Media polarization is a gruesome reality that is taking its toll on Ethiopian unity and the peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the country, if goes unchecked, it would get the country into bottomless pit, journalists told The Ethiopian Herald. Last year has seen a sign of improvement in terms of freedom and rise of media outlets compared to the preceding years, if not decades.
The country, once was mentioned as one of the “worst enemies of press freedom in the world for independent media to operate in and top jailor of journalists and bloggers.” For the first time now, it has no jailed journalist. Banned Media outlets such as ESAT and OMN opening their office in the country, now the media landscape appears to be more free while the number of print media seeing momentum.
The progress have received acclimation by activists and human right organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) – critical of Ethiopian government for its crackdown on journalists under the pretext of terrorism. The country is going throughtransition time which is both rosy and risky. And the country also has its fair share of backlogs of challenges to be redressed. This calls for an active and positive role of the media, says Dawit Begashaw a journalist at Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. Despite little progress, the media is also deepening division across states and various groups threatening the national unity.
The media are polarized that they contradict on same issues and common values, as to him. “One of the very dangerous trends being witnessed is also the extremely blurring line between activism and journalism. It is unfortunate to see that certain individuals are playing dual characters as activists and media leaders. This abnormal fusion makes it difficult to creating impartial and responsible media outlets.” “To be free is not to act wild,” he says.
As the saying goes ‘with opportunity comes responsibility’, the relative freedom that the media enjoy must not be abused under the pretext of press freedom, he said. True that silenced voices have been unmated, but it requires daunting tasks to steer the media on the right track and further rejuvenate country’s media through revising polices, professionalizing media organizations, ensuring ethics and so on, he adds. Yonas Abiy is an Editor at The Reporter, a private newspaper. He says the media’s independence and objectivity have reached at their nadir stage. Ethiopian media organizations are affiliated to groups with vested interests and narrowly defined goals.
This is a stark contrast to the media’s forth estate principle where media serve as watchdog and check and balance, Yonas adds. “The media outlets seem to engage in a divisive rhetoric,” he says. And it has largely to do with the political situation in the country, according to him. “History is repeating itself. Since the coming of Prime Minister Abiy, new media outlets have joined the sector, but usually, as we can see from history, their very existence heavily relies on the political situationin the country.
The same is true for previous transitions where media had mushroomed but had only short life.” “To be free is not to override rules and norms of the nation.” The media should be abided by the law of the land. That is when you do this your freedom is protected, he argues. With regard to polarization among state-owned media, Yonas says it may sound logical that states have their own media houses, but the way they are being run is totally counter productive.
The media are either serving as the mouthpieces of the leaders or instruments to safeguard the interest of few elites, he believes. The rhetoric is confrontation not cooperation. This practice could put the country in the brink of collapse. The fact that the growing influence of activists over the media poses stumbling block to journalism and its key principles. There must be a gray line between the two denominations. History is repeating itself when it comes to the media landscape in the country.
It is no secret that during transition times, leaders do give the media relative freedom to win public approval. But as time goes by the media find themselves back in their previous status, says Abera Wondewesen, a lecturer of Journalism and Communication at Dilla University Media in the country have long been instruments of political parties. This “ugly truth” has sent the country into extreme divisions, he says. Other than trying to unite the people, the media mainly organized a long ethnic lines and groups and seem to sow seeds of discords.
This in turn is a sharp contrast to the principle of impartiality and ethics, according to him. “The fact that some media spent much of their time as revolutionary media, make it hard to accustom themselves to the principles free and responsible media.” Polarization is no way good to countries where political views are many and sensitive. Social media is now dubbed as the fifth estate giving its growing influence in the increasing digital world. Social; media can be constructive or destructive. But its advantage tilts to be very counterproductive in the Ethiopian context, he adds.
“Entertaining diverse views is one of the noble objectives of journalism but trying to inject different yet narrowly defined own goals is not in any way helping.” Regardless of ownerships or financial sources, media organizations should be operating in line with the conventional norms of journalism. Peace is never to be compromised. All media outlets should have no objective when it comes to ensuring stability and peace in the country, one as citizen, two as responsible entity. Both Dawit and Abera also agree on the need to establish independent media council and journalists’ association to increase self-regulation.
The Ethiopian herald April26/2019
BY DESTA GEBREHIWOT
