BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Clearly, some international media outlets have been engaged in disseminating disinformation and fake news intentionally or unintentionally regarding the law enforcement operation that has been carried out in Tigray state.
Cooked-up stories are upping the ante and perplexing the international community about the law enforcement operation that followed TPLF’s provocative acts.
Misled by overblown stories and emboldened by various vested interests, some international organizations and countries have wrongfully tried to infringe on Ethiopia’s sovereignty and unleash unjustified pressure on Ethiopia.
The actions of the media outlets have only added fuel to the fire though. The misinformation campaign partly has to do with a lack of adequate information.
The media are exaggerating reports of civilian causalities and hindered access to the state ultimately giving a wrong picture to the law enforcement operation against a criminal clique.
Ethiopia in fact is ready to investigate alleged reports of human right violations and granted full access to the state. This was corroborated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s speech to lawmakers earlier this week.
The purpose of our law enforcement operation is to bring criminals to justice, release hostages and return looted weapons, as well as secure the country’s sovereignty by facilitating opportunities for the people of Tigray to vote.
That is what we did. Reports of violence are extremely exaggerated , said Abiy however, the government will not tolerate even a single crime and human rights abuse. “It is the government that ultimately faces the devastation and works hard to rebuild Tigray.
So far, we have spent over forty billion birr to rehabilitate, and the regions have provided support. The utmost collaboration is needed from the people of Tigray. If the global community is not able to realize these facts, it implies the need to shift their focus.”
Speaking of the ongoing misinformation directed against Ethiopia, Dr. Tesfaye Bezabih, Journalism and Communication lecturer and International Relations Head at Wollo University told The Ethiopian Herald that apart from getting themselves off track and distancing themselves from utilizing reliable sources and keeping up to date the international community with the existing reality on the ground, international media outlets have been missing the target by bewildering the international community.
“International media outlets do not have room for the concepts of the media for the community, media for the nation, media for nation-building, media for development media for peace building, and other related aspects.”
He went on to say, “International media outlets should crosscheck facts before broadcasting a lopsided story and baffling the international community with disinformation and cooked-up stories. As most stories created by international media outlets create misperception and flummox the international community, they should spare no effort to present tangible information and distance themselves from disinformation.”
Ethiopia’s media is expected to play a great role in familiarizing the international community with facts on the ground. They should make every possible effort to reveal the truth. On top of that the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority, private media, and other things of a similar kind should play a role in breaking fake news and disinformation.
He stressed that the number of languages used to disseminate a wide spectrum of information in connection with the country is limited to a few. Even though Ethiopia takes advantage of a wide variety of local languages to disseminate a wide variety of information, the desired goal has not been achieved yet.
He further stressed that according to my way of thinking, whenever the country encounters certain predicaments, media outlets of the country should endeavor to disseminate their media house editorial policy substantially immediately and embark on focusing on the current situation.
In the present climate, as media outlets of the country that broadcast in foreign languages are very few in numbers, Ethiopia could not reap the fruits of success as one would expect.
“If we take as an example, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, which is situated in Addis Ababa, the media does not have correspondents in various parts of the world to combat fake news and disinformation. When the country stumbles upon a certain crisis, the media outlet should be able to assign correspondents in various parts of the world such as Nairobi, Doha, Johannesburg, and other similar things,” he continued.
Similarly, the media house should as well hire highly experienced retired journalists from different media outlets and set in motion broadcasting in foreign languages so that all and sundry can easily understand the reality on the ground almost immediately. In doing so, we can familiarize the international community with the existing reality on the ground and with everything going on behind the scenes and open up the truth.
“Private radio stations do not emphasize the country’s main agenda. They focus on music, football, love, and other related issues. They are not seen combating disinformation aired by some irresponsible international media outlets. Besides, when they set agenda, they should give priority to the current issues and problems. They should put watchdog journalism into play in the shortest possible time,” he added.
The other thing is, we need to have professional journalists. More to the point, we need to have communicators, ambassadors, and many related things. Apart from that, we need to have international Public Relations. At the current time, Ethiopia does not have international Public Relations.
He kept on saying, “By the way, Ambassadors or councilors should be able to give a press conference by inviting different media outlets regarding the current situation in the Tigray region. They have to leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the problem in a little while.”
By the same token, they can as well produce a wide spectrum of articles now and then making use of The Washington Post; The New York Times and other related aspects. In doing so, they can familiarize the international community with the existing reality on the ground without a shred of a doubt. They should make every effort to acquaint the international community with the reality on the ground.
Be that as it may, The Ethiopian Mass media Authority warned some individual journalists and media outlets that have been working to achieve their underlying political purposes through the dissemination of blurry and biased reports about the situation in Tigray.
Wondwossen Andualem, former Deputy Director-General of Ethiopian Mass media Authority (EMMA) told The Ethiopian Press Agency that the authority is obliged to take legal proceedings against media personnel who are abusing the profession by manipulating it for their own sake by producing discrete reports.
He noted that EMMA is serving the media by facilitating the flow of information by creating a platform whereby the licensed media outlets could easily access the information about incidents from credible sources.
He mentioned that some media were accusing the Ethiopian government of denying access to the Tigray Region whereas they are coming up with a biased report that could worsen the situation in the area by neglecting the professional ethics and violating the code of conduct of the discipline.
Journalists from international media outlets who are thought to practice ethical journalism are failing to do so. Such journalists are producing fake reports by neglecting the reality on the ground, he underscored.
He forwarded that journalists have been allowed to enter the region and investigate the situation with no restriction. About seven international media were allowed to enter the Tigray region.
He stressed that the media should respect the sovereignty and interest of the country by refraining from reporting false information from an unreliable source to aggravate the situation.
The EMMA proclamation warns against intentional dissemination of conflict enticing information to achieve the intended political purpose. The broadcast resides the Authority to take legal measures against the media including opening cases against such individuals.
The authority strongly believes in media freedom and works to safeguard it throughout the duty of creating a platform whereby information is released for media. It serves as a bridge between government officials and media outlets. Most of the reports by the media were found to be fake ones when verified against facts and violence.
The Ethiopian Herald March 28/2021
