Borkena
Toronto – DW Amharic service on Thursday announced that Ethiopia’s Broadcasting Authority has suspended its reporters on a temporary basis.
However, the authority did not seem to have a specified timeframe as to when the suspension will be lifted.
In a letter sent to DW Amharic service, the Authority alleges that DW correspondents in the country are not observing “professional ethics,” and have violated the country’s rules and regulations.
Yonas Fantaye, Broadcasting Authority head of license registration desk, signed the letter sent to DW.
“The coverages the correspondents produce are in violation of, repeatedly, Broadcasting Authority proclamation 1238/2013 and proclamation no. 1185/2021[2?] which were enacted to prevent hate speech and false information. They are not unto the standards of professional ethics,” the authority alleges.
Furthermore, the authority stated that DW Amharic reporters were repeatedly called to the office for “feedback” and “discussion,” and were given verbal and written warnings.
“Efforts were made for their coverage to comply with the law and respect the ‘ethics of the profession but there was no improvement and a final warning was issued on 01, 05 2015 [Ethiopian calendar],” letter to DW Amharic details.
The authority suspended the correspondence office effective October 23.
It is unspecified if DW responded to the Broadcasting Authority. Unspecified if the Broadcasting authority cited examples of “violations of rules, regulations and professional ethics.”
DW Amharic argues that it has been offering balanced news in Amharic for over 60 years. DW does not seem to have a history of suspension in the country.
Sources told Borkena, on condition of anonymity, DW Amharic is believed to be suspended over its recent coverage on Fano forces operation which led to the capture of several small towns in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
In recent months, there have been recurring incidents of unlawful arrest ( some of them appeared more like abduction) of journalists in Ethiopia – something that attests press freedom is under attack in Ethiopia. CPJ has been expressing concern and calling for the release of recent journalists (and they were set free after about two weeks) and those who have been behind bars for several years now.
The Ethiopian government is believed to have a huge spending on dozens of state owned media outlets and for the informal “media army” ( the story of media army was published by Reuters in February 2024) in an apparent move to make the ruling party narratives dominant. However, the ruling party does not seem to get the result it sought to achieve.
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I remember reading an article about this station during the 1998-2000 war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The story was about a reporter from DW reading the names of Ethiopian soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed on the battlefield. As an Eritrean, he was eventually traveling with the Eritrean soldiers. Mind you he was reading the names of the dead soldiers live on the radio news cast before the Ethiopian government had the chance to formally inform their families. That was unethical of historical proportion and he was not suspended by DW for that hideous act. I lost respect for this media outlet after reading the story and I rarely visit its website since then. I don’t miss them.