
Established on July 3, 1943, The Ethiopian Herald newspaper is now celebrating its 82nd anniversary. Over the years, it has made significant progress. Achieving this required the staff to be resilient through various challenges.
William M. Steen served as the second editor of the Ethiopian Herald. In honor of the first-year anniversary, he wrote a congratulatory message to his audience in the newspaper’s second edition no. 1, which was published on July 1, 1945.
In his message, he expressed his concerns. He highlighted the ambitious goal set by the ‘Herald,’ which was to keep Ethiopia’s situation at the forefront of the world’s attention, especially for those in positions of influence and responsibility. Unfortunately, he acknowledged that this goal had not been fully achieved.
He makes himself and others accountable for that. “The blame for that rests not solely upon the staff but also upon officials of the Ethiopian government who have failed to recognize the worth of such a program and, therefore, have not cooperated with editors by providing them with news.”
The plight of editors seeking local news in Ethiopia is not an easy one. They must spend valuable time trying to convince officials that the newspaper cannot be run by “Koy” or “Nega.” They have not yet been able to persuade them that a newspaper has a deadline and that sending materials to the editor at “six o’clock” on Friday when the paper is published at nine o’clock on Saturday morning is simply not acceptable in the best circles.
If the Herald is to be useful to the Ethiopian nation, it must include news items and articles about Ethiopia. It is the editor’s firm hope that the second year of the Herald will see Ethiopian officials being more cooperative in providing news and, most importantly, being more punctual. The editor would like to see his own motto, “Ahun Zari,” become prominent instead of a certain other motto that has persisted for too long. Our promise for the future is a bigger and better Herald.
Herald history continues, and now I find myself in 1960. During that time, Yacob Woldemariam was the fourth Ethiopian Herald editor.
While he was editor, the newspaper presented the day-to-day activities of Emperor Haile Selassie I. There was no job description or mission given to us. We were required to participate in meetings chaired by the information minister, as the press department was established later on. That was how we received directives from the minister. Even though Aklilu Habtewold was the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the newspapers did not cover his activities.
Yakob explained the reason why the Ethiopian Herald shifted to daily publication. Following the establishment of UNECA and Ethiopia being chosen as the seat for the office, from the end of 1958, the newspaper began to publish daily. That is why they hired me as a journalist.
Yakob did not hide the challenges he faced during that time. By then, the Herald received news from both Reuters and USIS. He edited the stories from USIS, which made him angry. “In my tenure, the Ethiopian Herald had an anti-colonialist stance, and this did not sit well with Americans. We objected to the concept of colonialism.”
The colonialists of the day had complained about Ethiopia. The Ethiopian officials at the time replied that if they came out of a colonialism perception, they would order the Ethiopian Herald to stop writing about anti-colonialism. Yakob was a socialist with a political stance. He said, “I didn’t see anything wrong with socialism. I am still a socialist, not a revolutionary socialist, but a democratic socialist. I am not fundamentally opposed to communism, but it can’t be practically applied in this country. I supported the Derg because it introduced the concept of ‘land to the tiller.’ I have written various articles about this.”
Regarding Pan-Africanism sentiment, Yakob said that before the founding of the OAU, Africa was divided into two parts: the Monrovia and Casablanca groups. Emperor Haile Selassie had started the move to create a united Africa, taking his own initiative. The concept of Pan-Africanism was first coined by the king. This was one significant role the king had played. He invited the two groups and established the Organization for African Unity.
Regarding the quality of the newspaper, he said, “As its audience is foreigners and the language used is English, it has to be edited critically. You have to try to make it free from grammatical errors. As foreigners get information from the newspaper, stories should be published clearly. You need to prepare a glossary to make the task easier.”
Tekle Tesfalidet was another editor-in-chief of The Herald. When he assumed the position, the readers were becoming increasingly hungry for up-to-date and trustworthy news, with each day bringing a growing desire for fresh and accurate information.
“As a state-owned newspaper, we were bound by certain guidelines and principles set forth by the government. However, we also recognized the growing importance of providing accurate, timely, balanced, and relevant news and information to The Herald readership. Balancing these competing priorities was a delicate and challenging task, requiring constant attention and evaluation.”
In those days, though there was a right to hold different political ideologies, it is interesting to note that there was a maturity on the part of the journalists to realize the necessity of reporting in keeping with the policy and directives of the government. While it is important for journalists to be independent and to report the news objectively, we also had a responsibility to adhere to the editorial policy of the newspaper.
“At the same time, we also faced criticism from opposition parties and other stakeholders who accused us of being biased towards the government. This was sometimes unfair, as we strove to present a balanced and nuanced view of events, but it also reflected the deep political tensions and divisions that existed in Ethiopia at the time.”
Tekle recalls that he had received a warning for a mistake that he or his colleagues were not actually responsible for. According to Tekle, this happened during the first visit of President Meles Zenawi to the US, where he led a high-level delegation. It was a common practice for high-level government officials to be accompanied by a crew of journalists, which included a photographer from the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA). However, on this occasion, the EPA photographer was not a member of the crew of journalists that accompanied President Meles’s delegation.
The next day, The Ethiopian Herald published a story on the President’s visit to the USA, which was received from ENA. This caused a significant uproar, with numerous phone calls pouring in from various sources, including the President’s Office and Dr. Negaso Gidada, who was serving as the Minister of Information at the time. The Herald was reprimanded for not including the photo-op between President Meles and President Clinton in the story. Therefore, working at The Ethiopian Herald has both opportunities and challenges
After passing six decades ahead, we found Aregu Balleh, Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Herald since 2005. When he joined The Ethiopian Herald as an editor, he said “ little did I know that I would spend the next decade of my professional life there. It was a particularly momentous time—the nation was gripped by the excitement and uncertainty of what was widely described as Ethiopia’s first democratic election.”
According to him, The Ethiopian Herald played a pivotal role in informing and shaping public discourse during that historic period. In fact, for the first time in the country’s modern history, the nation’s leader contributed directly to the newspaper.
Over its long and storied existence, The Ethiopian Herald has produced numerous accomplished writers and influential figures. It has also drawn prominent leaders who, at various points, guided the paper through times of change and growth. Aregu consider it both an honor and a privilege to served the newspaper in several capacities: as editor, senior editor, and eventually as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. “During those years, I not only deepened my journalistic experience but also built valuable networks with media professionals both within Ethiopia and internationally.’
The Ethiopian Herald is that kind of place—spaces where people work hard, make mistakes, learn from them, and, most crucially, grow.”
In general, all veteran writers of Herald agreed that the opportunities far outweighed the challenges since the opportunity for self-development or self-growth was great. The hard work and discipline journalists displayed while working for The Herald later on helped many of them land well paying jobs at various NGOs and in the private press or somewhere else.
BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 3 JULY 2025