As The Ethiopian Herald is marking its 82nd anniversary the author of this article would like to congratulate the newspapers management and reporters, support staff who have discharged their professional responsibilities to what the English persons call oak anniversary.
It is with greater delight that the author would like to pay tribute to all editors in chief, editors and reporters who made the Herald effectively cruse through 82 solid years of massive achievements and challenges when so many African countries are languishing under the yoke of colonialism.
Since July 3, 1943, the years in which the Ethiopian Herald started to be published, a lot of water has passed under the bridge but the Ethiopian Herald has been able to successfully live through the zigzags and loopholes it had to sustain. From 1958 onwards, EH has shifted from weekly to a daily national newspaper.
From the days of Ian Simpson, William Steel, David Talbot to the first Ethiopian seasoned Editor in Chief, the late Yacob Woldemariam, The Ethiopian Herald was a pace setter in African press journalism advocating for African decolonization , Pan Africanism and African unity. In early 1960s, the Ethiopian Herald played an important role in advocating for African decolonization and thee global battle against the apartheid system in South Africa. It indeed reflected Ethiopian and African color among 18,000 newspapers across the world.
The writer is familiar with The Ethiopian Herald for at least 45 years, reading and contributing articles as time permitted. However, for the last 6 years a regular contribution on the opinion page by the author on a range of issues including economy, culture, tourism, politics, science and technology have continued till today.
Therefore, a short survey on the growth areas and weak links on the newspaper will be the main objective of this contribution. It is regrettable that such a reputed newspaper has still limited pages which would certainly restrict the size and columns in which various topics of national and foreign issues could have been extensively covered. It is obvious that the skyrocketing of papers and printing costs are the main causes of such shortfalls but the tasks that The Ethiopian Herald must accomplish in the print media are far more important to introduce and promote Ethiopia to the reset of the world, increase the visibility of the country.
The government needs to consider a special means and ways to improve this. In his recent discussions with the leaders of media and communications, Prime Minister Abiy had promised to support the sector in this challenge.
Recently the Ethiopian Press Agency has tried to promote itself through posters and billboards that are posted around its headquarters. The author of this article suggests that EPA must do more in promoting the agency in the electronic media. The Agency has staged a number of photographic exhibitions in the recent past regarding the situation in the country and it will be good to conduct such exhibitions at least twice a year. It has also sponsored public discussions on various issues of national importance. However, EPA needs to establish a permanent exhibition and gallery along with its resource center and the Ethiopian Herald needs to be heavily visible in such activities.
Though EPA is a national press agency, it has no press kit yet. It is seriously important for EPA to prepare a promotional press kit that can be revised every quarter. The former Ministry of Information and National Guidance used to publish such press kits with impressive quality but this has been cancelled decades back for no reason. Such kits can be distributed to leaders of states and governments upon their visit to Ethiopia and can also be provided to international conferences that are frequently held in Addis Ababa.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, EPA can organize special promotion programs for the diplomatic community to help lure tourists from various countries to come and visit Ethiopia for longer days. The Ethiopian Herald will certainly have a lion’s share of responsibility to discharge its responsibilities to enhance and promote the visibility of Ethiopia. Moreover, preparing a weekly news digest for the diplomatic community targeting ambassador and executives in the UN systems for income generation could be attempted. The Ethiopian lacks a stylebook that important to polish its stance on language quality and branding the newspaper.
Now let us consider issues related to content. During the imperial regime and the Derge Era, The Ethiopian Herald was used for public relations purposes to glorify the emperor and his entourage while the Derge used it as a tool for disseminating the Ethiopian prototype of Marxism Leninism. The EPRDF regime was no better in this aspect as it was promoting what it called revolutionary democracy and distorted version of federalism.
Today, in line with the reform program of the country, the Ethiopian Herald has continued to effectively carry out its responsibilities in informing the international community, the diplomatic missions and UN systems on the development programs of the country including macro-economic development, infrastructure, Digital Ethiopia 2025 and 2028, Tourism Ethiopia, Corridor Developments in urban and rural areas, Green Legacy Initiatives, Basket Bounty and Made in Ethiopia initiatives. GERD and renewable energy projects.
There is no doubt that the layout of tile page and the flag that The Ethiopian Herald has shown marked improvements over time but still there is room for improving the headlines and bylines of the daily news to the level of international standards.
We do not see the use of cartoons and letters to the editor. We need to work on this to make the news more participatory. Most public media outlets are not used to conducting audience analysis both in the print and electronic public media outlets. Such analysis needs to be conducted at least once in a year to upscale the readership of The Ethiopian Herald. It could be done at two levels, among stakeholders and the public.
The Ethiopian Herald is one of the most senior African newspapers and needs to cover African and AU news focusing on AfCFTA, Agenda 2063, regional integration and peace and security issues in Africa. It must be underscored that the foreign readers are the main target audiences for the newspaper.
Two important things to be considered both by EPA and the Ethiopian Herald. The media in Ethiopia including public and commercial have entered into a competitive situation. The Ethiopian Herald must stand out in this competition. The EPA is covering its budget through generating income from sales and the sales section should work much harder to maximize income to effectively remain in the media market. All the necessary support needs to be given to The Ethiopian Herald for assuring self-sustaining over the coming years of national reforms.
As stated above, in the digital world of today and in line with the national effort to create digital Ethiopia, The Ethiopian Herald could play an important role in disseminating timely and quality information on Ethiopia to the rest of the world. This requires deploying highly committed staff that can work around the clock to provide information through beat news that will be of greater importance to update all Ethiopians and the world on developments in Ethiopia.
The EH needs to focus on Tourism Ethiopia to deserve the position of information hub for Ethiopia and Africa. It should work on enhancing Ethiopia’s rootedness and positioning among the countries of the world. The future is bright for The Ethiopian Herald but more is to be desired.
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 3 JULY 2025
