Ethiopian Media Associations Vow To Realize Umbrella Union
By Mekonnen Teshome
Ethiopian Media Professional Associations, as they have been pushy to form a strong national coalition in the recent years, have vowed to form umbrella union towards ensuring membersโ rights.
The associations while concluding a roundtable discussion on cooperation and collaboration yesterday in Adama town issued a 13 point resolution declaring their desire for the establishment of one strong national journalists’ union that represents them at a country level and work to guarantee the safety and security of journalists as well as ensure their full rights.
Leaders of associations during the roundtable organized in cooperation with the Oromia Journalists Association (OJA) and the Ethiopian National Media Support (ENMS) and supported by International Media Support (IMS) and PRIMED deliberated on key issues of coalition building.
They reiterated to working towards the development of professional journalism and to protect the rights of journalist in unison as well as to make sure that professional goals principles are respected in Ethiopia.
They also agreed to aviod duplication of efforts and unwanted competition among media professionals’ associations.
The associations that are seeking coordination of practices among federal and regional associations and developing cooperation also underscored the need for focusing on mutual understanding, cooperation and measurable goals and objectives.
According to Tewodros Negash, Programme Coordinator, IMSย (International Media Support), IMS is working with other media development organizations, and PRIMED as a flagship program made relentless efforts to support and create sustainable and vibrant media coalitions, associations, networks and forums and an enabling media environment..
As to Tewodros, IMS and its partners have been doing extensive and all inclusive studies on the media landscape of Ethiopia. โThe lesson learnt so far regarding the challenges and opportunities of the Ethiopian media industry is very enormous.โ
It is to be recalled that since 2021, as Ethiopia passed new media law, MERSA Media Institute (MMI) in partnership with FOJO/IMS also facilitated stakeholdersโ consultation with the aim of building consensus on operational media self-regulation in the county.
Compared to previous regimes, Ethiopia has adopted a liberal media policy, mass media proclamation and subsequent directives that could pave the way for sustainable, professional, and independent media. However, implementation is challenged by lack of awareness, weak implementation capacity, lack of trust, cooperation and collaboration between media sector actors, and stakeholders and limited public access to information and broad public and civil society participation in decision-making processes.