Dr. Getachew Dinku is the Director-General of the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA). He knows journalism and journalistic practices like the palm of his hand. This is not definitely an exaggeration; Getachew has spent the major portion of his academic life as a lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Addis Ababa University.
The Ethiopian Herald had sat down with him for an exclusive interview in which the director-general discussed quite a lot of mesmerizing issues from the ongoing reform, its bottlenecks to the dos, and don’ts of dealing with the media outlets of the country, roles of EBA and other related aspects. Below are excerpts:
There are conflicts erupting here and there; do you think this will reverse the ongoing reform?
One has to consider the existing challenge as a hiccup rather than hindrances that block us from progressing ahead on achieving the democratization of the country and transforming the nation into a more prosperous, liberal and open society. I would like to take the positive aspects of the reform into account. As far as I am concerned, the reform is heading in the right direction. It is not getting off the track despite the challenges surfacing in some parts of the country. To the best of my knowledge, the positive aspects outweigh the negative ones.
In your view, what are the causes of the hiccups?
Part of it comes from the lack of experience living in a democracy as the country is not on familiar terms with this kind of system before, I would say. At one time, we did not have a long period of exercising real democracy in its real sense. There was a glimpse of democracy that did not last long. Nowadays, the aforementioned facts seem to have been pouring cold water on the process of democratic culture all over the country.
The culture of democratic deliberation-respecting differences, resolving disputes in civil ways, is some of the manifestations of democracy. Uncivil ways of the freedom of expression do not take us an inch forward. In this regard, there is a wide misunderstanding by some groups in our country.
So, what is the minimum contribution the citizenry and pertinent bodies should do?
As to me, as time goes by, citizens will come to realize what is acceptable and what is not. There must be some redlines that we do not have to cross. If we are to live together as a society and maintain our harmony and think about our nation in the state-building process, we need to calm down and develop the culture of sitting together and discussing and negotiating differences. These days, there is this tendency of ‘mine is always right’. There has to be room for negotiation. As far as I am concerned, democracy is a game of negotiation.
We cannot deny the challenges. I can understand the frustrations. At times it is very depressing. There were high expectations. People, across the board, were holding huge hope and enthusiasm which failed to last long. It is a pity that we are experiencing this kind of heartbreaking circumstances at the moment. Things are turning out to be confusing and unpredictable. I do hope the government will put the rule of law in place in the blink of an eye.
Some people claim that the print and electronic media outlets are getting off the track by stoking conflicts in some parts of the country. They also claim that the authority is turning a blind eye. If not, what is the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority doing?
More often than not, people want us to jump into a conclusion and end up closing certain media outlets. We do not do that on grounds that each media outlets represent voices. They have their audience base. If they miss the intended target, we give them some pieces of advice to get back on track. As the media outlets know the dos and don’ts of the Ethiopian Broadcasting laws, they should be able to act accordingly. We have embarked on giving feedback to electronic media outlets. Most of them have at least once received professional reflections from the authority. This has not been a case in the past. Fortunately, we have a monitoring machine that facilitates the authority’s services.
By the way, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority is mandated to issue licenses to electronic media. It is responsible for registering and recognizing electronic media. As it is not in our jurisdiction, mandate or responsibility, the authority does not issue a license to print media outlets. There are terms and conditions for issuing licenses.
The thing is, the media outlets are expected to present their proposal incorporating details of what they would like to do if they have to get radio frequencies. Afterward, based on the proposal presented to us, the authority decides as who should get the license. Not every applicant will be issued a license. The authority gives a license based on merit emphasizing coverage, content, format, and other related major issues.
In the same way, the authority checks whether or not the media outlets are doing as per the agreement entered when they were issued licenses. The law is another reference to regulate the media. The authority checks whether they are operating as per the law, agreement and the principle and ethical standards of journalism. Furthermore, it looks into the content professionally. It does not make political judgment by any means.
What is all about the monitoring machine?
The monitoring machine records up to one hundred TV and twenty radio stations. It is a very sophisticated machine that the government purchased from France. The machine plays a major role in keeping a record of every transmission made in our country. After that, experts make effective analysis with no trouble making use of the raw data.
As we cannot look into every single story or content, we make a selection based on scientifically acceptable ways of sampling techniques like random sampling, purposive sampling or a mix of both. Subsequently, once the samples are selected, we look at the produced reports. But we do not give feedback for every single story. In due course, we compile the documents and send feedback to the media outlets.
What measure does the EBA take when media outlets miss the mark?
