VOA AMHARIC PROGRAM NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED BY AN INDEPENDENT BODY

By Mathza, March 30, 2010

The objective of this piece is to contribute to the on-going discussion on the jamming of the VOA Amharic program. The piece combines my observations and views with the salient points (in italics) of the report, “Evidence of Things Unseen: Secrets Revealed at the Voice of America” (http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/articles/articles/may-99/annette%20.c%20sheckler.htm). The report was written in 1999 by the then Chief of the Horn of Africa Service, Annette C. Sheckler.

We, the readers have, since EPRDF came to power, been listening to VOA relentlessly serving the interests of the opposition. It resorts to all kinds of dirty tactics and tricks, and destabilizing propaganda. These include:

· Inaccurate and unbalanced reporting, misinterpreting, twisting and spinning;

· deliberately selecting interviewees biased against EPRDF;

· deliberately selecting and pitting dominant opposition person(s) against less informed EPRDF supporter(s);

· discriminating treatments when interviewing individuals or groups representing or supporting opposition and EPRDF (including giving more time to opposition and overwhelming EPRDF members and supporters with barrage of questions and then cutting them short while responding or rebutting);

· re-airing past news, reports, and interviews deemed useful to opposition but assumed damaging to EPRDF (recent example: VOA interview with Waizero Aregash Adane and Dr. Aregawi Berhe with the excuse of presenting a more detailed version which was not true); and

· minimizing or not reporting at all positive news about and developments in Ethiopia.

Sheckler, the author, asserts that “One of the most powerful weapons available to the Ethiopian opposition has been the Voice of America.” This, in a nutshell, explains the reason why the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, is adamant at jamming the VOA Amharic program. My above observations are consonant with Sheckler’s writing. As an insider, however, she reveals more that happen behind the scene. These in her own words include:

· The Amharic staff, I was told, regularly gave questions out to groups they favoured and went so far as to coach them for on-air effectiveness.

· The interview format includes many of the same dynamics as the panel.

· A favoured guest is coached and allowed time to adequately answer the question.

· Moreover, the editing process also affords ample opportunity to skew a guest’s presentation either favourably or unfavourably.

· An experienced translator can choose words and phrases that can convey doubt, sarcasm, and disbelief.

· The staff employed use more blatant methods of slanting the programs. Panel formats are a highly effective means of skewing information.

· Participants can be carefully selected so that one group may be represented by an articulate spokesperson while someone less articulate and less informed represents another group.

· A favoured guest is coached and allowed time to adequately answer the question.

· Moreover, the editing process also affords ample opportunity to skew a guest’s presentation either favourably or unfavourably.

· Indeed, several [staff] refused direct assignments to report on issues such as infrastructure improvement, development projects, and community initiatives that were having a positive effect on the lives of people.

· Time for official rebuttals from the government were also an effective means for shaping perceptions among listeners.

· Rumours and sensationalism, the heart and soul of tabloid journalism, was pursued with unbridled enthusiasm.

· In most cases, the language services reflect the culture of the staff, and outsiders, including upper management, do not understand the internal social dynamics of caste and ethnicity that shape the outlook and behaviour of the broadcast teams.

The following, again in her own words, are examples of other manipulations and sabotage that were rampant in the daily routine related to the Amharic program:

· The role played by VOA broadcasting to that region, has been detrimental not only to US foreign policy interests, but to the credibility of the VOA, and the long-term peace, stability, and democratisation of a highly volatile and strategic region of Africa. The VOA’s Horn of Africa Service was and continues to be captured and held hostage by an Ethiopian opposition [EPRP] with a narrow partisan political agenda solely fixated on discrediting the EPRDF government.

· Many VOA broadcasters in the Horn of Africa Service are proponents of this agenda and close ranks within the organisation to keep this dirty little secret from being exposed.

· The Service Chief was an Ethiopian-born, former EPRP member. During this phase [1986-1996] the Amharic Service was a powerful weapon of the pro-unity, anti-EPRDF Ethiopian opposition movement in the US and Europe.

· The Anti-TPLF/EPRDF Phase (1986-1996): Programming began to reflect his increasingly anti-TPLF and anti EPLF/Eritrean independence bias. The Service Chief recruited former employees of Ethiopia’s nefarious Ministry of Information (all who identified themselves as ethnic Amhara, opposed the TPLF), replacing the five senior Amharic staff, all US-educated, often in dispute over the partisan direction of programming, [who] left the Service. The resulting combination spelt disaster. It was the beginning of what has been and is still going on unabated to this day. Note that the Afan Oromo and Tigrigna language programs do not seem to have problems. The Amharic program would have been in the same situation had it been staffed with unbiased individuals—not former employees of the Ministry of Information and resentful former EPRP members.

