(June 07, 2012, Reporters Without Borders)--Ethiopia’s only ISP, state-owned Ethio-Telecom, has just installed a
system for blocking access to the Tor network, which lets users browse
anonymously and access blocked websites. At the same time, the
state-owned printing presses are demanding the right to censor the
newspapers they print. Reporters Without Borders is very worried by
these attempts to reinforce government control of news and information.
Danger that printers will censor newspaper content
Reporters Without Borders accuses the biggest state
printer, Berhanena Selam, which almost has a monopoly on newspaper and
magazine printing in Ethiopia, and other state owned printers, of trying
to impose political censorship on media content before publication.
In a proposed “standard contract for printing” recently
circulated by state printers, they assume the right to vet and reject
articles prior to printing.
“This contract could drag Ethiopia back more than two
decades as regards media freedom, to the time of Mengistu’s brutal
dictatorship in pre 1991 Ethiopia,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“Allowing printers to control editorial content is tantamount to give
them court powers. On what basis do these state-owned companies assume
the right and independence to interpret the law? Does this reflect a
government desire to suppress all criticism before it is voiced?
“If this standard contract is adopted, we fear it could
lead to widespread self-censorship, which is already very common, and to
media subservience towards the government. Criticism, independence and
media diversity would all suffer, and the vitality of Ethiopian
democracy would suffer as well.” Read more from Reporters Without Borders »
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