ETHIOPIA: Government urged to forgo ''draconian'' press laws
An international press freedom watchdog on Thursday called for Ethiopia to abandon new "draconian" media laws which could result in more journalists being jailed. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also urged the authorities to "stop harassing" reporters in the country and allow them more freedom to work.
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ETHIOPIA: Government urged to forgo ''draconian'' press laws
ADDIS ABABA, 25 July (IRIN) - An international press freedom watchdog on
Thursday called for Ethiopia to abandon new "draconian" media laws which
could result in more journalists being jailed.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also urged the
authorities to "stop harassing" reporters in the country and allow them more
freedom to work.
It said that journalists working for private newspapers were not allowed
access to the same information as journalists working for government-run
publications.
The CPJ also called on the government to release three journalists who are
currently jailed in Ethiopia. A further 37 journalists have criminal charges
pending against them.
Josh Friedman, a Pullitzer Prize winner for his 1985 report about the famine
in Ethiopia and director of the CPJ board, urged the authorities to scrap
criminal penalties for journalists.
He said that jailing journalists for getting facts wrong but not allowing
those same journalists access to information was absurd.
"The only solution to this problem is not putting journalists in jail but
opening the government to scrutiny by the private press," he told a press
conference in Addis Ababa.
However, the Ethiopian government insists the new laws - which could come
into effect by the end of the year - are to prevent scurrilous stories
appearing in print.
Yves Sorokobi, the CPJ Africa programme coordinator, accused the authorities
of waging a "brutal crackdown" on press freedom and journalists, while
claiming to the international community they were relaxing press laws.
Sorokobi argued that the free market and newspaper subscribers should
"ultimately decide" which media outlets survive or go bust.
During a five-day visit to Ethiopia, the CPJ met Ethiopian Information
Minister Bereket Simon and the State Minister for Information, Netsannet
Asfaw. They discussed the implementation of the new press law which the
government says will spell out the "dos and don'ts" for the press.
"We want the government to stop regarding the private press as enemies and
view them as an essential part of a country which has a great destiny,"
Friedman said.
He added that allowing the press greater freedom could attract investors to
a country.
[ENDS]
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