· In the Amharic service, former EPRP members still carry grudges from their bloody war with the TPLF. The Service Chief himself, while a member of the EPRP, was an active participant in the war with the TPLF.

· In 1996, to avoid embarrassment to the institution, VOA’s Board of Governors enacted a compromise: VOA leadership asked the Amharic Service Chief to resign from the Amharic Service, After ten years of leadership, the former Service Chief left a legacy of personal animosity, hostility and complete lack of professionalism within the Horn of Africa Service…a temporary Service Chief relied on the former Service Chief for advice.

· The former Service Chief exerted influence on the editorial content and program management of the Service through his close friendship with the Africa Division Director. Moreover, he served as an unofficial 'deputy' to the Division Director, thereby indirectly having authority over the Service.

· The former Service Chief informed me that he alone was responsible for the fall of Mengistu’s government [apparently meant to deprive TPLF/EPRDF of their victory]. Indeed, he stated that he was "a hero."

· The VOA assumes that any complaint about VOA broadcasting from the foreign policy establishment or a foreign government is politically motivated and compromises VOA’s integrity as a free press.

· From 1991-1996, three US ambassadors to Ethiopia - Ambassadors Mark Bass, Irvin Hicks and David Shinn - sent cables to USIA protesting the Amharic service’s broadcasts alleging a strong bias in its reports.

· I stated in the beginning that the role played by VOA broadcasting to that region, has been detrimental not only to US foreign policy interests, but to the credibility of the VOA, and the long-term peace, stability, and democratisation of a highly volatile and strategic region of Africa.

I understand that it is difficult for the management of the VOA to assess what was being said and done on the VOA Amharic program. This cannot, however, be an excuse because Sheckler has, in no uncertain terms, shown that the program was being run unprofessionally. The protests by three U.S. ambassadors to Ethiopia evidently support Sheckler. Besides, the Ethiopian government has been drawing the attention of the relevant U.S. Administration officials to wrongs being committed by the staff of the program. The management of VOA could have, of course, used an independent and impartial third party to assess these complaints and protests instead of enacting a compromise. It seems that lack of decisive decision and action on the former Service Chief, the root cause of all the problems of the Amharic program, emboldened him to continue with his unethical and immoral activities. He continued to do more harm as an unofficial ‘deputy’ to the Division Director, even after his dismissal from the Amharic program. His case clearly deserved a thorough investigation. In this connection, note the countless number of times the U.S. government puts demands on the Ethiopian government to undertake investigations of all kinds.

In light of the above why did U.S. officials react furiously to the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s intention to jam the Amharic Program of the VOA? It is after all clear that the Prime Minister is, by all counts, vindicated and justified to take action to prevent the VOA from spreading biased and destabilizing propaganda which could disrupt the on going process of democratization and economic development. Remember the saying ‘Rome was not built in one day.’ This saying is particularly fitting to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a country characterized by complex and very diversified society in a volatile region. It requires appropriate but, unfortunately, time-consuming approach to building democratic institutions and capabilities, bringing about sustainable growth and development and eradicating abject poverty, the highest EPRDF priority. It is obvious that maintenance of durable peace and security is an essential precondition for an evolving democracy and sustained development.

The Ethiopian government knows (and has proved itself time and again) about the heinous plans by some masquerading as opposition groups and liberation fronts under the control of their masters in Asmara and elsewhere to disrupt the national election and create chaos in the country. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia as a responsible government has to protect its citizens and the large foreign community in the country. Too bad if the VOA and the U.S. government cannot understand this simple fact and find themselves accessories to the mayhem that could result if timely deterrent measures are not taken.

At this stage of rapid development—with indication of light at the end of the tunnel—the country cannot afford disruptions (perhaps worse than that of 2005), which could not only wipe all the gains achieved but also send back the country to where it was 20 years ago or worse. Uninterrupted current, and possibly accelerated, rate of development augur better living conditions for more and more Ethiopians. Why then does the VOA Amharic program allow saboteurs to hijack development and condemn the people to continue wretched living when the reverse is within reach?

For the ordinary Ethiopian at this stage what matters is access to essential basic needs: food, clean water, health and education. If the people were asked about their priorities these would constitute the top ones. Others, such as free press and human rights, are mainly the dreams of the miniscule elites who have nothing to worry about feeding their families but work day and night to grab state power by any means. The lot of the people would have been better had the efforts, time and resources wasted on political wrangling and related activities, including sabotage by VOA Amharic program, been used to uplift the living conditions of more people leading miserable living.