ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Following different criticisms and debates against the new code of conduct which the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) designed for journalists, the government has announced that discussions will be held with professional stakeholders to revise the code.

According to Shimeles Kemal of the Government Communication office due to different criticisms the code has been receiving from different stakeholders the government is considering revising the code after discussing with professionals and journalists.

The new Code of Conduct which was distributed to journalists a week before puts a number of restrictions on journalists while they cover the election and make them accountable if they happen to violate any of it.

According to the new Code, journalists are required to have an accreditation from the Board in order to cover the election and to be accredited, each journalists need to sign an agreement with the board confirming his/her acceptance of the code and will not do anything the code restricts.

The code also restricts journalists from not taking recorders, photo or video cameras into polling stations and interview voters on who they give their vote for.

“We restricted interviewing voters because we don’t need journalists to predict the result before it is publicly announced,” said Mohammod Abdrahman, Public Relation officer of NEBE.

However though the Board says the Code is designed after taking experiences from other countries, it accepts possible revisions on very controversial issues if it happens to be raised during discussions.

It also admits Ethiopian National Journalists Union (ENJU) has repeatedly requested the board for discussion and hasn’t given them a confirmation yet on whether the discussion will be held or not.

“But we will have the discussion and clear out where there are confusions,” Mohammod affirmed.

Journalists and Media organizations however are up in arms against the Code and also expressed their opposition to it during a Video Conference at the United States Embassy organized between Ethiopian journalists and Ralph Begletter, a renowned CNN journalist.

During the event, Shimeles Kemal said the discussion will also include if the Code should be designed by the people in the profession or not.

Begletter on his behalf said he wouldn’t feel comfortable if one was to be forbidden from reporting something he knows is true and if it is a must come only from the government to issue any kind of accreditation for covering election, it shouldn’t be revocable.

“The press card for the election shouldn’t be revocable because the journalists would be under fear all the time. They need to have the ability to write, ask and report about anything they wish to,” Begletter said.
Though the Board couldn’t still specify when it plans to have the discussion and bring out the final revised code of conduct, the already existing one started functioning on January and is still working as the a law working above any laws of the country.

P. By NewsDire
By Simegnish Yekoye