Ethiopia Undertaking Dramatic Changes on Opening Up Media for Democracy

Addis Ababa May 1/2019 A joint media forum for local and international media professionals kicked off today as a prelude to an international conference dedicated to World Press Freedom Day with a theme “Media for Democracy" to be held here in Addis Ababa.

Over the past year, Ethiopia has undertaken dramatic changes to open up media and use it for promoting democracy, Representative of Press Secretary at Office of the Prime Minister Billene Seyoum said.

World Press Freedom Day under the theme "Media for Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities for the Media in the Age of Disinformation" kicked off here in Addis Ababa today.

Speaking on the joint media forum, Billene Seyoum said "a lot of significant policy and shift in practice have taken place over the past year."

Furthermore, “Dramatic shift that we could all acknowledge has taken place not only in print and broadcast media but also in opening up of the space that has enabled freedom of speech and expression to be exercised within the digital world."

The government is working on drafting rules and regulations that could curb hate speech, she said, adding that "of course pertinent stakeholders are also taking part to ensure it does not limit the freedom of speech."

"The paradigm shift made by the new administration has enabled us to move towards ensuring a culture of dialogue, exchange of ideas, which is to be facilitated and augmented by the media," she elaborated.

Assistance Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO, Moez Chakchouk said "addressing disinformation is not a new issue but we need to consider it differently because of the development of social media."

"Empowering the society on these issues and creating awareness on the issue is the most important thing to tackle disinformation," he highlighted.

African Union Commission (AUC) Communication Head, Wynne Musabayana said on her part that African political leaders should recognize the challenges and threats of disinformation and put measures in place to minimize the impact especially during election period.

She stressed that banning or limiting of access to social media is not a sustainable solution to the issue of disinformation, she said, and adding "but rather accessibility, availability and accuracy will remain a key."

The main forum will continue tomorrow at the AU conference hall to further deliberate on issues related to the media for democracy.