Terms, concepts and theories in certain professions might be misunderstood. It happens and may be tolerable until the misconception is over. But it would be weird and sad to see a given profession misunderstood almost in entirety. That is the case with journalism in Ethiopia.
We used to listen to many people who write opinion articles and poems in magazines and newspapers proudly calling themselves “journalists”. Journalism in Ethiopia is a profession that even stand-up comedians and stage facilitators dare to claim as theirs. It is a profession that some people perceive as an area where anyone able to speak a lot and fast, can claim a stake.
Journalism is a profession that quite a number of people still equate to public relations, and even some others, including those very people who practice it, takes it as synonymous with political activism and propaganda. And the most frustrating part of it is that government authorities have not fully accepted its contribution to development, positively.
Journalism, in this country, has never corresponded to facts and truth. Essential professional traits, such as maintaining independence, objectivity and balance, have become scarce as if they were not values that anyone would needs to develop, let alone journalists.
In fact, the history of journalistic practice in Ethiopia shows that it has been probably among the professions that attracts indisciplined free spirits. Except for a very few journalists professionally trained at tertiary level abroad and some crash courses by international organisations at home, the public has been mostly “served” just with common sense, case decisions and news sense by those considered as having interest in and the skills of the profession.
It is obvious that the practice of journalism has been an extension of the political culture of the country. With few exceptions, both from individual journalists and media organisations, the practice of journalism can best be characterised as standing at extremes. There have been media outlets that seem to take the mission of liberators on the one hand, and guardians of government power, on the other.
The government-owned media are claimed by many to be instruments of the government and the ruling party, whereas many of those privately-owned presses were claimed to revolt against the government. Neglecting the role it could play in the society, time and again, journalism has proved to play the role of activism and one-sided propaganda instead of itself. It is customary to see many reporters operating as spokespersons for particular political views rather than offering the objective voice of journalists.
Moreover, the private media mostly treat issues limited to the capital, Addis Abeba, and have no wider reach or a full picture of the interests in the country. The government’s broadcast media are relatively better in reach and issue coverage, but the way they frame agendas and their angle of reporting is again only from the side of the government.
Do not take me wrong, I am not saying there is no improvement at all in practicing the profession. Though few, there are improvements in both the state and privately owned media institutions.
There are improvements in terms of diversifying programmes, live coverage, upgrading journalists’ professional capacity, producing some social and entertainment programmes, outreach, financial capacity and technological infrastructure in the state media.
From the private media, we have few newspapers and FM radio stations that have thrived to stay in the market for a long time and maintain features of maturity in professional and ethical standards of journalism. We are also witnessing business magazines, mainly in English language, emerging, even if they are yet to prove their sustainability in the market and their professionalism.
But, still, the state media, which are yet to prove that they are public media, are practicing the concept of development journalism in its misconceived or deliberately distorted manner to serve governing interests. These media are tirelessly engaged in presenting “facts” as are told from the government side, sometimes with exaggerations, promises with no follow-up of their translation into actions, and fabricated stories that one many not find in real Ethiopia.
Even if it is indicated in their editorial policy documents, the state-owned media institutions and their journalists are not empowered. They are not vested with the responsibility of monitoring power and authorities. They are reluctant to appreciate the watch-dog role of journalism.
These institutions do not practically allow, or have failed to encourage their journalists to constructively investigative and expose: challenges of development and real weaknesses of implementers, injustice, acts of corruption and human rights violations, so that there will be timely actions and solutions through discussion among the public, policy makers and officials.
By doing so, the state-owned media and their associates are playing negative roles in Ethiopia’s development and democratisation process.
The same is true, though less so in the present, with many of the privately-owned media outlets, but with a different mission. They claim to represent the
public, but again, with their own version of truth.
Except for the few media that relatively strive to maintain the integrity of the profession, many tend to rebel against the government and take everything that the government does negatively, even if the truth can be seen with one’s eyes. They seem to believe that the government is accountable for all problems and forget that the monitorial role of media also extends to investigate and scrutinise other institutions and the society at large.
These private media seem to be on good terms with the opposition political parties, while they are hostile to the government. They use news to serve their purposes. But, at the same time, we should do not forget that we have also had newspapers and magazines with the intellectual and professional touch that were forced to terminate their operations.
