BY YESUF ENDRIS
Every year has to go and New Year has to come. But, the memory of the past will never be erased from people’s minds. The year 2021 has also gone through several unforgettable events. For Ethiopians it was the year of fighting against both internal and external threats.
To look back at external threats, The has reviewed some Western media’s fake news on Ethiopia and interviewed an expert on the course.
Addis Ababa University Journalism and Communication Assistant Professor Anteneh Tsegaye (PhD) had a short phone interview with the newspaper. He said the year 2021 was full of challenges and opportunities for Ethiopia. “We have seen both opportunities and threats have thrived in the country. We have identified who has been colluding against and who is friend of Ethiopia indeed.”
The expert noted that some Western mainstream media exposed themselves that they have clear enmity with the people and government of Ethiopia meanwhile some countries stand with truth and support Ethiopia’s cause. “I had no clue that they would be deficient this much. Surprisingly, the West revealed its selfish agenda and the longstanding, but concealed affiliation with the terrorist TPLF.”
As to Anteneh, BBC’s report that claims ‘Ethiopia closes schools to boost civil war effort,’ is the most outstanding false information that was disseminated by the corporate media in the just concluded year. It is a customary practice in Ethiopia to close schools during harvesting season and it is a perpetual value of Ethiopian schools.
BBC, CNN, Reuters and other Western outlets also violated professional and ethical journalism while covering Ethiopia in the year 2021.
The expert recommended Ethiopia’s mainstream media should act proactively in detecting fake news and provide timely and accurate information that would curtail opportunity to deceive public opinion.
During the year 2021, some fake news were reported by BBC, CNN, Reuters and other big media institutions.
For instance, last September, the fake Humera massacre was reported. The report was orchestrated in Sudan by Sudanese national reporter working for CNN. The reporter has obtained the data from a man who was wearing TPLF’s Cape logoed with Yekatit11. (TPLF’s establishment day).
Uniformly, BBC has also been accused of disseminating unwarranted reports including fake mass ethnic based arresting, fake genocide, fake TPLF-victory, and reports blaming the Ethiopian government for using humanitarian support as a weapon of war.
In its November 24 report, BBC claimed that ‘mass arresting and ethnic profiling hunt’ took place in Addis Ababa and the rest of the country. In fact, the report has denied researching data to revise whether detainees were suspects of crime or not. It simply took their ethnicity to back the fake news.
The most circulated fake news which reads ‘Addis Ababa under siege of TPLF’ has been also reported by Reuters and shared by some others. The photograph in Tigray State had been also used with a caption pretending to be TPLF forces around Addis Ababa.
The January 1/2022
