Ellene Mocria

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Woizero Elleni Mekuria or Ellene Mocria (1941–2021) was an Ethiopian radio and television journalist. After joining the External Service of the Voice of Ethiopia in 1962, she was Ethiopia's first female radio newscaster and producer. In 1964, when Ethiopian Television began broadcasting, she became Ethiopia's first woman television journalist. [1]

Life

Ellene Mocria was born in Addis Ababa on 10 October 1941. Her father Mocria Wolde Selassie was an agronomist. Her mother Suzi Workneh was daughter of the physician and diplomat Workneh Eshete. After attending the Sandford English School Ellene won a scholarship to study nursing at the American University of Beirut, but was dropped from the course after impusively mis-prescribing. She intended to apply to Addis Ababa University and become a social worker, but meanwhile responded to a job advertisement for an English radio announcer and newscaster to work on Radio Ethiopia's new External Service. [2]

Ellene was hired as program producer and English newscaster at the External Service in September 1962, presenting news bulletins as well as music programs like Music to Remember and Lie Back and Listen. Cataloguing the station's music collections, she was eventually promoted to also head the Transcription Library. She supplemented the station's collection with a collection of her own 78 rpm records, including work by Negatwa Kelkye and her husband Ferede Golla, Etagennho Haile, Bafana Gobaze, Bogalech Yimer, Abebech Azene, Beyene Omardin, and Mesganaw Adugna. In 1964, when Ethiopian Television was established, Ellene and Samuel Ferenji became the country's first television journalists. Continuing her radio work, she now also presented TV Mag, and interviewed personalities for Guest of the Week. [2]

In the early 1970s she left TV to become coordinator of vocational schools run by the Young Women's Christian Association. After the Ethiopian Revolution, many YWCA workers were arrested. She raised money to ensure that trainees could graduate, though the YWCA was subsequently nationalized and closed down. [2]

Ellene returned to broadcasting working for Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVOG), later nationalized as the Radio Voice of Revolutionary Ethiopia. She later recalled the political pressures from the ministry of information: "The first thing we had to do was to heap insults on the previous government and glorify communism. Then we were allowed to start our programs." She was consecutively banned from radio hosting, promoted to head of the Head of the Public Relations Office of the External Service, and pensioned off a year later. She subsequently worked as a consultant, a BBC correspondent, and a trainer in journalism. For a year, from January 2002, she was English-language announcer for Radio UNMEE, run by the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). [2]

In 2003 she gifted her musical collection to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies. [3]

Ellene Mocria died of cancer in Addis Ababa on 21 July 2021. [1] Married to her teenage boyfriend, engineer Seyfu Lemma, for over 50 years, she had four girls (one adopted) and seven grandchildren. [2]

Related Research Articles

Telecommunications in Ethiopia is a monopoly in the control of Ethio telecom, formerly the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC). As of 2012, 20.524 million cellular phones and 797,500 main line phones were in use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addis Ababa</span> Capital and largest city of Ethiopia

Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative centre of Ethiopia. It also serves as the capital of the Oromia Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in Ethiopia</span>

The mass media in Ethiopia consist of radio, television and the Internet, which remain under the control of the Ethiopian government, as well as private newspapers and magazines. Ten radio broadcast stations, eight AM and two shortwave, are licensed to operate in Ethiopia. The major radio broadcasting stations include Radio Fana a private station, Radio Voice of One Free Ethiopia, and the Voice of the Revolution of Tigray. The only terrestrial (broadcast) television networks are government owned and include EBC and other regional stations. In keeping with government policy, radio broadcasts occur in a variety of languages including Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and more. There are also many video sharing websites which are a popular way of getting information as well as entertainment in Ethiopia.

Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVOG) was a Lutheran World Federation international radio station based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, starting in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation</span> Ethiopian public broadcaster

The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, now rebranded as ETV, is an Ethiopian government-owned public service broadcaster. It is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is the country's oldest and largest broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pankhurst (historian)</span> British scholar (1927–2017)

Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE was a British scholar, founding member of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, and former professor at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. His books have been reviewed in scholarly journals, with Edward Ullendorff calling his The Ethiopians as another testimony to his "remarkable diligence and industry in the service of Ethiopian studies". He is known for his research on economic history and socio-cultural studies on Ethiopia.

