The Short Life of an Oromo Ethiopian Newspaper

Hope is there in the darkness – for the Ethiopian media

The Oromo media is struggling to survive while it concurrently tries to serve approximately 40 percent of the population in Ethiopia. Most recently, the Oromo people have seen both the launch and the quick close of the Qubee Afaan Oromo newspaper Yeroo and the only Oromo television broadcast on Ethiopian Television (ETV) taken off the air. In response, RAP 21 recently examined the climate that has led much of the Oromo media to its demise. To delve further, RAP 21 now spoke to former representative Jamal Mohammed of the Jimma Times, which owned Yeroo, on how he makes sense of the complex web of factors strangling the media and preventing information from reaching the Oromo public.

RAP 21: Could you describe the Yeroo newspaper in terms of its circulation, readership, and cost? When was it launched?

Jamal Mohammed: Yeroo newspaper is the first private newspaper written in Qubee Afaan Oromo. It is different not only because it is in Afaan Oromo, but also since it uses Qubee, an Oromo alphabet. Some versions of Qubee have been used informally as far back as around 1976 with Oromo scholars and nationalists, mostly associated with Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). It was officially adopted in 1991 when the OLF was part of the Ethiopian government. Oromo people are very proud of Qubee but some Oromos who adhere to Ethiopian nationalist interests still use the Geez alphabet today and I believe there is still a couple of Afaan Oromo magazines written in Geez alphabet. Thus, the owners of Yeroo newspaper said they hoped to provide an alternative to Geez. The newspaper was also staunchly independent. In fact, the owners claimed they wanted to establish the most independent media in the region. Jimma Times’ and Yeroo’s founder was an Oromo by the name of Merdekios and he worked with his family who have no political or other interests so they basically imposed this standard of independence and balance for anyone who was interested in working for the newspaper. The paper is generally used for educating, entertaining and informing the public.

The newspaper’s circulation was around 4,000 copies per week but it operated only for a few weeks due to the distribution and security problems since the official distribution networks were turned away with Qubee, or perhaps saw it as too risky. So it is hard to quantify all of the interested audience or initial target, which received it. The newspaper staff expectedly faced financial and security challenges trying to establish their own distribution network all of the sudden.

Regarding the audience, the audience is obviously the Afaan Oromo speaking people of Ethiopia, no matter their religion or ethnicity, since some non-Oromos in the rural Oromia also understand Afaan Oromo. The cost of one newspaper was 3 Birr. The website version http://www.jimmatimes.com was launched a couple of weeks before the Ethiopian New Millennium and it registered its print version a few months later at the end of May 2008.

RAP 21: Why were the newspaper distribution agencies saying that they had little trust in the Yeroo newspaper and that they could not accept it? What sorts of challenges did the paper face that contributed to making it a so-called risky venture?

Jamal Mohammed: The distribution agencies seemed to be pushed away by it, perhaps because they don’t understand the alphabet but other political and other factors might be there. According to what I heard, the fact that it was a private and fully independent newspaper was equally a challenge for the agencies as much as the fact that it was Qubee. As you can see some of the Afaan Oromo articles online, the Yeroo newspaper also began aggressively, not shying away from publishing statements of Oromo opposition parties in the country as well as reporting on the killing of Oromos in Western Oromia.

With the distribution agencies unavailable, the newspaper staff directly began establishing its own distribution network, which ended up being a security issue in the rural areas. Then the other issue was similar to that faced by other newspapers, which was the legal part with tough Press laws coming up. By the way, I am a former member of Jimma Times so I am not a representative of Jimma Times right now. It is very important that you note that I do not speak on their behalf and my comments are only mine. Anyhow, the difficulties the newspaper faced at that time were clear and diverse. Some advisers have actually cautioned them to avoid starting aggressively and advised them to lullaby or slowly get into the politics or other sensitive topics any western media would freely publish, but not in Ethiopia. Which was what other Ethiopian private newspapers did six or seven years ago before most of them were closed down by the government during the 2005 national election. But I believe that the warning and advice was ignored by Yeroo staff and they dived straight into publishing independently and aggressively without any lullabying. Unflinching devotion to independent values is risky in countries like this.

