BY MULUGETA GUDETA
My personal acquaintance with The Ethiopian Herald dates back to 1988 when the Iran-Iraq war was raging in the Middle East and captured the attention of the entire world. I was sitting and reading in the Kennedy Library when the idea of writing an article on the war suddenly came to my mind. I was a fourth year student at the Addis Ababa university department of Political Science and International Relations and I was closely watching international events and my interest centered on the Middle East in general and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular.
I wrote the said article the same day and pondered over where to publish the article. I knew that The Ethiopian Herald accepted articles for publication from freelance writers and I decided to try my luck there. I went down Arat Kilo and reached Berhanena Selam printing press building where the Herald had its offices located. I went up the stairs breathlessly and reached the place. I knocked and opened one of the closed doors and the aging man I saw sitting at his desk was none other than Mr. Narayan Esuaran, the famous Indian editor who was once a reporter of the BBC on the order of the late emperor Haile Selassie as he later on related to me.
Mr. Esuaran asked me what I was looking for in his office. I told him where I was coming and that I had penned an article I carried in my pocket. The editor wanted to read it. So, I handed over the article to him and the famous editor told me to come back next day to know whether my article would be printed or not. When I returned the following day, the Indian editor told me to my surprise that my article had appeared on the seventh page of the Herald. That was the magical moment when I felt that I was becoming a published writer and that was a fantastic feeling. The rest is history.
Writing about The Ethiopian Herald now after 34 years would be incomplete without shedding some light on the events and circumstances that led to the launching of the first English-language newspaper in the history of the country. For most of its existence, the editorial offices of the Herald were located on the top floors of the Berhanena Selam printing enterprise which is also the first government-owned printing press in the country. The first Amharic language newspaper called Aemero was also published there. So, both The Herald and Berhaneena Selam have a common history of survival and growth.
According to the late professor Pankhurst, “The name Berhanena Selam reflected the young regent’s vision for the people of Ethiopia to acquire knowledge that would make them equal to the advanced peoples of the time. (Ministry of Information, 1966)
In 1923 the Regent founded a printing press, known at the time as the Regent’s press, literally Ya Ityopya mangest alga warash ya leul ras Tafari mahtamya. Most of the equipment was imported from Germany. (Pankhurst, 1962:269)
The printing press was first located in the present compound of the Addis Ababa University that was also the palace. Regent Teferi had ordered the proceeds from the printing press to be used for welfare purposes.
According to the same author, “Before the Italian invasion there were several printing presses, namely the government press established by Menelik, the printing press of Courier D’Ethiopie which was established in 1913, the Emperor’s Berhanena Selam Press which was established in 1926, the Hermis Printing Press established in 1926 and Artistic Printing Press founded in 1934.”
Available data on the history of the newspaper suggests that, The Ethiopian Herald was “launched as a weekly on 3 July 1943. Jan Hoy Simpson, an Englishman, was its first editor. Later editors were from the United States.” The newspaper has survived three previous governments. Under Emperor Haile Selassie, The Herald, as it was always fondly called, was the first and only government mouthpiece which was published every day except on Mondays and carried news and views that informed the few educated elites and members of the diplomatic corps about events and trends in Ethiopia’s political, economic and social lives.
According to a study by Abebe Dires from the Bahir Dar University, “Ethiopia’s first printing press in its history was established in the mid -1920s, Berhanena Selam Printing Press (Light and Peace), played a role in the publication of two national weekly newspapers, Addis Zemen (New Era), in Amharic (1941) and its English counterpart The Ethiopian Herald, in 1943. These two served as the main official press organs of the state and as the main source of information for literate people. Therefore, The Ethiopian Herald was intended to serve the state as the only way to give information and propaganda for foreign readers”
The printing industry in general and newspaper printing in particular have undergone radical changes over the last decades. Primitive printing equipment has given way to state- of- the- art printing technology. But technological transfer from the developed world has not been accompanied with the parallel transfer of the ideas and philosophy of freedom and democracy.
As far as print journalism in general and The Ethiopian Herald are concerned, the impressive technological advances in the printing business were not accompanied with parallel growth in the skills of the men and women who used the technologies of news gathering and printing. Until the issuance of the Press law in 1992, freedom of the press as well as media manpower development obviously lagged behind technical advances.
The private sector was not sufficiently involved in the printing business while journalists had no opportunity to develop their skills because there was no journalism school in the country. However, the Herald continued to, implement the lofty objectives it was expected to promote and build Ethiopia’s new image as a proud, independent and modernizing nation forging ahead on the path of economic and social development.
The Ethiopian Herald has nevertheless produced some of the most distinguished editors and writers who had left their marks on the history of Ethiopia’s print journalism. Some of the names of journalists and editors that have shaped the Herald and did marvelous jobs were Teshome Adera, perhaps the best news writer and editors of his time, and Yakob Woldemariam distinguished for his excellent command of English and for writing some of the best features and as an editor who later on run the monthly English language magazine called Yekatit that later changed to Dawn. The distinguished Ethiopian novelist Bealu Girma has also left his marks on the Herald as a writer who later on joined some of the best English language journalists on The Reporter magazine.
The Ethiopian Herald was also witness to many historical and dramatic events. It reported the fall of the monarchy, the revolutionary events of the 1970s, the rise and fall of the military administration known as the Derg and the rise of the EPRDF government and the advent of the present reformist government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Personally, I have a vivid memory of the days and weeks of the new government and the events that took place within the Press Department.
A few days after the establishment of the new government, we were called upon to resume our normal activities at the Ethiopian Press Department, later renamed the Ethiopian Press Enterprise, which was the publisher of all government-owned newspapers.
But when we reached our offices as soon as peace and stability returned to the capital Addis Ababa, we were told that the new authorities had ordered the publication of the newspapers to be temporarily suspended until appropriate conditions would be created for their resumption.
We were thus passing most of the days discussing the changes and transformations that were unfolding before our eyes but, paradoxically enough, we were unable to report on or influence them in any way. It is most disconcerting for journalists to live a historical moment and yet fail to be part of the process or at least become mere chroniclers of the events.
At eighty, The Ethiopian Herald is still going strong as a government-owned newspaper. It has seen many ups and downs in its long history. Born at a time when there was not a single local journalist to take over the launching of the paper, the Herald is now managed by many young and veteran journalists who have many things to learn from the newspaper’s history.
The Ethiopian Herald is not only a paper but also a place where you learn the venerated career of journalism. Once you fall in love with the newspaper you will still be in love even after you lose your youthful energies, your hair and after your eyesight is weakened by decades of writing and reading. The famous Herald veteran Yacob Woldemariam was still writing into his eighties. If you are a genuine writer, it is a love affair that never ends as long as you are alive. Many Herald writers passed away on their jobs from working too much. We have lost many of the best and brightest writers on the newspaper. But The Ethiopian Herald is still going strong as a paper that was born in the tumultuous years of WWII. It has seen and reported many wars as well domestic and foreign conflicts, terrorist attacks and natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods and famines. It will certainly keep on doing the same in the years and decades to come and until the young reporters and writers of today leave the scene in their turn. Almost eighty years are short for a newspaper although they represent years of decline for journalists who remain faithful to the trade and do their best to stay in love with writing.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 12 AUGUST 2022