There are financial fines. We do not accept money. It is the court that makes this kind of decision. Ours is administrative. Financial and other related issues are made by the court. In the case of defamation, one can appeal to the court. But if one wants administrative measures, one has to come to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Agency. But if it is a serious case, one takes the case straight to the court. This time, the court looks into the case and goes back to the broadcast law and decides based on the law.
Whenever the authority gives feedback, media outlets are required to look into them carefully and react accordingly. If there is something to be fixed, these can be based on the feedback we give them. If they fail to abide by the law, after six months or seven months of reports, then we take a measure. In the law, it is indicated that the authority can suspend the media outlets and go to the extent of revoking licenses. This rarely happens.
Are your roles then censoring the media? Some people claim that the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority is established to muffle the freedom of speech and serve the government as a gatekeeper.
We do not want to swing from one corner to the other. In the past, the brand: ‘the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority’ was there to muffle the press. But now we are trying to rebrand it.
We are serving the media as a mirror. For example, journalists are busy taking care of their daily journalistic routines. They do not have the leisurely and the time to do the types of research we are doing here. They are struggling with meeting the time and deadline. Timeliness is very important in journalism.
If we go back to the past, muffling press freedom has got to do with intervening before production. That is forbidden globally. That is not allowed at all. One cannot do censorship and dictate the media. They are free to do whatever is within the profession and the editorial policy. But after doing it, if they miss the intended target, they will be accountable. The powerful entities are accountable.
I would say, the press is among one of the powerful entities. They need to be held accountable. But who will represent the public? One of the journalistic values is serving the public in the right way without causing harm. If the cause any harm to the society by inciting conflicts between ethnic groups, we need to intervene on behalf of the public not on behalf of any political interest.
If one interferes in the interest of the profession and societal harmony and peace, I would not see that as muffling press freedom. Therefore, journalists should be as professional as they can.
By the way, countries that we consider as examples of press freedom or champions of press freedom like the United States as well regulate media. One cannot let the broadcast media to go and do whatever they want for the reason that everyone is responsible. Consequently, it is a check and balance kind of thing. You are free but you should do it responsibly. That is the only question we ask.
How is EBA carrying out its duties?
We are trying to systematize our ways of regulating the media. We are hiring experienced former journalists who are not currently working for media outlets owing to conflicts of interest. A lot of people complain about the quality of media these days. But the complaints are not based on objectives but facts. We want to make our report and judgment data-driven and data-based. Otherwise, we will end up being subjective ourselves. In the past, this had happened.
The Director-General of EBA cannot simply come out and say media X, media Y, and media Z are doing this and that. That will be political. I have to be accountable and responsible for the report I give out. If one comes and asks me where that comes from, I have shreds of evidence to show. That is how it should work. It takes a while before the people and officials come to realize how the authority operates. We do understand frustrations but we do not want to rush into making bad judgments. We do not want to make judgments to please people out there. They do not know the technicalities of monitoring. It is not an easy task. It is a discipline by itself. It takes a lot of integrity, professionalism and expertise.
But media outlets are a little bit arrogant. They do not even acknowledge that they make mistakes. They are intentionally making mistakes and trying to justify their ways of journalism. The border between journalism and political activism is blocked. And the border between journalism and propaganda is blurred. Some media outlets are doing what they call journalism. I would say, very close to propaganda. If one reads the elements of propaganda one finds many of those elements done in many of their stories on our media outlets. So, we need to train ourselves for practicing journalism. Journalists do not have to associate themselves strongly with political ideologies.
Once in a certain workshop, I was giving training in peace journalism. One of the experienced trainees said, “The principle of peace journalism sounds good to us. But when we go back to our media houses we know that it is not going to work because it is only when we do biased reports that the cabinet members, politicians, and minsters come out and say this is a good kind of journalism, and now you started to do journalism. When they show loyalty to the region or party or groups, they are highly respected.”
Imagine a medical doctor and a businessperson is working under the same roof. If the businessperson prescribes the wrong medicine to a patient, do you think the doctor would agree? Most probably the doctor will not. He would say this is my profession. He will not give him the go-ahead.
As a final point, is there anything you would like to convey?
I am not compromising my integrity. I am not saying journalists do not have exceptions. But in the case of journalism, most journalists demonstrate political interests. As journalists, they need to play their role as well. They do not have to do journalism the way they want.
Then broadcast authority should put some kind of control mechanism. Journalists, media owners, the regional and federal government and everyone have to be serious in journalism. They should do their works independently and professionally and then hold themselves accountable. Now everybody is interfering. The media houses are leaving their doors wide open to allow the cadres to enter easily and manipulate journalism. This has been practiced for many years now.
The Ethiopian Herald Friday 17 January 2020
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
