Media censorship between Ethiopia and Kenya
Introduction:
Media censorship is the expression of any information like the speech, communication and
incidents those are considered as harmful, objectionable, and politically incorrect and established
by the government or authorities. Media censorship is the term that can introduce the freedom of
the use of different social media like press, television, newspaper, internet, radio etc. In this
modern age, the media censorship is an independent term for any country or nation like Ethiopia
or Kenya. Media censorship in Ethiopia and Kenya has the involvements of uninterrupted and
pressured issues. The government and authorities of both Ethiopia and Kenya are very much
strict to issue the freedom of news coverages and transmission to the mass people. In this essay,
the media censorship between Ethiopia and Kenya are compared and contrasted clearly.
Press Censorship in Ethiopia and Kenya:
The press censorship is in obstacle and the media environment is in a restrictive possession in
Ethiopia (Freedomhouse.org, 2018). The draconian antiterrorism law imposed by the Prime
Minister of the government of Ethiopia is using with a great extent to make the restrictions for
the use of social and local media for press censorship (Bartleby.com, 2018).
In the end of 2015, 10 journalists of Ethiopia were in jail that enlisted this country as the second-
worst media censorship and the jailer of journalists in the sub-Saharan Africa, after Eritrea
(Analysis Farai Sevenzo, 2018).
A section of the Kenya Information and Communication Act (KICA) is criminalizing the regular
transmission of direct, offensive and menacing messages regarding the telecommunication
networks (The Balance, 2018).
After the May 2015 election in Ethiopia, the cases raised by the bloggers were dropped and
forcedly withdrawn by the government. All of the bloggers were from the Zone 9 blogging
(Bartleby.com, 2018).
Both of Ethiopia and Kenya have the tremendous obstacles regarding the press censorship.
Ethiopia has some strict rules and regulation and Kenya also has so many imposed and pressured
laws regarding the press censorship (English PEN, 2018). The bloggers, writers and journalist
can’t make any possession towards the unethical and unpracticed news and information.
Television Censorship in Ethiopia and Kenya:
The Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn also prefer to impose the other legal and ethical
supports to dominate in the country’s television broadcasts. It’s a great pressure to establish the
obstacles for the whole country’s television censorship to make an unannounced silence in media
censorship (Freedomhouse.org, 2018). The constitutions established and maintained from 2015,
imposed a continuous pose that threats to the freedom of television censorship. The authorities of
Kenya have made a force to the media to enlist the broadcasting and exposing the news and
coverage by the journalists (Freedomhouse.org, 2018). Television journalists from both ruling
and opposition party were arrested in December 2015 for publishing the protests of mass people
(Analysis Farai Sevenzo, 2018).
More than 19 journalists were threatened for their free writing and reporting in television in the
first half of 2015. John Kituyi, a renowned journalist was murdered.
The whole government advertising system through television was centralized to express only the
positive issues. Any negative and problematic issues were prohibited to be reported in television.
The inhabitants of Ethiopia and Kenya also can’t raise voices for their rights as they are not
perfectly informed about the information of the incidents through television. In this regard, the
independence of the country can be biased greatly and the peoples also may not be able to render
the determination of lifeline (The Balance, 2018).
Internet Censorship in Ethiopia and Kenya:
The regular flows of information through internet also are in great obstacles due to the
undetermined deliberation through the governmental pressure along with the domination of
imposed laws and regulations in Ethiopia and Kenya (Freedomhouse.org, 2018).
After the victory from the election in May 2015, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) as the ruling party is also not making any independence to free the
internet censorship (Freedomhouse.org, 2018).
A great Italian cybersecurity company has been providing the information technology facilities
in the Ethiopia (Bartleby.com, 2018). But the contract between this company is also disbursed by
the government because of leaking the governmental documents and the company was
facilitating abusive surveillance of journalists by Ethiopian officials (Analysis Farai Sevenzo,
2018).
The digital news transmission through internet is full of transition problems. The households are
threatened for the regular access of internet (English PEN, 2018).
Conclusion:
In any country, media censorship is an important rights for the mass media and the journalists.
The transmission of the actual incidents can’t be possible without having the proper rights
regarding the media censorship. The journalists and bloggers also can’t raise their voices against
the distortions and inefficiency. The authorities and government of a country hold less
responsibility to perfectly operate the actions if there have no media censorship.
