#Mereja headline news free#

He added that the problems reflected polarization in the country.Д«elay Manaye, an editor at the privately-owned Satellite Radio and Television (ASRAT) and co-founder of the newspaper, Berera, said, вЂњThe way we manage this political crisis will manifest which way we could go in the near future: are we getting back to the dark times or will we manage the crisis and move forward? I hope we can manage.вЂќ

My optimism is dimming though I am still hopeful,вЂќ said Elias Kifle, the chief executive of the online news outlet Mereja TV. вЂњIt doesnвЂ™t look as bright as it was a few months ago. However, several of the people with whom CPJ spoke said they were concerned about the future for the media. Zelalem Kibret, an Ethiopian academic and former blogger, saidthat he was вЂњambivalentвЂќ as to whether recent events were a case of вЂњan old habit struggling to fade away or a renewed attack on the press.вЂќ

Haimanot Ashenafi, a senior editor at the weekly Addis Maleda, said journalism in Ethiopia today is different from the profession which for years was characterized by вЂњshock and traumaвЂќ. Most journalists and human rights defenders with whom CPJ spoke said there are concrete wins: journalists who had been imprisoned for years were freed in 2018 and the government is carrying out positive legal reform. Several outlets, including Bloomberg and CNN, said speculation inside Ethiopia was that authorities cut internet access in those instances to prevent students cheating during examinations.ДЄlongside the blackouts, in the past two months authorities also arrested several journalists and, on July 8, EthiopiaвЂ™s Ministry of Defense said in a press conference that it planned to file charges against вЂњindividuals and media creating distrust between the public and the army,вЂќ the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported.ДЄll this leads to the inevitable question: did we celebrate the opening up of Ethiopia too early? The country was hit by intermittent network disruptions affecting internet and SMS services between June 11 and June 18, according to the Open Observatory of Network Interference, a global open sourcing network for tracking blocks. Yared Hailemariam, the executive director of the Swiss-based Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, described the June 22 shutdown to CPJ as вЂњa very wrong and old strategy of the government.вЂќ But it wasnвЂ™t the only blackout last month.

#Mereja headline news free#

While internet shutdowns and anti-terror laws being turned against journalists are nothing new in Ethiopia, their use in recent weeks is in stark contrast to the Ethiopia that welcomed the international media community for World Press Freedom Day celebrations in May and whose prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has been fГЄted as taking bold steps in opening up the space for a free press.

In the aftermath at least two journalists were detained under the countryвЂ™s repressive anti-terror law, part of an uptick in arrests that CPJ has noted in the country since May. NAIROBI, (IPS) - On June 22, Ethiopia was plunged into an internet blackout following what the government described as a failed attempted coup in the Amhara region.