A number of perplexing personal experiences with fellow Ethiopians in Diaspora media have led me into writing this article on the role and place of truth and ethics in Diaspora media among fellow Ethiopians. I do hope that the following constructive criticisms will be seen and taken as what they’re intended to be: constructive criticisms that will, hopefully, bear some desirable fruit, change for better in practicing media ethics and to make truth available unsuppressed.

Key points to remember: I’m not a politician. I try my best to avoid playing by the rules of partisan politics that is going on around us. I’ve no desire whatsoever to be a politician in the future, either. Why personal autobiography here? For the following reasons: it’s very easy for the readers to take (as has happened many times before ) of my small contributions in the form of articles on current issues about us, now and then, here and there, as an exercise in partisan politics.

I know how easy for many in the audience to categorize me as so-and-so, just based on even some titles of an article as a supporter or a detractor of this political (or whatever) group or that. The same holds true with those fellow Ethiopians in the media to take some of my writings as an explicit exercise in partisan politics and I know all these first hand from frequent personal interactions with various groups both in the media and otherwise. All such interpretations are wrong simply because they fail to capture the truth about what I’m trying to do. I’m after truth and for truth and also I’m for whoever holds and pursues truth.

Now the subject matter I decided to deal with briefly here can be very sensitive in an environment which is saturated with too much partisanship in politics, with at times blind supporters and detractors of this or that political or other groups. Therefore, I ask extreme caution and a reasonable understanding of what I’m trying to communicate with those fellow Ethiopians who have a sense of respect for truth and value truth for its own sake. I’ll not single out any of Ethiopian-run media by Diaspora Ethiopians but then if what I say is true of them it’s true of them, period. Hence, I do not see any reason why they should be seen exceptions to what is being said here; that is so, not because who says what but in virtue of what is being said is true, if it is true. No one is above truth and public truth is no one’s personal property.

Almost all of us, Ethiopians, who happen to be away from home for whatever reasons have heard too many times severe criticisms about lack of press freedom in Ethiopia due to the current government’s censorship of the press. But now the question is: what do we mean when we say there is lack of press freedom or there is censorship of the press? I think, at the minimum, what is intended to communicate by censorship or lack of press freedom is the fact of denying an access to information which is intended to be for the public when it comes to opposing political (or, other) views with an intention to suppress truth or to deny the public the right to know the truth with respect to opposing viewpoints. Again, one minimum purpose of exercising censorship blatantly or subtly is to deny the public access to truth with a hope of communicating “the truth” about one’s favorite viewpoint.

No one in one’s right mind could deny that there is an extreme media censorship in Ethiopia. That is why most, if not all, Ethiopians in Diaspora media are on exile and are working hard to make information available for the Ethiopian public that has been suppressed and denied by the Ethiopian government. I think many or most people would think that is true. I’d also agree to a great extent that that is what motivates most of fellow Ethiopians in the Diaspora media and they have been doing tremendous jobs in that regard. But truth be told and here we’re after the truth about the media and truth as truth has come to be held hostage, once again, by our own media in the Diaspora in the name of promoting truth and against press freedom in Ethiopia.

There are a number of writers who complained about lack of press freedom in the Diaspora, Ethiopian internet-based media and I’m one of those whose writings have been subjected to multiple rejections when the contents of what I wrote happened to be in conflict with what the editors would favor in one way or the other. Note that some of those writings that have been rejected or ignored or even openly criticized for failing to reflect the editor’s favorite views have had some chances to be posted on other web sites. Please note again that I’m not critical of all websites in the same way. One of those fair web sites run by a fellow Ethiopian who’s been posting the ones rejected by other websites is the one where you’re reading this piece itself. To be fair to the others I’ve not sent this piece to any other website and have no intention of doing so. I leave it to the readers to figure out why I say what I say. But at the end of the day, it’s painful and absolutely perplexing to see censorship in action among Diaspora media while all of them are severe critics of the Ethiopian government for suppressing press freedom. Irony of ironies! What is happening to us, Ethiopians, as a society, as a community? Fellow Ethiopians, when are we going to do better and stop exercising hypocrisy out in the public without any sense of shame? This time the question is about the Diaspora media and its hypocrisy which is the subject of this piece.

Now my understanding and hope is that some of those in the Diaspora media have some understanding of the rights and responsibilities of working in the public media and the role of truth and some media ethics too. One does not need to be a specialist in media ethics to understand that one of the chief aims of the public media is to actively facilitate the flow of information, including, of course, opposing truth claims with an understanding of making all relevant information available for the relevant public. Suppressing some of the information when it conflicts with the editor’s personal views is assuming a role of a “tutor”, at its best, to teach the public as to which information is true and worth posting and which is not and it’s censorship, at its worst, as to which information should be available for the public and which should be withheld and suppressed. That is unwittingly engaging in an exercise that belittles the intelligence of the public as if the public needs such a help from the media persons only because some relevant information goes thru the media first in order to reach the public later.

