Ethiopian News, Current Affairs and Opinion Forum
temari
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Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስትር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by temari » 17 Jun 2021, 16:52

This is great! PM Abiy's interview is full of election campaign rhetoric and should not be aired in the last 4 days before the election in which any campaign activity is forbidden by law. Kudos to the Media Authority to step in and block the interview from being aired tomorrow. That would have been unfair and a violation of election law. Hopefully public medias will abide by the guideline of the authority and will block the interview from being aired.

Last edited by temari on 17 Jun 2021, 17:51, edited 4 times in total.


temari
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Posts: 3743
Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስትር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by temari » 17 Jun 2021, 17:48

This is the trailer for the interview that was supposed to be aired on Friday.
As you can see it is full of campaign promises.
This kind of election campaign is not allowed in the last 4 days before election day.
PM Abiy must lead by example and abide by the law.


Abe Abraham
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Posts: 14412
Joined: 05 Jun 2013, 13:00

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስቴር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by Abe Abraham » 17 Jun 2021, 17:52

To the contrary in the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson refused to be interviewed by the BBC few days before the election for fear of facing tough questions and making costly mistakes.

temari
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Posts: 3743
Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስቴር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by temari » 18 Jun 2021, 07:21

Abe Abraham wrote:
17 Jun 2021, 17:52
To the contrary in the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson refused to be interviewed by the BBC few days before the election for fear of facing tough questions and making costly mistakes.
The questions presented to PM in this interview is most likely prepared by his aids and the journalists usually don't ask follow up questions let alone challenge him. Especially this particular interview is full of election campaign language and images and is illegal to broadcast it in the last days of the election.

You can't compare BBC with Ethiopian state medias like ETV, Fana, Walta etc. Our state medias don't understand they are NOT government media but state/public media. They act like a servant to the government even though the government is not who is paying them but the parliament. They just don't get the difference between being a state/public media (serving the interests of the public) and being a government servant media which no one asked them to be but old habits die hard. They were always government servant medias for decades and that is what they continue to be and still fail to switch to become an independent state/public media. The board of the medias is also supposedly independent but it seem they too don't have a clue about the difference between government servant media and a state/public media.


Abe Abraham
Senior Member
Posts: 14412
Joined: 05 Jun 2013, 13:00

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስቴር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by Abe Abraham » 18 Jun 2021, 11:21

temari wrote:
18 Jun 2021, 07:21
Abe Abraham wrote:
17 Jun 2021, 17:52
To the contrary in the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson refused to be interviewed by the BBC few days before the election for fear of facing tough questions and making costly mistakes.
The questions presented to PM in this interview is most likely prepared by his aids and the journalists usually don't ask follow up questions let alone challenge him. ( That could be the case but we do not know for sure. Remember you said : most likely. With regard to follow up questions there are people in Ethiopia and our region who do not understand the difference between putting a tough question and being rude. )
Especially this particular interview is full of election campaign language and images ( We do not know, do we ? Does he have the right to use election campaign language ? Yes, provided the others get the same right and space !!) and is illegal to broadcast it in the last days of the election.

You can't compare BBC (BBC is a state media. If you remember Alastair Campbell once warned the BBC and reminded them that they were being paid by the taxpayer i.e the journalists can not do whatever they like. There is a limit to everything in the West. ) with Ethiopian state medias like ETV, Fana, Walta etc. Our state medias don't understand they are NOT government media but state/public media. They act like a servant to the government even though the government is not who is paying them but the parliament. They just don't get the difference between being a state/public media (serving the interests of the public) and being a government servant media which no one asked them to be but old habits die hard. They were always government servant medias for decades and that is what they continue to be and still fail to switch to become an independent state/public media ( On the other side you can not afford AN INDEPENDENT AND FREE MEDIA like that of RADIO RWANDA. Freedom in the developing world can also have devastating effect. ) The board of the medias is also supposedly independent but it seem they too don't have a clue about the difference between government servant media and a state/public media.

temari
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Posts: 3743
Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስትር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by temari » 18 Jun 2021, 21:37

Election Board chair Birtukan gets serious. No media campaigns and no interviews allowed! She specifically singled out govt. medias and interviews with party leaders saying that is forbidden. It looks like though PM Abiy and the state medias are listening to the Media Authority and the Election board. As far as I can tell the PM's interview was not aired as advertised. That is a good sign. This is may be the first time in Ethiopian history that institutions are successfully blocking an interview of a sitting prime minister from being aired. Kudos to them! Also kudos to the PM and the state medias for respecting the institutions and abiding by the law.


temari
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Posts: 3743
Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Re: Breaking! Media Authority orders govt. medias not to air PM Abiy's interview. የጠ/ይ ሚኒስትር ዓብይ ቃለመጠይቅ እንዳይተላለፍ ታገደ

Post by temari » 23 Jun 2021, 16:43

ታግዶ የነበረው የጠ/ሚኒስትሩ ቃለመጠይቅ አሁን ምርጫው ስለተጠናቀቀ ተለቀቀ
PM's interview that was blocked/suspended by the media authority until the election has now been released.

Fana TV has now released the interview

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