“It will be a truly collaborative website with tens of people involving in
most of the stages of the production and distribution of information,” said
Mesfin Negash, Managing Editor of the website. “Our philosophy is clear.
“We” produce and we read. It is a “we” media.” The website has already
recruited several volunteer contributors in Ethiopia and outside. Former
staff members of Addis Neger will involve as editors, bloggers and writers.
In addition to that, Addisnegeronline.com integrates the popular
AddisNeger Facebook page which has more than three thousand members and
tens of active posters and contributors, and newly formed e-mail groups
into the system. It will also have a presence on all major social network
sites. More over the website’s bilingual feature is expected to encourage
contributors to participate in the language of their ease; either English
or Amharic.
Addisnegeronline.com will be run from Oxford, UK and Washington DC, USA.
“Our task is a bit of gate-watching, but the gate is wide open. We verify,
filter and synthesize information. A good collaborative websites combines
those traditional tasks of the media with a reasonable degree of public
participation,” said Abiye Teklemariam, the website’s Oxford
representative.
The website is a general interest media where issues ranging from politics
to religion and arts are entertained. Its main sources and contributors of
news are in Ethiopia. In addition to in-house content, Addis Neger online
curators and aggregates content from outside sources.
Addis Neger online maintains the newspaper’s commitment to justificatory
civil discourse.
On the occasion of the launch, founder and staff members of Addis Neger
would like to express their deepest appreciation to esteemed readers,
friends, journalists, and partners of Addis Neger newspaper and freedom of
expression.
