Since the launching of the law enforcement operation, the inappropriately famed international media outlets have been taking sides with the terrorist TPLF group with tsunami of misinformation. Notwithstanding the fact that the group has perpetrated atrocities and ransacked possessions of civilians residing in Amhara and Afar states, the so-called media outlets kept on paying no heed to the war crimes.
In a related move, a wide spectrum of media outlets have been baffling the international community with fictitious stories working in close coordination with their paymasters, paid activists and sympathizers of the terrorist groups.
Since recently, the media outlets have been spreading fictitious stories intentionally with a view to creating instability across the capital. Under the pretext of notifying the global community on Ethiopia’s situation, they have been mystifying the international community with fake news.
Led by the propaganda of the media, the United States and European Union have been putting unwarranted pressure on Ethiopia time and again with the purpose of twisting Ethiopia’s arm. In the current circumstances, apart from fighting the terrorist group in battlefields, Ethiopia is combating the coordinated media campaign.
While the West, for the most part, the U.S. leaves no stone unturned to put pressure on Ethiopia, they have been largely engaged in whitewashing the mayhems, plundering, gang rape, and other criminal acts surfacing in Amhara and Afar states, all their efforts went for nothing.
Recently the Government Communication Service State Minister Selamawit Kassa stated that the Western media particularly BBC and CNN have been largely involved in the misrepresentation of facts while covering the current situations of Ethiopia. Accordingly, BBC’s false report over the temporary closure of Ethiopian secondary schools is a practical example.
“BBC News World’s latest report about Ethiopia’s closure of secondary schools to boost civil war is a white lie. The decision, which was made by the Ministry of Education, intends to mobilize the school community to gather the harvests of militias who have been fending off TPLF’s aggression in various battlefronts.”
“They do not know the Ethiopian value. Ethiopians, even before the emergence of modern education, have had a tradition of closing educational centers including religious educations for the same purpose,” the state minister elaborated.
She further noted that the Western media have been largely oblivious of Ethiopian traditional values urging local media to act proactively in countering the intensified fake news.
Lawrence Freeman a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years had a short stay with The Ethiopian Herald. He said, “The Western media and governments, Europe and the United States are carrying out what I would call psychological warfare by creating false stories, they are not just misinforming people, and they are disinforming people—intentionally.
“Since I arrived in Addis, I have seen that the bars and hotels are open. The plane that I flew with was nearly full. The airport is functioning well. Children and people are out on the streets. The media know these, as well, as you and I are sitting here because it is true. It is a reality.” he added.
“The US Embassy here knows this. Therefore, when the state department puts out a warning not to travel, I had to disobey the warning. They know it is not true, because they can see for themselves as we can see sitting here in this hotel. Therefore, it is a conscious campaign. It is political warfare, to demoralize and weaken the morale of the Ethiopian government to fight to restore the sovereignty of its nation, which is now under attack by the TPLF.” he added.
While waging media campaign against Ethiopia, the west and their social media corporates have been silencing the voices of Ethiopians who stand for the truth and justice. For instance, Twitter has recently closed pro-Ethiopian accounts that were voicing the stance of Ethiopians concerning the current situation of Ethiopia. It has been suspending peaceful trends and persons that are fighting disinformation through #NoMore global movement. Ethiopians are now urging Tweeter to restore pro-Ethiopian twitter accounts and stop silencing over 110 million Ethiopians.
In the interview, Brook Hailu Beshah Professor of Political Science at North Carolina A&T State University gave to The Ethiopian Herald said, “What Twitter is doing is, if you apply the American model and American theory base, it is totally against American Constitution and democracy. The issue is not an Ethiopian issue; it is an issue for American and peace loving community and freedom of the press.
He went on to say, “Today, it is Ethiopian community, tomorrow it could be another community. This is unheard of. Ethiopia’s voices are getting louder. By design, Ethiopian strong social activists with thousands of followers are being silenced. This is un-American. Yes, the diaspora are trying to get this known and people are putting pressure on the social media companies. It is not about Ethiopia, it is about American soul.”
