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Feb 06,
2007
Young journalists have been flocking out of
Reporter, TPLF's prominent mouthpiece.
The latest group of reporters and editors
who have left the declining media owned by
former TPLF fighters, Amare Aregawi, include
journalist Berhane Alemu. Berhane worked at
Reporter for more than ten years, ascending
to senior editorial position. Two senior
reporters, Tsion Girma and Firew Abebe also
left the organization last week.
According to sources, the owner and
editor-in-chief of the paper has stifled
freedom of speech at Reporter after hiss
paper weighed in the May 2005 election
supporting EPRDF. Journalists have been
banned from reporting human rights abuses by
the Meles government.
Amare allegedly leads a new network of EPRDF
sympathizers who pose as independent
journalists and scholars to foreign
diplomats and journalists. "It is a creative
propaganda machine. People like Amare and
Costentinos Berhe approach diplomats and
journalists and criticize the government.
Then they argue that the opposition,
including jailed Kinijit leaders, is worse.
This is a strategy, which leaves foreigners
thinking that despite all its problems,
EPRDF is the best Ethiopians can get,
without putting the independence of the
messengers in doubt, "a TPLF insider told
this blogger.
And this systematic approach to propaganda
is working. Important visitors like Donald
Levin had been deceived by the machine.
Amare has also become the Ethiopian
representative for some prominent
international organizations including
Transparency International.
Source
Seminawork |
