Open Letter

A few questions to Prof. Abiyi Ford

I read your explanation about the media coverage of your statement on the role of the Diaspora in Ethiopian development. It is sad that the interview you gave to the state-owned Capacity magazine of Teferra Walewa’s Ministry of “Capacity Building” was misconstrued by the state media as if you admonished the Ethiopian Diaspora which is now trying its level best to expose the massive onslaught of the Zenawi regime on the Ethiopian people, leaders of the opposition, journalists and the youth.

As Dean of the nascent School of Journalism and Communication at Addis Ababa University, you should have been aware of the danger of being “used” by the state propaganda machine when you gave an interview on such a sensitive topic to a magazine of Walwa’s Ministry, which I am certain is not considered for reading even by the cadres of the ruling party. You should have known that it is the task and mainstay of the state propaganda machine to misinform and disillusion the people of Ethiopia.

Leaving aside the way the government media tried to use your “innocent” statement for political advantage, I would like to pose a few questions to you. Though you tried to distance yourself from the government and the ruling party by writing a letter of explanation, I do still feel that as Dean of the Graduate of School of Journalism and Communication at the Addis Ababa University, some of your decisions dot not lend credence to your recent statement. As a close observer of the school of journalism, I have my share of doubts about the partiality of the school and its Dean to the ruling party.

  1. Why the media coverage report of the School of Journalism and Communication, which was issued shortly after the polling day (May/June 2005), was made deliberately to give a positive picture to the government?
  2. Why did the School’s report failed to say something about the government-imposed, news blackout of acheivements of opposition parties after the polling day?
  3. The report also dropped one visible blunder: how the ruling party manipulated news and other media programs as part of its election campaigning. Why?
  4. Journalism students were observing the elections. Why was the students’ finding – which also evidenced election irregularities, human rights violations of opposition candidates and their supporters – withheld from being part of the School’s report?
  5. Don’t you think withholding such information from the public is siding with Zenawi and Co.?
  6. Why the School of Journalism and the esteemed Dean, who is laboring to bring ethical journalism to Ethiopia, kept quiet when the state-owned media behaved as Gobbles’ [Nazi] propaganda machine, and unfortunately, the majority of “professionals” who work for this propaganda machine are students of the School of Journalism?
  7. Sincerely

    Alebel Temesgen
    Addis Ababa


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