BY ANDUALEM SISAY GESSESSE – As the media landscape continue to decorate with many journalists detained and fleeing the country, Ethiopia today commemorated the World Press Freedom Day in the capital Addis Ababa with a colorful youth dance.
Though the event was opened with a colorful dancing performance by a dance group, the media freedom in Ethiopia has been deteriorating with its global ranking declining over the past few years. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Ethiopia’s global press freedom ranking has declined to 145th in 2025 from 141st in 2024.
Among the invited guests are the US Ambassador in Ethiopia Ervin Massinga, Swedish Ambassador in Ethiopia, Hams Henric Lundquist, and Rakeb Mesele, Deputy chief commissioner to Ethiopian human rights commission were also among the attendants of today’s event. They all stressed the need for freedom of press in Ethiopia and its significance to the democratization of the country and the public right to make accountable its leaders.
Representatives from IMS, Internews, and Fojo were among the institutions whose representatives have attended today’s press freedom event. Today’s event themed: “Ethiopian Media in the age of AI (Artificial Intelligence): Promoting Media Freedom, Ethics and Safety” is organized by Editors Guild of Ethiopia, an independent editors’ association in Ethiopia, and Mersa Media Institute, local journalists’ capacity building non-governmental organization.
During the event panel discussion was made by different scholars in relation to the theme and related issues. Deputy Director of the government media regulatory agency, Ethiopia Media Authority, Yonatan Tesfaye reflected on the topic press freedom and democratic resilience: Ethiopia’s progress and challenges.
Media should not be used as propaganda tool abusing the freedom of speech, according to Mr. Yonatan, who stressed biased information will cause more harm to the society if not well regulated, especially in relation to conflict reporting. The fact that social media has liberated the public to post anything at any time has become a challenge for professional journalism, whose aim is to provide accurate analysis with accountability.
An independent consultant Elsabet Samuel (PhD) also made a presentation with the title: “Navigating danger: the evolving safety landscape for journalists in Ethiopia key threats and practical remedies”.
Though new encouraging media laws have been passed since the country launched reform in April 2018 led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the implementation of the laws was poor, according to Dr. Elsabet. She noted that mainly related to conflicts journalists in Ethiopia have been attacked by various groups including arrests over the past years, as well as to be fired from their jobs. She stressed the need for protection of journalists in the country.
“Educating journalists for the Ai Era in: Strengthening media ethics, safety and media freedom”, was the topic covered by Abdisa Zerai (PhD) from Addis Ababa University School of Journalism. Dr. Abdisa expressed his worries about AI, which leads to digital autocracy to silence journalists using technology. He stated that deepfake AI has been used by different f=groups including governments, which makes the technology a threat to democracy. Journalism schools need to revise their curriculum to catchup with AI technology.
Ethiopia has been criticized by international media freedom promoting civil society organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to protect safety of journalists and improve the detartrating press freedom of the country.
One of the major organizers of today’s press freedom event, Editors Guild of Ethiopia, has been working for the past five years with a mission of creating a better media freedom and media independence in Ethiopia.