“Over the past few years, many of Freedom House’s publications, including Freedom in the World, Freedom of the Press and Freedom on the Net: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media, have pointed to worrisome declines in freedom of expression in countries around the world,” stated Freedom House.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is the right of every individual to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. In practice, however, this fundamental human right is frequently restricted through tactics that include censorship, restrictive press legislation, and harassment of journalists, bloggers and others who voice their opinions, explained Freedom House.
As of Fojo: Media Institute, Linnaeus University which operates in Sweden, the state of freedom of expression and media freedom in Ethiopia was one of the lowest in the world. Ethiopia ranked 150 out of 180 countries in Reporters without Boarders rankings in 2018. The government has been criticized for taking legislative, administrative and political measures to weaken the status of the media and its actors in the country.
However, according to the Institute, Ethiopia is undertaking serious reforms to open up political space and ensure the respect of human and democratic rights. After assuming office in April 2018, Prime Minister Abiy’s government released thousands of prisoners and promised to review repressive laws including the antiterrorism, media and the civil society laws that were considered to have restrained constitutionally guaranteed rights. The new government has acknowledged these critical problems and expressed its commitment to media freedom to ensure it plays a vital role at this critical time of transition.
It has promised to improve the situation through legislative and other necessary measures. Legislative review to amend restrictive legislations concerning the media is already underway, as of the institute. These remarkable measures the government has taken made the country to be chosen by UNESCO to host the 2019 World Press Freedom Day under the title of ‘Journalism and Election in Times of Disinformation.’ Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Sahlework Zewdie said that Ethiopia will redouble its efforts in media and democratic reforms for the promotion of freedom of expression and human rights.
Adding, she said that Ethiopia’s political reforms during the last one year have brought a remarkable progress in opening up freedom of expression and widening the democratization process. “The remarkable progress that we made over the last one year will certainly encourage redoubling and renewing of democracy and reforms when the country was accused of intimidation of critical voice, “she pointed out.
Sahlework particularly noted the ongoing sweeping reform in the media has been significantly changing the country’s profile, once a country at the bottom of world press freedom index. “However,” she said:”in this digital stage social media has dramatically transformed the media landscape in the world and Ethiopia is not exceptional to that. While it is true that freedom of expression has been significantly improved, with this came another challenge that requires serious attention.” Adding she said that this has to do with the polarization of political discourse in Ethiopia mainly as a result of the role of social media. The danger of fake news in the growing planet of disinformation over reliable news and information spreading like wild fire and causing havoc and merry hell is a real time faced by all countries big or small.
But the situation is much more pronounce in countries like Ethiopia where the political culture and institutions of governance have yet to mature and but there is lack of the necessary capability to filter facts from fiction. “Therefore, this underscores the need for serious dialogue to respond to this common problem that we are facing,” she noted. Terens Quick, vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, while attending the ceremony told The Ethiopian Herald that he is very pleased to see World Press Freedom Day to be hosted in Addis Ababa in collaboration of Ethiopian government, African Union and UNESCO.
Adding he said that journalism is a very important initiative for democracy in the critical days of we are facing horrifying enemy which is fake news. “Fake news is unstabilizing nations, countries and people’s everyday life. I think the results of this world press freedom day will be the necessary ones to defend these catastrophic recipes. I want to express my respect to Ethiopian government for all these steps to meet democracy.” Speaking at the occasion, Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of state for Foreign and Common wealth Affairs, United Kingdom said that since Prime Minister Abiy assumed office last year, Ethiopia has climbed the World Press Freedom Index faster than any other country, rising 40 places and showing just how much can be achieved when the political will exists.
Media freedom is not a ‘Western’ value, still less a colonial-style imposition, but instead a force for progress from which everyone benefits. When everyone is able to exchange ideas freely, a society benefits not just from the brains of the people at the top, but from the originality and creativity of the entire population, he stated. “And far from being a cause of instability, responsible journalism and free media should help to avoid it.” Dr. Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for her part said that the media as the 4th estate of the realm; can only help us achieve our collective development goals if they have the freedom to operate.
Unfortunately, limited press freedom continues to undermine the ability of the media carry out this role. Regretfully, some journalists are victims of repression-murdered, arrested, detained and censored. Between January 2018 and April 2019, 88 journalists were killed in the line of duty eleven of them are from Africa, she noted. “Notwithstanding, it is important to acknowledge some of our countries are making progress on press freedom; notably Ethiopia which moved from 150th position in 2018 to 110th in 2019 in the Global Press Freedom Index.
I would use the opportunity to congratulate the government of Ethiopia for this feat. For the first time in more than ten years, no media professional was in prison at the end of 2018 in this country. But Ethiopia can do better, and I would like to see this Country among the top 20.” Keeping on speaking, she said that beyond guaranteeing freedoms for media, we still need to do more to empower the media to promote transparency and accountability which are essential for democracy to deliver good governance. The media needs access to information, to be able to inform the citizens and to collectively exercise accountability.
“As we advocate for increased press freedoms, we must continue to emphasis the need for responsible journalism, especially in the digital era where fake news has become the major threat. Much has been said about the dangers of irresponsible media, and the threats it poses to peace and security in particular,” she stressed.
Thomas Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission, for his part said that the role of media is to inform and educate in the process to be a watch dog of democracy, good governance and human rights. “In this process we cannot leave out the social media because they holds great role to assure peace and stability. Without peace and stability there will not be good governance,” he said.
The Ethiopian Herald, May 12/2019
BY BACHA ZEWDIE
