January 3, 2006
Where's the news?
Q: What do you do if you are a government-controlled news organisation and an embarrassing story starts spreading across the international media?
A: If you are in Ethiopia, you ignore it and wait for it to go away.
The story first appeared in the Financial Times on December 29:
Donors plan to withhold $375m from Ethiopia (Subscription barrier)Donors are to withhold direct budgetary support worth about $375m (€317m £218m) from Ethiopia following the government's brutal crackdown on opposition supporters last month, western development officials said yesterday.
Until the situation improves, the donors - which include the World Bank, the European Union and the UK - will look to disburse the funds in other ways to continue tackling the country's massive poverty challenges, Ishac Diwan, the World Bank's country director, said.
The move is a further blow to the credibility of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, who was once regarded as a visionary African leader and was appointed to the UK's Commission for Africa.
"Because of the situation, trust has broken down so we are trying to find other ways of doing it (funding)," another western development official said.
This was the first detailed confirmation of a general feeling that has been building up among donors since the November violence. In the weeks that followed the killings, lots of international organisations started looking at ways to re-direct their donations away from direct government budget support. Meetings with government bodies were cancelled. Phone calls went unanswered. Projects were quietly put on hold.
Then Ishac Diwan backed up all the background rumbling with some concrete figures. And the story started to spread - outside Ethiopia that is. Here is the story on Reuters, The Observer, the BBC, Voice of America and two from IRIN (here and here). The (London) Times waited a couple of days, then jumped into the fray yesterday with a full-page diatribe against the current regime - Blair's heroes of democracy who embraced oppression.
But what about if your only source of news are the official outlets inside Ethiopia?
Here are the headlines from the Ethiopian News Agency for December 29: ALFOZ to construct abattoir with over 50 million Birr; WFP calls 2005; Bishoftu town administration gives 17,300 square meters land to investors; UNICEF, three bureaus sign agreement providing to implement water supply; Prosecutor Files Charges Against 129 Defendants; Foreign Exchange Trade; Road fund earmarks over 480 million Birr to finance maintenance of roads; Participation of stake holders said crucial in inhancing economic importance of tourism; Minister calls for redoubled effort to tap power from coal, geothermal reserve.
It has been pretty much the same mix ever since - here is the ENA's news archive if you want to check for yourself. Other empty spaces to watch are Walta, the Ethiopian Herald and ETV.
Posted by aheavens at January 3, 2006 8:26 AM
Comments
There it comes. That was a fantastic summary. I think the civilised world should be more vocal, atleast as much vocal as Tony Blair was and still is on Mugabe. The west should actually be more actionable in its punishment to such a government and in its support for the people of ethiopia; say like diplomatic sanctions on government authorities and their assets abroad.
The government media in the country is a useless news outlet. That is why the ethiopian people need external news outlet like the VOA and the DW radio services broadcast in ethiopian languages.I think the bbc should consider radio services broadcast in ethiopian languages. Given the information black out and media abuse by the 'illegal' government and given the bbc is a global news service, it is not so much to ask, is it?
Posted by: Mintesinot at January 3, 2006 12:11 PM
Well said what is going on Ethiopia. The only news outlet is VOA and DW. And astonishingly many people don't watch ETV and hear Ethiopian radio. Many people are not entitled to have internet news.
Posted by: Ben at January 3, 2006 4:16 PM
Yes, a good impartial summary indeed, and well designed for maximum objective impact - rather like the Ethiopian private newspaper Fortune which did publish that story this week.
Posted by: Yohanis at January 3, 2006 9:00 PM
Haha...very funny indeed. brilliant
Posted by: Tyrel at January 3, 2006 9:56 PM
Yo Andrew!
You are my bitch!
Posted by: Tade at January 4, 2006 12:21 AM
Andrew -
Can we please come up with something catchier than "the situation?" I feel it is too bland, a sort of way of saying 'we don't want to call it unrest, or admit there is a political problem.'
Please consider launching a branding campaign to revamp the image of "the situation."
A few suggestions:
- the mess in merkato
- re-erection insurrection
- democracy hipocracy
- rasberry beret repression
Anyway, I'm not a marketer, so i'll leave it to you to refine...
Thanks
Posted by: Free the Giraffes at January 4, 2006 5:54 AM