What is the state of press freedom in Ethiopia?
Habtamu Dugo: Ever since the current Ethiopian regime ascended to power in 1991, journalists in Ethiopia have been facing tremendous threats to their lives, their professions, and to the lives of their loved ones and readers or audience. The minority Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) dominates the broadcast media, the telecommunications sector, and the whole economy of the country. Anyone not bearing ruling party cards is seen as an outsider or an enemy, making them primary targets of attacks. The venomously ethnic nature of the regime has no tolerance whatsoever for people belonging to other ethnic groups and for free expression of one’s opinion. Without linking it to the wider undemocratic and totalitarian political system that the regime has been following, it is so hard to understand the troubled Ethiopian media landscape. For those working in the government media (TV and Radio), self-censorship and censorship imposed by politically appointed newsroom leaders