I am neither against activism nor the constructive role of propaganda. People have the right to engage in activism or propagate for a cause they really want to advance. It is their part of the right to freedom of expression to do so.
But to distort, to hide, and to exaggerate facts to serve a particular political or whatsoever purpose in the name of journalism is not the work of the news media. Such media do not give citizens a chance to make their own decisions, which usually comes with having access to the right information and different perspectives woven fairly into an issue.
Yes there are those who believe in that journalism is a form of activism and that journalists cannot be objective in writing. Indeed, there are also media institutions which are activist and are not objective in their reports. This is especially true of the social media which is becoming a favourable platform for activism, with its citizen journalists and everyone participating. But that is not the convention with academicians, most practicing journalists, and the actual practice in the mainstream media. Neither should be our option to follow this model.
Journalists should not disclose their subjective assumptions and political values in reporting news and feature articles. They need to be able to write articles that are accurate and objective, even if the messages of their articles do not accord with their hopes and wishes.
Can they be perfectly objective?
Well, this would be unrealistic and is “comparable to asking whether a circle drawn on paper to do a geometry problem is “perfectly round”, as John B. Judis, the American journalist, writes.
Judis argues “Journalists (or policy experts) usually have a rooting interest in what they write about, but it need not shape what they write. That is the whole point about objectivity – and the role of editors and second drafts. On a psychological level, too, a journalist might want to see Al-Gore win the election, but he or she might also want to maintain his reputation as a journalist whose reporting can be trusted by Republicans as well as Democrats. One hope might override the other. That is what professionalism is about.”
However, the media must entertain activists, propagandists, opinion writers and all sorts of inclinations and citizens. Yet it is unprofessional for news media to totally and completely subscribe to the interests of the few, practically to a ruling party, an opposition camp or market monopolist individuals, pretending that they are doing journalism. Or they must explicitly and legally declare themselves as organs of political parties, religious institutions and such, and should not contend that they are practicing journalism.
What are we hoping for?
I do not think the professionals should take this long to understand that they need to make maximum effort to be loyal and accountable to their target audiences, and respect the core values of their profession. It is not too late to discuss their role in the Ethiopian society and clear up the confusion. It is also not a shame to come together to form strong professional associations and media councils, putting aside political or whatsoever interests.
The government has to support and facilitate such a move. It needs to stop considering the private media as the enemy and the government media as machines for indoctrination.
Both private and government media really need better freedom to exercise their profession. They need a better political space to contribute to the roles expected of them in the quest for sustainable development. The media are in desperate need of the right to access to information, again without discrimination.
Ethiopians deserve access to alternative media outlets and we simply could not understand why the government wanted television channels to be monopolised by the state and remained so reluctant to give more trade licences to others, in an effort to diversify media ownership in the country. Permitting and supporting more independent private media to flourish in the regional states would significantly change the current practice. It may break the tradition and would probably serve as widened source of information to those centred in the capital which eventually could help them see the full picture of the country.
Above all, the media sector is requesting that government practically consider it as one of the influential democratic institutions in this country. It wants to seriously be seen as an area worthy of investment and benefitting from subsidies and tax exemptions. There must be a clear directive and action that supports public offices’ advertisements and public announcements in any media, be it private or government, as long as they follow the legal procedure.
We ought to recognise that indirect censorship, lack of access to information, limited freedom, financial shortages and infrastructural problems can also push media esatablishments to act unprofessinaly.
As I discussed earlier, the sector is still suffering from lack of professionalism. Yes, since 2004, there has been an impressive expansion of journalism programmes in Ethiopian universities. There are currently 12 universities – 10 public and 2 private – which are producing many new graduates to join the workforce.
Surprisingly, the broadcast, online and other news media under the government’s auspices are especially being conquered by the new graduates. Many of us have considered this move as a timely response to the critical problem of lack of professionalism and hoped it would bring about a tangible change in the practice.
Shockingly, it is common to hear now complaints that the media are not bringing the anticipated updates to their practice despite recruiting young journalists with university-level media education. In addition to the existing misunderstanding about the profession, unfortunately it is becoming clear that our journalism schools also seem to fail in understanding the profession correctly and taking it seriously.
They are not producing real journalists who can satisfy the media market demand in terms of professional quality. In this regard also, there is a huge amount of homework to be done.
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