Media in Ethiopia Urged to Support Upcoming Election by Upholding Professional Reporting

March 18/2021 (ENA) The Ethiopian Media Council urged media houses and journalists operating in Ethiopia to support the successful accomplishment of the upcoming general election in the country by upholding professional reporting of the events.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Media Council, Amare Aregawi made the remark today at a training organized by the council in collaboration with the French Embassy in Addis Ababa on election reporting.

On the occasion, Amare called on the media to exert efforts to help make the upcoming general election democratic, fair, legal and free from conflicts based on code of conducts of the election process.   

He also urged journalists to produce reports that support the peace, stability and development of the country by emphasizing on accuracy and relevance as well as refraining from fake information.  

Enhancing the awareness of journalists about the media code of conducts to be implemented during the overall activities of the election was the main objective of the half-day day training.

Senior Project Officer at International Foundation for Election System that works in partnership with the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, Solomon Girma briefed the trainees about the code of conducts.

According to Solomon, media and journalists need to be impartial of any political party and refrain from reporting issues that provoke conflicts during the election.

He pointed out that while reporting events and issues during the election, journalists have to respect the culture and norms of the community and respect regulations of the electoral board.

Journalists drawn from various media houses have attended the training.

The key objective of Ethiopian Media Council, whose members include publishers, broadcasters as well as media associations, is  to contribute for the development of professional and responsible media in Ethiopia.