Engaging (knowingly or unknowingly) in such acts of assuming the role of a “tutor” for the public is doubly wrong. For one the fact that one is an editor of any media outlet does not guarantee that such a person is an infallible judge of what truth is and what is worth posting and otherwise; two, the public does not need such a “tutor” for the information that the public can handle given freedom to have an access to truth about them or whatever. Therefore, respect for truth means respect to other fellow human beings for they deserve to know truth and they’ve every right to know truth without any unnecessary help from the media persons in the undesirable way that I’m arguing against.

The least that a person in the media could do ethically right is to recognize that the information at his/her disposal is meant to be impartially made available for the public. When writers such as other fellow Ethiopians and myself send our writings to those who run the Diaspora internet-based media our intention is to share what we think is a good thing to share with fellow Ethiopians. What we write could be true or false, at times. We might fail to achieve the truth in one or the other of our writings. Yes, that is understandably human since we all are fallible. But it’s not the role of an editor to suppress such ideas, and also bury and hide them from the sight of the public with whom they were intended to be shared. No one among us is infallible, that is true; but also no one among us has more right to know truth intended to be shared with the public. The chief purpose of the media is to impartially make relevant truth available for the relevant public and for the media person knowingly to fail to perform this public duty is a moral failure since it’s subtly and indirectly lying to the public and lying is morally wrong.

Now editors have every right like the rest of us, no more or no less, and they can write their own pieces on their own websites, if they wish, to correct what they think is wrong by this or that writer and they can clearly say that this is his/her own view and it does not reflect the intention of the media/ website they’re in charge of. No one denies that editors of various media outlets have the same right like that of the rest of us, the audience, and they’re fully entitled to respond to the writings they’ve made available for the public as part of their public service. While such a reasonable option is available for them, very sadly, some of our Diaspora media persons deny the right of some writings to be published if and when some such writings depart from their favorite view points or if they happen to be critical of their favorite views. We must note this: almost all those who reject some of the writings (I can speak here for myself) almost always publish the ones that happen to favor their views as immediately as they get a hold of them. On the other hand, as for those writings which are in conflict with what the editors favor they’d not post them even after repeated requests that might end with some rebuke for requesting for reasons why the editors reject some of the writings and not others. Though I’m grateful that they shared my contributions with the public when they posted them, it’d be hypocritical of me if I fail to point out that such editorial roles, on many occasions, have been exercises in hypocrisy! Please note that I’m not categorical in saying what I’ve said here. There are some exceptions, thank goodness!

It’s very sad and tragic for us to see that some Diaspora media people criticize the Ethiopian government for lack of press freedom in Ethiopia but doing the same thing here in Diaspora, where they should know better that such a thing must never happen! When one criticizes another for failing to do what one ought to do, while at the same time the one who’s criticizing the other fails in the same way, that is a clear example of hypocrisy. This is a moral failure. This is failing in one’s personal integrity as an editor and a person as well. This is also engaging in an act of deception of the public, knowingly or unknowingly. We’ve been discussing the role of truth and character in the lives of our politicians these days and it’s so sad to see the same failures among those who claim to have been serving us in making truth impartially available for the public as part of their service for the Ethiopian public.

Fellow Ethiopians, if we can’t trust our politicians because of too much lies and deception and also, if we can’t trust our media both at home and in Diaspora, who shall we trust and who shall we turn to? A society that does not care or value truth and fails to respect truth, at least, for the sake of his/her fellow human beings, suffers from some profound problems that will stand in the way of making progress in a desirable direction for that society. This is not my first time to share with the Ethiopian public my frustrations and disappointments and pessimism about our society’s future. I’ve argued on several occasions before that we, as a society, suffer from lack of enough love for truth, and also accordingly , suffer from failure in personal integrity among most of us so much so that we are (should be (?)) at a loss as to whom we should trust and in whom we should entrust our confidence and hope for a better future.

I resisted the temptation to single out this or that website in order to make my complaint more concrete. I resisted such a temptation while I’ve more than enough evidence to make my points (complaints (?)) more concrete. The point of this article is not so much a personal complaint as it’s a public call for truth and accountability among us, Ethiopians, whether we’re politicians and hence in some leadership positions or whether we’re in the media with a responsibility to stand for truth without suppressing an iota of truth. Those fellow Ethiopians who fail in their stand for truth in their public service, situated as they are in the Diaspora where press freedom is practiced to near perfection, have more moral responsibility than their colleagues in Ethiopia where there is no press freedom whatsoever.

Finally, this is not a personal attack at any particular person or group of persons behind any internet-based Diaspora media. This is a call for a better public cause and service for the sake of truth. This is a call by a fellow Ethiopian issued to fellow Ethiopians who’ve suffered too much from truth suppressed, truth buried, truth disfigured, truth perverted, truth misrepresented and truth maimed for far too long. This is also a cry for truth to be loved, to be valued, and to be embraced, and above all, it’s a cry for truth to be lived out among Ethiopians, among the ordinary Ethiopians as well as the politicians, the media people and all of us. Fellow Ethiopians, let’s stand out as a society, as individuals and as a community, for our passionate love for truth! Only a society and a community that loves and practices truth as opposed to lies is destined to flourish for truth is the good to desire and to be loved and loving truth is its own reward.