Workneh Eshete or Azaj Warqnah Ishete, also known as Charles Martin was an Ethiopian physician and politician. He was the first Ethiopian educated as a medical doctor and led the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to the United States in 1927, which negotiated a contract to build a dam on the upper Abay River; and, beginning in 1934, he served as Ethiopia's Minister to the United Kingdom.

Uduak Amimo is a journalist of Kenyan origin. She hosted the current affairs talk show, Cheche, on Citizen TV, which is part of the Royal Media Services stable between 2012 and 2017. Before returning to Kenya, Amimo worked for several international media organisations, including the BBC World Service, Voice of America and Reuters. She was one of the moderators of Kenya's first presidential debates, held during the 2013 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seifu Mikael</span> Ethiopian noble (1898–1958)

LijSeifu Mikael was an Ethiopian noble, member of the Solomonic dynasty, belonging to the aristocratic Amhara family from Ankober Shewa. He was the grandson of Dejazmatch Mekuria Tesfaye of Menz, a prominent general, a cousin of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, and grandson of King Sahle Selassie of Shewa. Lij Seifu, a public figure, was educated in Paris at the Sorbonne. He was one of the first few earlier members of the royalty who started paying salaries to their household servants advocating freedom of slaves and an avid supporter of Ras Tafari in his bid to become an emperor of Ethiopia. He served as Ethiopia's minister to France and Germany while he lived in Europe in the 1910s, Ethiopia's Consul General to Eritrea from 1921 to 1925 and Governor of several districts till the eve of the fascist invasion of Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zeritu Kebede</span> Ethiopian singer and actress (born 1984)

Zeritu Kebede is an Ethiopian singer, songwriter, and actress. A prominent figure in modern Ethiopian music, her songs often incorporate rock and gospel music.

Salem Mekuria is an Ethiopian-born independent filmmaker, video artist and educator living in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kebede Michael</span> Ethiopian author and polymath

Kebede Michael was an Ethiopian-born author of both fiction and non-fiction literature. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and versatile intellectuals of modern Ethiopia – he was a poet, playwright, essayist, translator, historian, novelist, philosopher, journalist, and government minister belonging to the Shewa Amhara nobility and member of the Solomonic dynasty. His maternal ancestor was King Sahle Selassie of Shewa.

Nahu Senay Girma is an Ethiopian women's rights activist. She is the co-founder and executive director of Association of Women in Boldness (AWiB), a non-governmental organisation established in April 2010 to train women for leadership roles, and has established several charities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimtsi Weyane</span> Ethiopian Tigrinya-language television news channel

Dimtsi Weyane is an Ethiopian news-based television and radio network headquartered in Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia. Owned by Dimtsi Weyane Tigray P.L.C., it first launched as a radio station in 1980 and in 2018 launched a satellite television channel. The channel broadcasts programming mainly in Tigrinya with some programming in Amharic, Oromo and English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ARTS TV</span> Ethiopian television channel

African Renaissance Television Services is an Ethiopian free-to-air entertainment, and news television channel based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ARTS TV was created to provide Ethiopia with a television station with no party affiliation and an Africa-centric point of view, looking at the continent's culture, history, arts, politics, and news.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromia Media Network</span> Ethiopian Oromo-language television channel

The Oromia Media Network (OMN) is an Oromo news channel headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.. OMN is established as a non-profit independent media outlet 501(c)(3) organization, licensed under the Federal Communications Commission funded by public donors from the broader Oromo diaspora.

Daniachew Worku was an Ethiopian writer whose works include novels, plays and short stories. He wrote in both Amharic and English.

Abate Mekuria was an Ethiopian director, playwright, choreographer, and producer of shows for television, film and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio in Ethiopia</span>

Radio in Ethiopia was introduced during Emperor Haile Selassie regime in 1933 where the first radio station was built in 1931. On 31 January 1935, with assistance of the Italian contractor firm Ansaldo, the largest and more powerful station was built and the Emperor delivered the first speech in the broadcast.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pioneering radio and TV journalist Ellene Mocria dies". Ethiopia Observer. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ellene Mocria- Distinguished Lady of Ethiopian Radio and TV". Ethiopia Observer. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  3. "Ethiopia: Elleni Mekuria Presents IES With Vintage Musical Records". Addis Tribune. 4 April 2003. Retrieved 2024-02-09 via allafrica.com.