“Let’s not forget that Twitter and Facebook are corporates that operate to make business. And, all social media users should protest this and people are joining Ethiopians in their defense against the stifling. The misdeeds of Twitter do not stop the will of Ethiopians to defend their country. However, the practices of the social media corporates is a big scandal and will also see who did what, when and why in the future.” he concluded.
On his part renowned photo Journalist Jemal Countess on the subject of the ongoing media campaign against Ethiopia stressed that none of the Western media outlets have propagated balanced news reports about the real situation of the nation. Many of the Western media outlets have been ignoring the reality on the ground and disseminating false propaganda of the terrorist TPLF group.
He further stressed that they have been victims of the TPLF terrorist group and people are very angry that the TPLF has rooted them out of their homes, continued killing innocent civilians, gang raped, looted their properties, and keep terrorizing them even after the ceasefire.
In a related development, a senior lecturer in Journalism at Addis Ababa University Anteneh Tsegaye (Ph.D.) told The Ethiopian Herald that some Western media have made spewing fake news a ‘habit’ and their deliberate and systematic campaign aims to demonize Ethiopia’s government.
The scholar noted that corporate media have been hugely engaged in a systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers their desired intent of dismantling the country.
“Westerners, who have been denouncing fake news and talking about media freedom, ethics and law and teaching the world about media’s impartiality are fabricating fake news. “This is surprising for me and others in the profession and we do not expect CNN, BBC, and other big media to broadcast cooked-up stories, but they have made false reports a tradition these days.”
While on the subject Black Agenda Report (BAR) stated that CNN and all other west-affiliated media outlets have been doing exactly for crushing any nation or people who dare to challenge the U.S. global hegemony.
A report published in an article entitled, ‘Ethiopians rally against CNN, the TPLF, and U.S. Aggression,’ suggested that Ethiopians and Eritreans are not expected to waste time in condemning the fake news produced by CNN and other media outlets instead they have to tilt towards independent media like Web-based media.
“The TPLF is accepted when it plays the victim card. However, the massacre perpetrated by TPLF against the Ethiopian army, innocent Amhara and Afar civilians, which have been well-documented, is not yet taken into account.”
“The New York Times, Reuters, AP, and the Guardian had all earned “Fake News”, that campaign was the first weapon fired in Biden’s hybrid warfare against Ethiopians and their elected government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Even harsh sanctions against Eritreans are imposed and more imminent to Ethiopians in January unless they bend to the U.S. will, and neither their majorities nor their leaders show any sign of doing so.
Speaking to Horn TV of Africa, Communication Studies Assistant Professor at Hamline University Endalkachew Chala (Ph.D.) stated that big media outlets including CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, New York Times, Washington Post, and others have been largely shunning the objective reporting whilst covering Ethiopia.
The corporate media are largely uninterested in seeking the truth on the ground. Even though the terrorist TPLF higher officials admitted that they started the war by committing a pre-emptive attack against the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and killing non-ethnic Tigray soldiers, the aforesaid media kept on turning a deaf ear.
“The Western media have never done it and I have never seen any reports that really present the underlying factors for the current conflict in Ethiopia and who triggered the first bullet.” The corporate media have been echoing the same narrative of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s (Ph.D.) deployment of federal troops to topple the regional government whilst shunning the root cause of the move.” he added.
Ethiopians around the world protested media lies most notably by BBC and CNN and urged them to stop the dissemination of false information in covering the current situation of the country; the funny thing is that they have not covered these protests.
Clarifying why these media do not present Ethiopia’s reality, the academician highlighted that some foreign correspondent questionable relationships with TPLF officials, which trace back to the latter’s political rule, have made the outlet compromise journalistic integrity.
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD DECEMBER 9/2021
