Nairobi — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to immediately lift the indefinite suspension of The Reporter, one of the country's oldest independent newspapers.
In a November 2 statement, the regulatory Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) accused the Amharic- and English-language editions of the newspaper and their digital platforms of repeatedly publishing reports that undermine national interests, damage Ethiopia's image, threaten national security, and violate journalistic ethics. It suspended the registration certificate of The Reporter's publisher, Media and Communication Center PLC, for an "indefinite period," under the 2021 media law.
"Ethiopia's media regulator has become an instrument of censorship, using vague and sweeping allegations of threats to 'national interests' to systematically punish independent journalism," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. "Ethiopian authorities should immediately reverse this punitive decision, stop weaponizing media regulations to suppress scrutiny, and end their relentless campaign to dismantle the free press."
The EMA said The Reporter, which was established in 1996, disseminated "distorted information" that was "not balanced," based on "unconfirmed information," and had a "negative impact on foreign investment, tourism and diplomacy." The regulator said it had monitored the outlet's content for over a year and held repeated discussions with the publisher and editors-in-chief, including issuing a final warning prior to announcing the suspension. The authority did not mention any specific report to substantiate its allegations.
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The Reporter's Amharic-language newspaper. (Screenshot: Ethiopian Reporter/YouTube)
Two days earlier, The Reporter published an editorial titled "Press Freedom Is Not A Luxury!" that criticized authorities for treating independent reporting as a national security threat and called for the release of all journalists held without charge or in violation of constitutional bail guarantees.
In 2026, the EMA revoked authorization for the Addis Standard and Wazema Radio. This year, the Authority also revoked the credentials of journalists with Reuters news agency for six months while a 2025 ban on two Deutsche Welle journalists remains in place. Earlier this year, the Reporter Magazine's Bewket Abebe was detained for three days and Addis Standard's Yonas Kedir was held for a day.
CPJ's November 5 email to the EMA requesting comment did not receive an immediate response.
Ethiopian Authorities Suspend Independent Newspaper
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