BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Since the launching of the law enforcement operation against the terrorist TPLF group, some low-rated international media outlets have been mystifying the international community with cooked-up stories. Simply, for the sake of pursuing their hidden objectives, they have been spreading disinformation fed by paid activists and sympathizers of the terrorist TPLF group.
Led by the propaganda unethical media outlets, some western nations have also been putting unprecedented pressure on the country. They have been engaged in whitewashing the mayhems, plundering, gang rape, and other evil deeds carried out by the terrorist TPLF group. In actual fact, the spread of disinformation has been meant to put pressure on the country.
Western media outlets have been engaged in misrepresenting the current situation of Ethiopia and reporting that the dissidents are near to the capital Addis Ababa and only 200 kilometers away from capturing the metropolis, said Moses Khisa, Political Science and African Studies Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University.
“But the reality is far different and such media lies intended to bring regime change and dismantle Ethiopia. The media have also been vividly biased and only favor the terrorist TPLF. However, the people and government of Ethiopia are on the victorious side of the war and the criminal and robber forces are being crushed and pushed to where they come from.”
“Western media’s indifference to TPLF belligerence in the Amhara and Afar states is the main cause of the social tension.”
Noting his special attachment with the people of Ethiopia and visiting the country several times, the academician indicated that the outlawed faction committed crimes against humanity and damaged immense property during the past year.
“Unfortunately, some Western media still exercise partisan reporting and positively portray the rebellious group rather than seeking the truth.
In another testimony, Photo Journalist with Getty Images Jemal Countess said that instead of doing an investigation into the crimes of terrorist TPLF against humanity and resources, some Western media have been working to hide the crimes of the terrorist group and distributing the false propagation of the group.
He called on Western journalists to come to Ethiopia to report facts through getting what is on the ground. He tripped into Ethiopia for the fifth time to get facts about the current situation of Ethiopia and he said that terrorist TPLF committed massive atrocities against people who live in the Amhara and Afar states.
Be that as it may, having a first-hand look at the current situation of Ethiopia, U.S. journalists said what they saw from the corporate media about the country is completely different from the facts on the ground.
“We have found Ethiopia’s reality is far from what the U.S. media tell us about the country-a place of disorder and dismemberment,” the journalists – Eugene Puryear and Rania Khalek shared their experiences to local media.
“To keep it very brief, one thing that stood out to me from being on the ground in Ethiopia was just how dramatically different what was happening on the ground was from the narrative that we were getting in the mainstream Western press,” said Rania Khalek. “I am really excited we got to go there.”
As to her, they visited a lot of areas that had been under TPLF occupation for months and were recently taken back by the federal government. Public and private buildings and institutions, hotels, schools, airports, health facilities have been destroyed and looted.
“I cannot emphasize enough how drastically different what we were seeing on the ground was from the narrative we have been hearing in the U.S. press. We spoke to a lot of victims and almost every one of them would say when their house was being looted when they were being raped when their father or brother was being dragged out and killed.”
The journalist pointed out that the U.S. press is promoting the narrative that TPLF is fighting an evil government for freedom and against genocide. However, the faction is committing atrocities and trying to disintegrate the country. “Imagine how horrible it would be for the country of Ethiopia, a country of 110 million people to collapse.”
Eugene Puryear said for the part that they were shocked by the level of humanitarian and material damage TPLF dissidents have caused. “We spoke to the people who are the most directly affected by what is happening by the group.
Unlike the biased media outlets, some media such as RT have beel trying to tell the truth. Of late, RT disclosed that some western media is willfully and deliberately chosen to misinform the audience regarding Ethiopia’s conflict against Ethiopia but it is unfortunate because during wartime more than ever credible reporting is urgent.
TPLF has been involved in an official war trying to overthrow the officially and democratically elected government of Ethiopia but mainstream western media instead of remaining neutral they have chosen to take a side.
To counter the wrong narrative of the international media, Ethiopians together with foreign nationals launched the NoMore campaign and are exposing the propaganda war waged against Ethiopia.
Lately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) hosted a symposium in partnership with the Bahir Dar University under the theme ‘the impact of misinformation on Ethiopia’s diplomacy and its solution.’
MoFA Spokesperson Ambassador Dina Mufti said Western media’s silence to Ethiopia’s positive development and its reluctance to facts on the ground is a deliberate attempt to deceive the global audience.
The corporate media once again affirmed its avid support to the terrorist TPLF in parroting the latter’s claim that the withdrawal of its forces from Amhara and Afar states was carried out ‘to give the opportunity for peace. These special interest media have also breached the journalism profession in concealing TPLF’s crimes in Amhara and Afar states, added the spokesperson.
Western mainstream media are deliberately chosen to disinform the international community about Ethiopia. Accordingly, Ethiopia’s higher education institutions need to play an active role in countering these media lies, said Bahir Dar University President Firew Tegegn (Ph.D.),
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Social Affairs Advisor Deacon Daniel Kibret refuted the longstanding notion of international media. “There is no such thing called international media; each media is operated by a single country or entity who established it. But we willfully assigned the so-called term ‘international media.’”
The Western media have said nothing good about what the government is doing and turned a blind eye and deaf ear to terrorist TPLF atrocities, Daniel added.
“This coordinated media campaign is executed by spy agencies and organizations operating under the guise of humanitarian aid agencies, as well Western media and diplomats. They definitely know the fact but they don’t want to report it because it may be against their interest.”
Sharing the above rationale, the diplomat Zerihun Abebe stated that corporate media began spewing lies on the northern conflict on November 4, 2020, the exact date TPLF committed a treasonous attack on Ethiopia’s Northern Command and presented the faction as the victim. The media also falsely accused the federal government of the fake Tigray Genocide with a view to dragging international intervention.
The consolidation of the #NoMore movement in which Ethiopians, foreigners of Ethiopian origin, and friends shedding light for the global community about the country’s objective reality is also something worth consideration.
The January 8/2022
