CNN, other media covering situation in Ethiopia in a biased manner: Press Secretariat

Addis Ababa, November 10, 2021 (FBC) – Press Secretariat of the Prime Minister Office, Billene Seyoum, while speaking to CNN, said  that the majority of Ethiopians at home and abroad strongly feel that CNN has been covering the conflict over the past year in a manner that is biased and detached from the context.

“Recent example is the hysteria that CNN has caused last week as Addis Ababa was under siege of the terrorist forces”, Billene said.

We have often share that Ethiopia is undergoing a coordinating media campaign to tarnish the image of the county, the Prime Minister and his administration at large, she underlined.

The Press Secretariat underscored that media outlets like CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, and Reuters particularly have often chosen to carry out negative narratives about Ethiopia missing important elements of what is really going on in the country.

The media are reluctant to cover atrocities committed by the terrorist TPLF group including its brutal attack against the Northern Command of the National Army.

There are a lot of international media which has been accredited to report ongoing situation in Ethiopia, but the government will not tolerate those who are trying to breach laws of the land.

The Prime Minister’s call to Ethiopians to defend the nation from aggression of TPLF which is designated as a terrorist organization by the parliament is a constitutional mandate bestowed upon him by the people.

The government was covering more than 70pct of the humanitarian need in affected areas of the northern part of the country before the humanitarian ceasefire was declared, and aggression of the terrorist TPLF which rejected the ceasefire disrupted the relief operation, she said.

But, the western media haven’t shown any interest to expose the belligerence and atrocities of the terrorist TPLF that put the relief operation and lives of millions at stake, according the Press Secretariat.

She also expressed the commitment of the government to end the conflict with a peaceful manner.