ethiopia: government/press trade punches on press bill

* International Roundtable on Media Law Reform in the Horn of Africa Opened
Here
* Bereket calls CPJ, IFJ criticisms on draft press law "ridiculous"

By Emrakeb Assefa

Ethiopia's Minister of Information Bereket Simon described yesterday the
critics of the new draft press law introduced by his Ministry in April as
being among other things "ridiculous" and "more Catholic than the Pope" in a
sweeping generalization. Ato Kifle Mulat, the President of Ethiopian Free
Press Journalists Association (EFJA), for his part stated that many
Ethiopian private journalists face imprisonment and fines and as a result
were forced to flee the country and live in exile to "save their necks."

The two were making their presentations during the opening of the
International Roundtable on Media Law Reform in the Horn of Africa. The
Information Minister dismissed the EFJA as "more Catholic than the pope" by
opposing the restriction of the cross ownership of media outlets in the
draft press law.

"It remains a mystery to this day as to how the EFJA, which claims to be an
advocate for the rights of journalists and pluralism in the media adores the
idea of cross media ownership. Every time we come across this position of
the EFJA surprisingly enough, we find them to be more Catholic than the
pope," he said. Nine publishers along with other private journalists are
currently opposing the draft law provision that limits cross ownership of
media outlets, saying that it will work against media density and expansion.
Media experts estimate that the country, with 70 million people, has no more
than 40,000 copies of newspapers being circulated daily. Bereket said that
since 1993, about 650 licenses had been issued. Currently, there are about
82 private weekly newspapers, and 32 private monthly magazines in Ethiopia,
the minister said.

However, EFJA president refuted the minister's claim that the private media
has grown in the past eleven years. Stating that there has been a sharp
decline in number of publications in Ethiopia, Kifle said that within the
second year of the enforcement of the press proclamation, the number of
press publications that were issued reached 287 but at present the number is
not more than 80.

He also cited repeated harassments, fines, and imprisonments of private
journalists as having contributed to the sharp decline in private media
outlets. He mentioned that from 1993-1998, some 127 free press journalists
have been imprisoned for not less than three months while 23 had been
sentenced to jail terms ranging from 3 months to three years. Nineteen have
been sentenced to fines ranging from 300 birr to 20,000 birr. A total of 35
private journalists were forced to flee the country. The high courts in
Addis Ababa have until last week been looking into charges instituted
against 46 free press journalists, he said.

The International Roundtable, which will close tomorrow, is being held with
the aim of creating regional collaboration among the media in the Horn, Mr.
Kwame Karikari, the director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA),
one of the organizers said. The Horn is the only region in Africa that
hardly has any private and independent broadcasting media and where the
private press operates under very restrictive environment, he added.

The minister also used the occasion to lambast international organizations
that made repeated criticisms and voiced strong opposition to the draft law,
calling their stance "ridiculous."

"To our utter dismay, there were several instances where our country had
been barraged by unwarranted criticisms and accusations" from international
partners, he said. He added that for the CPJ and IFJ to accuse his
government of violating the Ethiopian constitution was "ridiculous" because
none of them "had ever read the draft press law at that time." He pointed
out that the draft law was prepared only in Amharic at the beginning and,
therefore, the government should not be accused on the basis of "hearsay and
hastily prepared and deliberately distorted translation of the draft press
law." He said, "Such irresponsible attitudes and acts of some international
associations does not in any way help to cultivate a free press which in the
Ethiopian context is already suffering from lack of professionalism and is
in the process of choking itself with a heavy dose of hate politics."

Speaking on the draft press law, Kifle Mulat stated the position of EFJA
which calls for the law to be withdrawn or completely redrafted by a
committee of legal and press experts and put to public discussion before it
is sent to the Parliament.

The meeting was organized by International Media Support (IMS) and EFJA in
collaboration with MFWA, and Article 19. Yesterday, representatives from
Somalia, Somaliland, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia made the national
experiences report on the media situation within their respective countries.

Article 19, an international organization working for freedom of the media,
has published a document criticizing the draft press law and has made
specific recommendations. It recommended that the scope of the draft
proclamation should be restricted to large-scale, periodical print media
outlets, and that the draft should not impose restrictions on who may
practice journalism and it should not require individual journalists to
register.

It also recommended that the licensing system for the media should either be
abolished altogether or substantially reformed to bring it into line with
the standards noted above. It said the exceptions to the right to access
information held by public authorities should be reviewed to ensure that
they are clear and narrow, and that all exceptions are subject to a harm
test and public interest override.

Consideration should be given to removing all content restrictions from the
draft Proclamation. If these restrictions are retained, they should be
carefully reviewed to ensure that they are appropriately narrow and clear.

Consideration should be given to removing the provisions relating to the
establishment of the Press Council altogether from the draft Proclamation.
If the idea of a statutory Press Council is retained, it should benefit from
effective guarantees against political interference, including in relation
to the manner in which members are appointed.

Article 26, granting prosecutors the power to suspend media outlets, should
be removed from the draft Proclamation, it recommended in conclusion.

The regime of sanctions under the draft Proclamation should be reconsidered
with a view to removing the possibility of imprisonment for all but the most
serious, repeated abuses.

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of EFJA**