Terara Network

Last updated
Terara Network
Company typeNews media
Founded26 September 2020
Founder Tamerat Negera
Headquarters Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Key people
Tamerat Negera (CEO) Clive Stephany (Project Manager)
Website teraranetwork.com

Terara Network is an Ethiopian media company based in Addis Ababa. The company's main journalist who is the owner of the company is Tamerat Negera. The company was established on 26 September 2020, by Tamerat Negera through the charity funds raised by his friend Tariku Geleta. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Troubles

The company's most senior member Temerat Negera who serves both as editor in chief and CEO of the company has had trouble with law enforcement in the past where the government has arrested him for over 4 months without any charges laid against him. Two other Terare Network journalists were also arrested by Ethiopian police forces. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Release

The company's chief editor and founder Tamerat Negera was able to be released by bail by the order of the Supreme Court of Oromia after over 3 months of arrest without charge. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesfin Woldemariam</span> Ethiopian academic and human rights activist (1930–2020)

Mesfin Woldemariam was an Ethiopian academic and human rights activist.

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

According to the U.S. Department of State's human rights report for 2022, there exists "significant human rights issues" in Ethiopia. In addition to extrajudicial killings and instances of "enforced disappearance", other human right issues in Ethiopia include arbitrary arrest, the censorship and unjustified arrests of journalists, the use of child soldiers, and more.

The Ethiopian Teachers' Association is a trade union in Ethiopia. It is affiliated with Education International.

Yeroo was the first private Afaan Oromo newspaper published in Qubee. It distributed weekly newspapers mainly around the cities and towns of the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Alongside another independent newspaper URJII, Yeroo was the last private Oromo press closed down due to media restrictions in Ethiopia. Due to being independent, the media faced difficulties from the Ethiopian government since its beginning during its registration and establishment. A few weeks after its publications, security problems and financial restrictions imposed by the government caused the newspaper to be suspended. Its website version is Jimma Times (JT), which has remained online after Yeroo newspaper was closed. JT has been the first media to break several news stories before other media outlets, including the story of former Ethiopian PM Tamrat Layne, who became "born again" and left politics, the acceptance of Ethiopian Airlines into the Star Alliance as well as on the decision of the top opposition party Medrek to seek a re-run of disputed Election 2010. Various international media have used news content from Yeroo's Jimma Times, including United Press International (UPI), Epoch Times and Voice of America (VOA) radio. The Jimma Times has also been quoted by and its content used by many Ethiopian newspapers and sites including Capital Ethiopia, Addis Neger, Gadaa.com, Opride.com, Ethio Channel, Awramba Times and African Monitor. Its website/online version has also been suspended for many years after it faced frequent blockage from the government that often censors online media.

Addis Neger was an Ethiopian weekly newspaper founded in 2007 by six journalists. It rapidly rose to prominence due to its presentations of credible and researched viewpoints before its sudden closure in December 2009. It was one of the few independent voices in Ethiopia. In 2009 all of Addis Neger's editors, including managing editor Mesfin Negash, executive editor, Abiye Teklemariam, editor-in-chief Tamerat Negera and other contributors and writers quietly slipped out of the country, fleeing from intimidation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eskinder Nega</span> Ethiopian politician, journalist and blogger


Eskinder Nega is an Ethiopian journalist, blogger and politician who has been jailed several times by the Ethiopian government on convictions for treason and terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temesgen Desalegn</span> Ethiopian journalist

Temesgen Desalegn is an Ethiopian journalist. As an editor of the independent weekly newspaper Feteh, Desalegn went to court many times and was imprisoned from 2014 to 2017 as a result of his criticism of the national government, drawing protests on his behalf from the international press freedom groups Committee to Protect Journalists and Article 19 and from Amnesty International. In its 2014 report, the U.S. Department of State also reported its concern against Temsgen's 3 years sentence by the government, emphasizing that Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are fundamental elements of a democratic society and government. The Human Rights Watch also reported his charge in August 2012 and his three years sentence in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zone 9 bloggers</span> Ethiopian blogging collective

The Zone 9 bloggers are a blogging collective from Ethiopia, who maintain a blog in Amharic. On 25 and 26 April 2014, the Ethiopian government arrested six members of the Zone 9 bloggers network and three other journalists, who faced terrorism charges for their writing at the time. The action had sparked an online protest.

Befeqadu Hailu Techanie also written as Befekadu Hailu Techane is an Ethiopian writer, activist, and blogger. He is a member of the Zone 9 bloggers group that were arrested in April 2014 due to their blogging activities. Befekadu is now released on bail and is defending himself before court on a downgraded charge of 'inciting violence through writing'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016–2018 Ethiopian state of emergency</span> State of emergency in Ethiopia

A state of emergency was declared on 9 October 2016 by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, after de facto taking effect the previous day. The state of emergency authorized the military to enforce security nationwide. It imposed restrictions on freedom of speech and access to information. The duration was initially announced for six months. The Constitution of Ethiopia provides for a six-month state of emergency under certain conditions. The declaration of the state of emergency followed massive protests by the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups against the government, which was dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, largely consisting of Tigrayans, a smaller ethnic group. The 2016 state of emergency was the first in about 25 years in Ethiopia. In March 2017, Ethiopia's parliament voted to extend the state of emergency for another four months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abiy Ahmed</span> Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018

Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.

