By T, Staffer of De
Birhan
18 October 2012
Writing
like politics is addictive. For some, writing may sound, writing anything, a
white collar job where one does not have to laboriously toil in the sun and
sweat. For many, I know of, writing is
the toughest task. In fact, it is not an
easy venture; especially writing some articulated, creative and deep articles
requires so much reading, listening, thinking and above all; practice. The “Practice
makes perfect” expression correctly applies to this art. And once involved in
any profession that has writing at its core as a profession, it tends to be very
hard to get off. Going to bed without writing any piece makes you feel under, unfulfilled
and missing; so say politicians “once you get into politics it is hard to get out”.
One of the most popular
genres of writing is journalising. Not academic journalization but mass media
journalism. Fact and truth based; journalism requires no fiction and creativity. The only room for mixing fiction and showing the creativity and
articulation of the journalist is when writing features or analysis. Journalism is a very exhilarating and embracing
profession, and when practiced professionally it pays a lot back. Out of the
many ways of analyzing journalists and journalism in Ethiopia is via geographic
scales; journalism from home or exile.
Ranking number one with exiled journalists in the world, Ethiopia now
has got more émigré journalists than other countries in the globe. Although a
2008 figure shows that the government media alone employees over 1600 journalists,
in the real sense of practicing ‘journalism’, few in the private media could be counted as “less
biased and professional journalists”. Bias and professionalism in journalism has
a lot to do with geography (where the journalist is located); meaning that home
based journalists level of “bias and professionalism” gets directly influenced
by their employers, the political and economic situations of the country,
internal and external pressures and family to mention few. Exiled journalists also
work under a level of “bias and professionalism” that is directly influenced by
their employers, the political and economic situations of the country, internal
and external pressures and safety of their families at home. While similar scenarios
of influence exist in journalists of the two geographies, broadly speaking,
exiled journalists are less influenced by the above variables than those inside
the country. Exiled journalists mostly those settled in wealthy and democratic
Western countries are freer from political, economic, security and other influencing
factors unless they openly support, endorse or join a certain opinion group or
cause. Thus, although too quick to conclude that exiled journalists are less
biased and more professional than home based comparative degree of professionalism
is exhibited by journalists who write far from home. This does not include
those media outlets that are opposition to or pro regime but those that are fairly
unbiased.
Ethiopian
journalists in the Diaspora wear two hats; a hat of an independent foreigner who has a new home
but also analyses his motherland through a different prism and another hat of a
concerned, stake holding Ethiopian journalist who writes from a native
Ethiopian perspective. The serene amalgamation of these two hats put a Diaspora
based journalist at relatively balanced station. I find exiled Ethiopian
journalists who simply feel exalted because they are not living in Ethiopia to
witness the persecution and torture of their fellow journalists under vague
pretexts; they believe being there and being unable to do anything about it is equivalent to being an accomplice. Some may
find this analogy a bit exaggerated but the claimers have some truth in deed.
At times accusations go
on both directions in terms of quality and courage in journalism. Diaspora
based journalists accuse local journalists of being unable to “dig, uncover and
investigate critical issues happening in their proximity”, on the other hand,
home based journalists accuse exiled journalists as “quick generalizers and forcing
their fellows to do what they haven’t done or couldn't”.
Unquestionably, since
the promulgation of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, journalism in
Ethiopia has become a “No fly or fly with a caution Zone”. In addition to its
many restrictive and repressive clauses, the 2009 Proclamation goads locally
based journalists on “what, who and how to report”. How can a free mind be
steered by government? This is a profession of freedom and truth that is free
of regime guidelines and orders but when the tiny space that had been opening
for “real journalism” to flourish is closed, it does really make them work with unexplained heaviness. This notorious Proclamation, as most agree, made journalizing
in Ethiopia since 2009 more of a “workshop Journalism” variety. This decree now
serves as one of the main causes of seeking asylum for Ethiopian journalists.
Many accomplished Ethiopian journalists have either fled the country or changed
their fields just because of this Proclamation. The Proclamation reversed
Ethiopia’s “promising media growth” back to the days of the Mengistu Dictatorship
when freedom of expression was legally censored to protect the “Revolution”
while now it is done in the name of “security”. Kenya is reportedly to have a similar law. Taking
all these into consideration, it sounds rather good to appreciate these home
based few remaining “private journalists” who are doing their best to journalize.
