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Monday, February 05, 2007

Three journalists abandon TPLF's mouthpiece

Young journalists have been flocking out of Reporter, TPLF's prominent mouthpiece.

The latest group of reporters and editors who have left the declining media owned by former TPLF fighters, Amare Aregawi, include journalist Berhane Alemu. Berhane worked at Reporter for more than ten years, ascending to senior editorial position. Two senior reporters, Tsion Girma and Firew Abebe also left the organization last week.

According to sources, the owner and editor-in-chief of the paper has stifled freedom of speech at Reporter after hiss paper weighed in the May 2005 election supporting EPRDF. Journalists have been banned from reporting human rights abuses by the Meles government.

Amare allegedly leads a new network of EPRDF sympathizers who pose as independent journalists and scholars to foreign diplomats and journalists. "It is a creative propaganda machine. People like Amare and Costentinos Berhe approach diplomats and journalists and criticize the government. Then they argue that the opposition, including jailed Kinijit leaders, is worse. This is a strategy, which leaves foreigners thinking that despite all its problems, EPRDF is the best Ethiopians can get, without putting the independence of the messengers in doubt, "a TPLF insider told this blogger.

And this systematic approach to propaganda is working. Important visitors like Donald Levin had been deceived by the machine. Amare has also become the Ethiopian representative for some prominent international organizations including Transparency International.
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Comedian Daniel Fisseha was released from jail on Saturday after this blog reported his arrest. Police sources said that the decision to release was taken when the US embassy enquired about the arrest. Daniel is a US citizen.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Zagol, Thank you for this update and fresh news from Inside.

Yes, Amare Aregawi, the owner of Reporter is a woyane systematizer and
his history and origin is more than evidence for this

Anonymous said...

The Reporter newspaper was a Tplf mouthpiece from the get go. Opposition groups should never have trusted this wolf in a sheep skin. During the November massacre of civilians and political crisis, this paper lamented in its editorial that CUDP leaders must be jailed "for the sake of peace". It purposely misinformed the public that Dr. Berhanu Nega was for joining the parliament. It consecutively attacked the diaspora as "scumbugs". This paper is the number one propoganda and misinformation machine of the Tplf regime. As Dr. Berhanu stated in his book, this guy is a dangerous fellow who should never be trusted.

Anonymous said...

A prominent pro-opposition Eritrean web-site awate.com stated today that the Reporter newspaper lied about the arrest of Eritrean generals in Kenya. The Eritrean government didn't even bother to respond to the paper's allegation which shows that how low the Tplf regimes's propoganda is getting by the day. Here is the report from awate.com

The Claims of “Eritreans Arrested in Kenya”
By Gedab News Analysis - Feb 05, 2007


A few weeks ago, Ethiopia’s The Reporter alleged that several Eritreans, including a general, General Hadish Ephrem, had been apprehended while crossing the Somalia-Kenya border. The report was picked up by a couple of Eritrean websites and an opposition group.



There is no factual basis to this report. General Hadish Ephrem is alive and well in Asmara, doing what generals do. In fact, to the extent that the names are factual, the people listed in The Reporter’s report are alive and well in Asmara and have not been apprehended. Some of the names listed are non-descript and virtually meaningless: there are literally dozens of “colonel Wedi Hans” and a claim that a “colonel wedi hans was arrested” is hard to prove or disprove.

Anonymous said...

If you remember, The Reporter once also claimed that Berhane Mewa and Andargachew Tsige were seen in Asmara. I for a fact knew, at the time, that was a fabrication, because I have seen Andargachew several times during the said period; and he was no where near Asmara or even Eritrea. That was one more confirmation for me that Amare was not an independent journalist but a conduit for fabricated stories from Ma'ikelawi, plays the exact same role as the paper owned and operated by Zerihun Teshome.

Anonymous said...

I hope Daniel, the so-called comedian is deported. Let him spread his Zeregna jokes to the SOB's in D.C. who love a laugh at the expense of other nationalities, especially, the Gurages. I hope he rots in Jail. Now, that would be a great comedy from my perspective.

Anonymous said...

CUD propaganda exposed on aiga, and now on american chronicle..lol

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=20229

Anonymous said...

Thanks EZ for this insider update. You really are our true source of information within Ethiopia.

I totally agree with the assertion that people like:
Amare Aregawi (REPORTER)
Zerihun Teshome (IFTIN)
Mimi Sebhatu are not to be trusted, never ever, and their anti-Ethiopian activities need to be exposed at every opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Amare Aregawi, the Tplf propogandist, managed to fool Ethiopians by critisizing the Tplf regime here and there on some unimportant policy issues before the May 2005 election. Specially after his displeasure on the Tplf regime when Melles Zenawi jailed his buddy Siye Abraha and fired most of the hard liners in the Tplf, he became more vocal in attacking the regime. But that was purely from tribal point of view. At the time a great number of Tplf members were unhappy because Melles Zenawi is an Eritrean. The Siye group didn't have an ideological difference with the Melles group. The difference was tribal issues typical of an ethnic based political party. The Tplf propogandist, Amare Aregawi, is exposed since the May 2005 election. The reporter is now a propoganda outlet like aigaforum fabricating pure lies day and night. Amare and his reporter paper are co-conspirators for all the mess Ethiopia is facing now.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Zagol, as a regular reader of your blog I confess those who endure are blessed, we saw so many lames in this struggle but you persisted as the mouthpiece of the helpless Ethiopians. GOD bless your soul, kenezih gintoch egzer yitebikih.
People like Amare and other are now "yechikawust eshohs". These bandas would get their punshiment one day. It is good to warn all not only fighting the agazis directly but also those shrewd belly minded people who are exposing their true nature gradually.

Anonymous said...

You, like dagmawi, are giving aigaforum an undiserved prominence. I know it all started with dagmawi's fixation with all tigrian sites (not to mention his recent bizarre and cranky critisisms of both the pro and anti government sites.)

Dagmawi berates aigaforum for failing to denounce the government atrocities in Addis based on the murder story you first related. But, why pick on aigaforum. Is aiga a voice of democracy, or is it a human rights advocacy group? It's just pro-govenment, narrow nationalists forum, as such should be ignored and forgotten.

It's disgusting to see a goverment acting like a delinquent juvenile. Away from the eyes of the west they act like senseless brutes, and when probed by these same western eyes, they swear with all inocence.

Even a casual reader can observe the emergence of patterns regarding your sources.

Take good care of yourself.

Karin and Dawit said...

Poor souls, I say.