Feisty press under fire in Africa

The government hasn't investigated the case, because Mariam "has to go to the police" and file a complaint, says Bereket Simon, Ethiopia's Minister of Information. He suspects that Mariam's claims, which various officials either deny or say were done by rogue officers, are fueled by an antigovernment political agenda.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the government suspended the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association for failing to disclose financial statements, as required by law. And a controversial new press law would, among other things:

• require newspapers to register every employee, from reporter to street hawker;

• ban foreign assistance, even though government-controlled media often get such outside help; and

• make publishers disclose the exact hour their paper will be submitted to presses for printing.

Like many African leaders, Mr. Simon, a former rebel fighter, argues that Ethiopia's fragile democracy can't yet handle total press freedom.

"In countries like Ethiopia, the press needs to be more responsible" than in the US, which has a mature democracy, he says. Tensions between Ethiopia's 70 or more ethnic groups, for instance, could be inflamed by wild press comments. So it's the government's job to help create a "responsible" media, he says.

Indeed, Ethiopia's - and Africa's - press isn't always entirely professional.

"We're terrible," says Tamrat Giorgis, managing editor of Fortune, one of Ethiopia's more respected papers. Reporters can be "a group of guys sitting around chewing khat" - a mild hallucinogenic - "and writing opinions," he says.

But the quality of the media isn't the point, argues Amare Aregawi, editor-in-chief of The Reporter, another respected publication here. "We're not talking about freedom for just the good reporters," he says. "We're talking about the right to be wrong. It's freedom for everyone."

One force that can help guarantee this freedom, he adds, is the US. But America is in a quandary in Ethiopia and elsewhere around the world. Here in the Horn of Africa, the US is engaged in major efforts to fight terrorism. And Ethiopia - like Pakistan, the Philippines, and elsewhere - has pledged to help. But that limits America's willingness to publicly rebuke such governments for antidemocratic moves.

"The US is going to have to be careful about balancing between fighting terrorism and promoting democracy," Mr. Aregawi observes. "Otherwise tyrants and dictators will prosper in the name of terrorism."

Indeed, on a balmy night here, Mariam and his younger brother, Yohannes, sit in a restaurant booth, checking over their shoulders for signs of being watched. Yohannes, who serves as Mariam's interpreter, wonders if Ethiopians will ever be fully able to express themselves.

"When will we be like America?" he asks. "Not in wealth. Not in technology. But in freedom?"

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