Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


For Ethiopia's Diaspora, Seeking News Amid Communication Blackout is a
Challenge

Salem Solomon

   WASHINGTON - When violence erupted in Ethiopia's Tigray region between
   the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)
   last month, those living in the global diaspora scrambled for
   information.

   The Ethiopian army went into Tigray on Nov. 4, after the government
   accused local forces of attacking a military base there. TPLF leaders
   called the federal government's response a war against the people of
   Tigray.

   The search for verified, accurate news on the conflict was hampered by
   authorities preventing many international media organizations from
   accessing the conflict zone and disruptions to phone and internet
   connections that [1]resulted in an information blackout. And Ethiopians
   from the country's roughly 3 million diaspora found themselves'Żlooking
   to other, often unreliable sources of information found on social
   media.

   For the country's migrant population, the media void struck right at
   the moment they most wanted news of what was happening in their home
   country.

   Most rely on messaging apps including Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber
   which provide a "lifeline" connecting the diaspora to people at home,
   Tewodros Workneh, an assistant professor of global communication at
   Kent State University in Ohio, said.

   "It's incredibly difficult if you live in this country [in the
   diaspora] or in other parts of the world when there is a media blackout
   in the conflict region right now. It's really frustrating for diaspora
   communities," Tewodros added.

   In the information vacuum, people look to other, often unreliable
   sources of information.

   "When you cannot hear from your relatives and your friends and family
   members, what you rely on are third parties," said Tewodros, who
   studies media development, including in Ethiopia. "And often times this
   vacuum is filled by different political interest groups on social media
   platforms who have no knowledge about what's going on."

   Misinformation spread widely during the conflict. Images were shared on
   social media platforms of old airplane crashes alongside claims they
   had been downed Ethiopian fighter jets. An image showing a 2015 factory
   explosion in China was [2]passed off as being from a missile strike by
   Tigrayan forces against neighboring Eritrea.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/journalists-struggle-through-information-blackout-ethiopia
   2. https://www.polygraph.info/a/photo-of-tigray-rocket-attack-on-eritrea-is-actually-from-china-in-2015/30960856.html

.