Amare Aregawi is an Ethiopian journalist and the founder of Media & Communications Center, which publishes The Reporter (Ethiopia), an Amharic and English newspaper headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is the editor-in-chief of the bilingual newspaper and co-owner of the Ethiopian TV network ARTS TV.

<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.

Awol Kasim Allo is an Ethiopian academician, author and lecturer who started teaching law at University of Keele in 2016.

Martha Kuwee Kumsa is a siinqee feminist and professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, specialising in Oromo culture and cultural and immigrant identity. She is of Oromo origin and was detained without charges and tortured from 1980 to 1989, following the Ethiopian Red Terror, for her journalistic activities promoting Oromo women's rights. In late 2020, Martha objected to media misrepresentation of the Hachalu Hundessa riots and what she saw as wave of repression by federal authorities against Oromos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamerat Negera</span> Ethiopian journalist

Tamerat Negera is an Ethiopian journalist, analyst, and a commentator on Ethiopian politics. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to his mother Daditu Tucho Jote and his father Seargent Negera Feyisa Gurara. He is married to Weyzero Selam Belay since 2019.

Democratic backsliding in Ethiopia is ongoing, most notably under the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Since assumption of power in April 2018, Ahmed has played crucial role of reforms in the Ethiopian politics and reversal of policies implemented by the former ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Abiy immediately gained public approval and international recognition owing to liberalized policymaking including in media outlets, gender equality, internet freedom and privatization of economy. Furtherly, he was also warmly gained accolades for ending 20-years conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, from which he awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, being the first Ethiopian to earn the title. In 2019, Ethiopia received a score of 19 out of 100 in the Freedom in the World metric, a significant improvement from previous years, although it is still characterized as "Not Free". In December 2019, he formed the Prosperity Party by dissolution of EPRDF and merged all its ethnic based regional parties while the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) refused to obey, resulting intense face-off with the federal government. He promised to hold free and fair upcoming election; although due to COVID-19 pandemic deterioration and other security and logistics issues, the election was postponed indefinitely in mid-2020. Opponents called this action as backdrop to "reconsolidate dictatorship" and "constitutional crisis". On 9 September 2020, the Tigray Regional election were held as the federal government deemed illegal election. According to the electoral commission, the TPLF won 98.2% of 152 seats were contested. The federal government and the Tigray authority relations aggravated by late 2020, culminating the Tigray War.

The Oromia Supreme Court is the Ethiopian Federal Supreme Court department based in Oromia Region. Under Proclamation No 46/2001, Article 65(1–2), the Supreme Court alongside other regional counterparts should obligated to the Federal and regional government of Ethiopia, and judges can be appointed by the Regional Judicial Commission and the nominees submitted to Regional Council for appointment by the President of the Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political repression under Abiy Ahmed</span>

Political repression is a visible scenario under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after 2018, characterized by severe human rights violation, restriction of press, speeches, dissents, activism and journalism that are critical to his government. Similar to TPLF-led EPRDF regime, there was a raise of censorship in the country, particularly internet shutdowns under the context of anti-terror legislation labelling them "disinformation and war narratives" since the raise of armed conflict in Ethiopia. In June 2018, Abiy unblocked 64 internet access that include blogs and news outlets.

References

  1. "Get To Known Us - Wine - TERARA NETWORK". Terara Network.
  2. "News: Police detain Terara Network founder and editor-in-chief Tamerat Negera". Addis Standard . December 10, 2021.
  3. "Ethiopian Prime Minster tries to undermine the arrest of 20 journalists in the country". The Low Ethiopian Reports.
  4. "Tamrat Negera: A journalist still jailed for more than three months without charges". Addis Zeybe. March 25, 2022.
  5. "Continued detentions unlawful and remand after lifting of state of emergency unreasonable". Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. February 17, 2022.
  6. "Ethiopia uses emergency law to ramp up arrests of journalists". CPJ. December 15, 2021.
  7. "Ethiopia: Police Detain Terara Network Founder and Editor-in-Chief Tamerat Negera". All Africa.
  8. "Ethiopia pursues charges against three detained journalists". Foreign Press. February 21, 2022.
  9. "Oromia Supreme Court orders release of journalist Tamerat Negera on bail". Zehabesha. April 5, 2022.
  10. "Tamrat Negera released on bail after four months behind bars". Borkena. April 5, 2022.