So the challenges range from financial, legal to security issues. Also, there are not many journalists who write Qubee and speak Afaan Oromo in the first place. Then there were some new employees asking the newspaper for security and benefits, but it is hard for a private media to provide these benefits in Ethiopia. Especially if you are not one of those private newspapers who have friends or connections within the government, you can’t even give yourself security, let alone provide security to others. Then financially, the salary range for a regular journalist is between 1,2000 and 1,800 birr. But you cannot find the average journalist writing Qubee as there is not much choice, so Yeroo newspaper hired very educated (Masters Degree in journalism) employees and also former employees of rich foreign media outlets like BBC and VOA Afaan Oromo. Here, another financial hurdle comes up since you can’t pay a former VOA or BBC worker the same regular salary since they were used to receiving salaries above 8,000 Birr. These challenges could probably shut down this newspaper business but some people interested to help the Yeroo newspaper in Ethiopia will try to re-start the newspaper in the near future. We will have to wait and see.

RAP 21: As 40 percent of Ethiopia’s population is Oromo what explains Oromo media as being viewed as risky? Why does the government target harassment at the Oromo people and media?

Jamal Mohammed: As I explained, we are not the only ones facing such issue. But as expected, the historical association of Qubee to ethnic Oromo nationalists might play a role here. Yet, Oromo publications and novels and books in Afaan Oromo have exploded the last decade or so. Videos, films and other products in Afaan Oromo have grown in the country recently. Not without some security and other challenges, of course, but they have been improving. But politics are very polarized in the country as everyone knows. It is really tough. Anyway, even if I am not currently a member of Jimma Times, I am not going to comment on political developments in the country. Afterall, what is in the heart of the Oromo is an openbook. Yet, it is important to separate politics and journalism, and vital for journalists or former journalists to stay professional and non-political in discussing media matters. So I will let the human rights organizations provide you with the details of the human rights reality, and related politics, in the country.

But I would like to indicate that Yeroo is deeply independent and a government should not be afraid of such independent media. It is healthy for the society. And, as I said, the owners we worked for showed no interest in partisan politics. You can actually read some of the other non-political initiatives the owners were previously involved in, including in philanthropic initiatives like ETMA. You can visit websites like http://www.ethiopianfund.org to check more information about them. In general, Oromos and all Etiopians deserve to have a flourishing independent and private media and they should actually lead the African continent in this sector since the country is the capital of the African Union (AU).

Sadly, the situation is bad in the country. This country can do better in many sectors and ways. If you look at the massive agriculture potential in this country which is bigger than any other country around here; if you look at the Blue Nile and numerous rivers, if you look at the coffee industry, the cattle, the tourism potential, the natural resources like minerals, oil and gold; the massive population, land and workforce, the country really has a potential to be an economic powerhouse in Africa. It has the same potential in the media sector. And all of these go hand-in-hand in making the country better for all of its people. But to do all this, it involves the contribution of all actors to achieve the potential.

RAP 21: Can you tell me about the distribution network the newspaper tried to set up itself to get around difficulties in the existing one?

Jamal Mohammed: They set up a distribution network in many cities and big towns of Oromia. The distribution manager was in either Addis Ababa or Jimma, back and forth, to monitor the situation. The struggle begins with doing the initial work of the agencies, which is catching the different buses that leave bus stations very early in the morning. It is tough since most of the buses leave at the same time. Agencies can easily do this job because that is their only job. But since their services are not available for us, we basically had to hire the same number of people for one newspaper that a professional agency employs for dozens of newspapers and magazines. So you can see the financial struggle from the beginning. Then you have non-professionals picking up the papers from various rural bus stations, helping us and risking their lives of course. Then what the security problems the various vendors in the rural faced is obvious in a country like ours. It is unfortunate. In general, we initially set up our own network in the city/towns of Gimbi, Mettu, Addis Ababa, Jimma, Nekemt, D/Dollo, Asebe Teferi, Harar, D-Dawa, Adama, Assella, Ambo, Bale Robe and Shashemene.

RAP 21: Is the paper being printed right now?

Jamal Mohammed: No. It has stopped.

RAP 21: Can you tell RAP 21 about the pending press law? What affects do you think it will have on the paper?

Jamal Mohammed: The new press laws seem to allegedly involve the officials more into the private media and I do not believe it will bring any relief. But all sides are commenting differently about the press laws. I am not a representative of Jimma Times currently. So you can get more specific information if you ask active members of Jimma Times/Yeroo or other newspapers in the country. In general, human rights groups and opposition parties in the country have condemned the press law for putting government too much into the affairs of the private media. Meanwhile some government members claim the law is good because it will create better transparency. I can just present to you what all sides are saying. I am not going to comment on the politics or related controversial issues.

In general, all of us, all Oromos, all Ethiopians, who understand the importance of media, especially private and independent media, are wishing and hoping that things will improve here and that all parties will work together towards a better atmosphere for journalists.