vigilant TV

The Washington Times reports on a push by the Ethiopian government to regulate the country’s 93 independent newspapers. Many of the papers print wildly inaccurate articles, but the proposed laws are clumsy restrictions on free speech. Note that several of the clauses seem to serve no purpose other than to increase government secrecy.

“This is a death sentence passed on the freedom of press in Ethiopia,” writes Amare Aregawi, editor of the Reporter. He points out that in a country where radio and television are still state-owned, the private print press is the only nongovernment voice being heard. ”[The proposal] was born out of anger and the wish to exact revenge,” he said, “and makes the country, the public and the government a laughingstock of the world.”

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The law, if passed, will prohibit any reporting on opposition party activities, for example, as well as ban the printing of any government documents, henceforth classified as confidential. No funding or assistance to the private press from outside sources will be allowed (which seems to include fundamentalist Islamic organizations and invitations to professional conferences at the U.S. Embassy alike) and press releases from nongovernmental organizations will be considered ads that must be paid for and taxed. Access to government officials, now notoriously difficult, will be made even harder.

– Washington Times, Newspapers face crackdown in Ethiopia.