Local Media Urged to Employ Knowledge Oriented Media Reporting Strategies
Scholars have urged the media to employ knowledge-oriented reporting strategies in the face of the information warfare Ethiopia has been exposed to.
This was disclosed at the a public lecture where officials and experts presented their perspectives of the ongoing media psychological warfare against Ethiopia and the diplomatic pressures.
Speaking about digital diplomacy, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said the social media are causing harm to Ethiopian interest at the global stage even if digital diplomacy has been contributing immensely to diplomatic interaction.
According to him, the introduction of digital diplomacy has become a phenomenon which has been making activities easier and cost effective.
Digital diplomacy is also playing a key role in reducing physical presence and increasing actors of diplomatic interactions in this modern multilateral global relation.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson argued that the social media platforms in digital diplomacy have been negatively impacting on the political and economic interests of countries like Ethiopia by mischaracterizing the reality on the ground.
He added, “There are various risks being witnessed as a result of social media content. For instance, this is one of the ways that terrorists are recruited…..Particularly, it has contributed to security risks to due to its extremely vulnerability to information hacking and misrepresentation.”
Ethiopia therefore needs a well-organized and knowledge-oriented media engagement to defend the public relations warfare both from the conventional media and social media platforms, despite the conflict waged by the terrorist TPLF.
Getachew Nigatu, a political communication expert, said some Western media have launched psychological warfare on the Ethiopian population as a result of demonization narrative.
The media outlets as well as social media actors have been disseminating scary information on Ethiopian conflict in the northern part of the country by siding with the terrorist TPLF and other enemies.
“As part of the spreading false information, people have been forced to leave their homes and property without tangible incidents during the last months around the conflict zones because of the report of some biased media. Therefore, if we do not overcome this media pressure, we cannot sustainably attain Ethiopia’s political, economic and diplomatic interests,” he added.
The expert urged Ethiopia to prepare a media warfare strategy to defend the ongoing ill-intended media narrative and give swift responses by bringing together political-communication experts as well as practitioners.
Proactive media reporting on the current situation in Ethiopia is important as that would be instrumental to explain the true version of Ethiopia for the global community by thwarting orchestrated disinformation from the western media outlets, the Ethio-Saudi political analyst Mohammed Al-Arusi said.
“We have build our own media that could better serve the national interest of Ethiopia by portraying the reality that our beloved country is working hard to maintain its integrity. These media have to then be the only references and sources about Ethiopia’s affairs.”
The public lecture held on Monday afternoon was prepared by Addis Ababa University under the theme “Crisis Reporting and Diplomacy.”
Source: Ethiopia News Agency