Addis Abba,(insidesomalia.org)- The Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) is greatly perturbed by plans of the Ethiopian government to bring into force a media law that would not only go a long way in annihilating media freedom but also stifle the freedom of expression and democracy in that country.

“We are aware that Ethiopia has taken to its parliament a draft press law that could open legal doors for repressive organs of government to wield prohibitive and destructive power on the media in the name of protecting democratic forms of speech” said EAJA Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman.

“The first concern is that the draft law stipulates that the mass media promotes and protects respect for constitutionally recognized freedoms and rights as well as peace, equality, justice and democracy. Whether such a definition respects the right to speak and/or disseminate opinions on authoritarian or totalitarian, which forms of speeches are considered democratic or non democratic and who define them is not discussed” he said.

“Such a law can be misused by authorities to gag or frustrate the media. Recognized freedom and democracy are highly vulnerable for subjective interpretation in the context of the press,” said Omar Faruk Osman.

The draft law in its definition of mass media fails to include new media (the internet). “This could potentially lead to questions as to how the government intends to handle legal and institutional issues related to the rapidly growing new media in the country” Omar Faruk added.

Many members of the Ethiopian media believe that the power vested upon the editor in chief is too much. And they fear that by piling up too much accountability on the editor in chief, more in house censorship could develop in media houses.

Cited as one of the biggest threats to the media is article 3, which seeks to limit freedom of the press, based on laws promulgated on the basis of the constitution.

“This article mentions four reasons as to why the government could revoke the freedom of mass media. These are: Contents that could instigate wars, contents that could threaten national security, contents that could negatively affect the moral of the youth and contents that could baselessly defame individuals. These four scenarios could, however, be in the trap of arbitrary interpretation” EAJA Secretary General said.

The Ethiopian constitution says that except in these four cases, the freedom of speech is completely protected. “But issues of youth morality and national security are highly subjective areas where, unless sufficient and clear circumstances are provided, the freedom of the press could be jeopardized,” Omar Faruk said.

EAJA noted that the right of journalist to organize themselves into professional associations is recognized in article 4, which is a very positive step in the formulation of this draft law.

The earlier press law formulated in 2003 stipulated that professional associations could only be formed under the support and good will of the government.

Another highly controversial point is the issue of ownership of mass media under article 6. It says that no person should have effective control of more than one media organization.

Many media professionals believe that such a law hurts desire of skilled media personnel from engaging in media ownership and thus contribute to the reduction of media in the country.

“Besides, the draft law is more evidently unwanted at a time when government suspicion on the private press has shown no signs of relenting” Omar said.

“But the biggest threat of all in the draft probably lies under article 13 which grants massive power to government public relation officials.

The law wishes to give 30-60 days for the public relation officer to respond to a request of information by a journalist.

This particular sub article, if passed, could effectively close down access to journalists who do news stories. 30-60 days response time is totally unacceptable.

Since information by news journalists is needed promptly, a 30 day period to respond appears to be meaningless,” Omar said.

This law could paralyze the media from reporting on corruption and other wrongdoings in the defense institution.

The law also doesn’t say anything on what happens if and when a journalist finds evidence of wrongdoing in government departments and personnel.