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New issues crucial to the general public's
well-being appear everyday. There are current events
important for people to know about and understand.
However, this is not the impression given by the
state media.
Browsing through government newspapers of late, the
reoccurring theme of attacking a piece of
legislation currently in the United States (US)
Senate makes it seem as if this is the most critical
development in recent times. It is not.
In such a diverse country of some 80 million people,
which is currently engaged in combat in a
neighbouring country, it is troubling that the state
media would devote so much space and resource
capacity to denouncing the Ethiopia Democracy and
Accountability Act of 2007.
It seems especially contradictory when the Ministry
of Information (MoI) itself has declared that the
bill has "no importance for Ethiopia". Further, the
onslaught covering the pages of The Ethiopian
Herald in the past month has even emphasised the
point that Ethiopia is a country not swayed by
supposedly meddling foreign powers.
It is imperative that a government remain
independent to promote its own agenda, but the
current campaign seems self-defeating.
Judging by the six front-page stories and around 10
op-ed pieces, it is very important for the
government to devote time, energy and resources to
take the offensive in the media campaign against
promoters of the legislation.
The writings reveal a lot about strategies this
regime takes in addressing current events.
The crux of the issue is not the validity of the
bill. Some of the commentaries surrounding HR 2003
make valid points. There is of course a limited
knowledge amongst lawmakers in the US of the current
atmosphere in Ethiopia. Promoters of the legislation
may not represent a broad cross-section of political
parties or domestic interests.
However, when forming opinions of events taking
place outside sovereign borders, it often reveals
more about the sources of the views than the subject
being commented on.
Ambassador Samuel Assefa (PhD) has said HR 2003 has
little chance of becoming law. So what does the
government wish to accomplish by paying heed to
debates in a country thousands of kilometres away?
Unfortunately, criticising the legislation is merely
a venue for various interests to voice opinions
containing little new information important for
citizens in one of the poorest nations on earth.
While Ethiopians struggle with basic needs, and
inflation wreaks havoc on household budgets, the
media is failing to present timely and pertinent
information, substance that empowers citizens to
change the society in which they live, as well as
their own circumstances.
Instead, what litters the pages of newspapers are
rejections of the idea that a donor country such as
the US needs to put this legislation into law to aid
in the democratisation process.
Progress has been made, but would it not come faster
if public resources were used to enhance the
capacity of the media to report on current events in
a fair and balanced manner than being tied down
commenting on HR 2003?
It is important for government to inform the public
about success, just as it is the duty of the media
to uncover failures so that constructive
deliberation may promote policy solutions. But what
is revealed in the media campaign cutting at the US
legislation is a repackaging of more of the same old
lines.
The government of Eritrea, a country being
considered for inclusion on the US state sponsors of
terrorism list, as well as terrorist groups are
singled out as backers of the bill and repeatedly
hammered for their destructive actions.
These groups are no saints, but does the public need
to read in a state-funded newspaper that a professor
of Astrophysics, the Union of Tigreans of North
America, and the Tigray State Chief oppose the bill?
These statements do not seem pressing to the average
person, yet this is what has appeared in The
Herald.
Some of the finger-pointing misses the mark. A
lawyer from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) claims the
legislation is illegal and a violation of Ethiopia's
sovereignty. Placing conditionalities on aid, which
is an increasingly common donor practice, is indeed
a controversial matter and worthy of debate, but to
call HR 2003, a bill that includes a two-year 40
million dollar aid package, "illegal" is perhaps an
overstatement.
Yet another story reports comments from Minister of
Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin to the effect that the
bill will not be put into effect because it
represents neo-colonialism. Again, this is perhaps
an overstatement. In reality, the bill is unlikely
to pass because the current US President, who wields
veto power, has put a lot of foreign policy emphasis
on keeping Ethiopia as a staunch ally in a troubled
Horn of Africa.
But beyond the hyperbole of the rhetoric, it is more
important to highlight the choice the state media is
making with page space. For The Ethiopian Herald,
it is a higher priority to use its resources to
re-affirm time and again that the Millennium
celebrations showed that the country is unified, as
opposed to what supporters of the bill say, than it
is to give in-depth reports on local events. |