Although Diaspora based journalists still lead in producing breaking news,
reports and analysis on local matters distant in thousands of miles from home, the
weakness or inability of local based media personnel to feed the public with at
least “robust” news and reports and corroborate with their distant fellows is visibly
lifeless. In the past, foreign media correspondents in Addis Abeba used to be the
first to publish breaking news, investigate and reveal uninvestigated stories in/about
Ethiopia.
Today, the role of
“professional” Ethiopian journalists is being replaced by young budding and courageous
citizen journalists. Ethiopian bloggers are these days functioning as the “the
first news revelers, courageous, specialized and ‘unbiased’ alternatives” to
traditional and established mass media found both inside and outside the
country. A citizen media project of nine young Ethiopian professionals, who
hail from fields as varied as law, Engineering, Economics, teaching, and many
others, Zone 9 Blog, is one of the few most popular, independent and tuned to
media outlet. In addition to this team of bloggers, a number of Ethiopia based
bloggers and online activists are serving the public as promising and better sources
of news, education, entertainment and communication. These citizen journalists are
not employed by any organization but journalize out of personal interest, wanting
to be alternatives voices, to vent out buried talents and opinions, and their
ambitions to sociliase. Therefore, they serve the missions and goals of no
corporate media organization meaning minimal room for bias to any group unless they
come from a certain organ or explicitly demonstrate their stands and views in
their writings. The budding Ethiopian citizen journalists are surely becoming
some of the indisputable alternatives to corporate owned traditional media and
journalists of Ethiopia. Ethiopian citizen journalists, however, still have a
long way to go. Most of them are unaware of most journalistic technicalities,
ethics, law and practices. These shortcomings are present across the board; in
most citizen journalists found elsewhere in the world. It can be ameliorated either
by giving journalism training to the citizen journalists or integrating few professional
journalists into their teams.
There are exiled
Ethiopian citizen journalists too. Most exiled/ethnic media practice a type of journalism
called opinion or advocacy journalism; they simply endorse and advocate an organization,
cause or idea. Few other ethnic media wallow between the poles of being an
independent medium, bias, professionalism, finance, human resources and other
conflicts of interest. Plus to the above few, exiled Ethiopian journalists suffer
from racism and lack of opportunities in their new home, shadowing, lack of
full info and remoteness from news events occurring at home and many other
problems. Practiced with relative freedom and independence, journalization from
exile comes with its own consequences.
Exiled journlaisation
also affects the employability of Ethiopian journalists: as hectic and
requiring as life in the West is, these journalists have to supplement their
incomes and life with extra job unrelated to media work. Therefore, potential
employers in most cases go through the media outputs that these journalists
have produced. If the employer finds an article or program produced by the
journalist that goes against the principles, views and interests of the
employer in any way, the employability of this part time journalist gets
compromised. Not only this, but when
filing applications for University courses, trainings, events, campaigns, and
many other duties and roles that require your full CV, the problem also occurs.
Saying you are a journalist and applying
for say an administrative or sales job in another organization gets you good off-putting
responses. Some non media organizations consider employing a journalist is like
“inviting trouble”, calling for an investigative journalist to watch you, appraise
you and finally expose you. No to muckrakers.
Thus ignoring the Jo thing from ones CV or appearing a ‘lapdog journalist” becomes
unexceptional to get good jobs, benefits or promotions. This is a firsthand experience of many
fellows. People, employers or other
stakeholders judge you by what you journalize than have a holistic view and
reading of oneself.
Most exiled Ethiopian
journalists don’t continue to be journalists once they leave their homeland.
Constrained by lack of language, proper training, experience and skills; they
join other types of trade such as cleaning, construction, caring and the like.
This trend has been improving these days, assisted by journalist rights groups
and other international organizations exiled Ethiopian journalists (mostly
those in the U.S.) are now pursuing further studies or establishing their own
Radio, TV programs or newspapers for the Diaspora community.
To conclude, this
opinion piece was not intended to compare exiled and local journalists but to reflect
on the emerging Ethiopian citizen media and journalists and support it by analyzing
it against the former two. The future is brighter with Ethiopian citizen journalists!!!
