
BY BILAL DERSO
ADDIS ABABA – Western media’s insufficient coverage to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s (Ph.D) historical visit to Tigray State capital Mekelle, the restoration of electric, telecom and internet service as well as other positive developments emanates from their the obsession for conflict and crises, journalism expert said.
Approached by The Ethiopian Herald, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication at Addis Ababa University Teshager Shiferaw (Ph.D) stated that western media’s low appetite to positive outcomes in Tigray State is caused by the desire to cast the country as a place of disorder and dismemberment.
The expert noted that the western media are largely reliant on anonymous international ‘experts’ and ‘diplomats’ and false assumptions whilst making analysis and judgment on the course and outcomes of government’s law enforcement operation in Tigray State. The media misinform the international community by magnifying the humanitarian crises and predicting the number of internally displaced people could reach up to one million, blaming the Ethiopian government in human rights violation.
Whilst the western media defaming the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) as invader, they are also misinforming the world as a war between the two sovereign governmental states than a military campaign to ensure law and order. “These global media outlets are also confusing the global community by putting the military campaign as a full-scale war against the Tigrayans and the regional government whereas it is known that the campaign’s objective is clear, limited and achievable.”
Teshager indicated that the western media disinform the global community by mentioning Eritrea as supportive invading force of Tigray to give an impression as the conflict to be seen beyond border and pictured as a civil war and sub regional crisis. The outlets also evade any Ethiopian government side official sources, only referring from the other side without appropriate quote of specificity.
Sharing the above rationale, a veteran journalist and senior consultant in media and communication, Eshetu Geletu said that in a well-coordinated media assault, these ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’ have ganged up on Ethiopia as propagandists for the now-defunct Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Almost every day, the western media unashamedly crank out and spread lies and disinformation on Ethiopia. “It is no secret that the TPLF junta has hired an army of lobbyists and public relations firms to wage a global media war on Ethiopia,” the consultant added.
As to Eshetu, the practice attests the fact that the western media write defaming narratives using the same talking points provided to them by the TPLF junta public relations firms. “Now, the ghost of the dead TPLF consigned to the trash heap if history is furiously conducting info-wars and lobby-wars on Ethiopia.”
For his part, Teshager highlighted that the post-conflict developments in Tigray State, the forthcoming General Elections and the ongoing Trilateral Talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) would have kept Ethiopia attractive to the international media.
Accordingly, the government, in particular Prime Minister’s Press Secretary needs to ensure a consistent delivery of reliable and sufficient information to the international media correspondents thereby averting biased reports. Facilitating conditions to the correspondents to visit Tigray State is something worth equal consideration to aware them about the positive developments in the area and help them produce in-depth reports and analysis in the law enforcement operation, he remarked.
The Ethiopian herald December 17/2020