Ethiopian heart also has dreams for the new Millennium: " I hope one can find a common platform where the different ethnic groups are able to join hands and share the power. I think there is so much hatred and bitterness from the past, issues on which there has not been a reconciliation. I think that Ethiopia needs a thorough reconciliation, and then the different people have to join hands and be united in building a country with unity in diversity."
Living in and with Ethiopia for more than forty years means seeing many changes, specially in history and politics. To Aadlands mind, there are three main challenges in Ethiopian politics:
"The land reform has been tried solved in different ways, we had the feudal system. the Derg and the present government. Still, I do not think that the land reform is finally resolved. Secondly: the centralized governance, the feudal system had its own governance, so had the Derg, whereas this government is federal. I am not quite sure if the relation between peripheries and central is fully resolved in terms of governance. And of course the relations to the neighboring countries; there were the Somali wars during the Haile Selassie era, the struggle through the Derg with Eritrea and also partly with Somalia, and we see the present situation. I am not trying to evaluate which of the solutions throughout times that was closest to being the best, but these three above mentioned issues are not finally solved."

The School of Journalism
From the late 90`s, Dr. Aadland was working at Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication, a private college in Kristians and, Norway with emphasis on journalism and intercultural communication. Here, he taught and inspired numerous students from his professional and personal experiences. He also went to Ethiopia with students, and continued to work for development:
"The issue of Human Rights has been on the forefront in Ethiopian politics, at least for this government. I happened to attend a human rights conference on the "Ombudsman" in the late 90`s. We were a little bit disappointed about the status of human rights at that point. I have also been reporting the 1995 elections, and defiantly the status of human rights was not satisfactory. But whereas you can be critical, you also have to be constructive. Instead of just bashing about everything that we found "under the standard", I thought we had to be positively contributing. We said that in order to improve human rights in Ethiopia, and in order to probably establish a functioning "Ombudsman`s Office", we had to look at one of the pillars of democracy; freedom of the press. Freedom of the press is not something you just pronounce, you have to make sure that you have a professional group of people who can build a professional journalism and use the freedom of expression to build a democracy. Then we thought that we could train Ethiopians within the country, and create a school that could be a platform for a constructive dialogue to open up the space for freedom of expression and to contextualize that, because I know that freedom of expression in the Horn of Africa is probably not a "blue-print" of the freedom of expression up in little Norway. But we need a professional platform on which we can discuss and exchange views, and hopefully open up the space for freedom of expression."
Dr. Aadland states that the School of Journalism at the Addis Ababa university is a cooperation project:
"The donor is the Norwegian Government, the hosting institution is the Addis Ababa University, and the academic partner is Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication. This is going to be a fully Ethiopianized program because of sustainability, and we hope that within the framework of the program we will be able to educate enough Ethiopian professionals to be able to take on this school and educate more professional journalists for the time to come. I believe we will see results within ten to fifteen years. I think there is still a challenge for the University to strengthen the administrative capacity. The infrastructure of the School of Journalism still has to be further developed. But I think we have been able to achieve quite a level of professionalism academically. At the same time, I am afraid that it is hard to practice as a journalist in Ethiopia, there is still a legal framework to be put in place. This is part of opening the space. I do hope we have contributed by presenting professional and talented Ethiopian journalists to the country, but now they need to be involved and there should be a legal framework that makes it possible for them to really flourish. By this summer, we will have forty graduates of the Master-program."

Versatile and moving on
Øyvind Aadland has worked with the Church, with an Institute of Human Rights, and Schools of Journalism. Now he is moving on along the same alley, to become the Secretary-General of the Stromme Foundation, one of the major development agencies in Norway:
" The Stromme foundation has two main pillars, one is micro-finance, and the other one is education. We are not hiring any expatriate personnel in any of the countries in which we operate. we always operate through local NGO`s. we want to have a catalytic function; that means that we want to share some resources in order to stimulate resources locally. we are very much afraid of the dependency syndrome, and we hope to be able to getting people started. We have members from the South on our board. We have regional offices run by regional directors locally . We also have staff from the South in our Headquarters in Kristians and in order to develop a real partnership. This is not going to be a one-way project , but a real partnership. We operate in 17 countries, out of four regional offices; in West and East Africa, one in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and one in Lima, Peru. I have one objective. That is to serve my fellow human beings. And I think that Academia is an instrument to promote development, good governance and democracy. As I am now turning in to a new job, my objective is to play a role in making the conditions for my fellow human beings a little bit better. For me, if I could just be a small contributor, that is what it is all about," Øyvind Aadland concludes.