Truth to Power and Policing on Behalf of the People are the Original and Basic Mandates of Free Pres
Abeba Isahac
March 09, 2007
Recent newspaper headlines read:
Army relieves General of Walter Reed Command after reports disclosed shoddy care and poor living conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
AND
The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut said it had temporarily closed several New York City restaurants owned by the franchisee that operated a Manhattan eatery overrun last week by rats.
An ADF-owned KFC/Taco Bell was closed by New York health inspectors last week after TV news crews peering through the windows recorded about a dozen rats skittering across the floors and climbing on tables and countertops.
The video, still circulating on the Internet, also brought shame on the city for giving a passing grade to the restaurant during a health inspection one day earlier.
These are results obtained when the media is at its best, practicing their journalistic skills and ideals to the fullest, the way it is supposed to be.
The press was designed to be a force in its own right which would police for the people by informing and alerting them, against a corrupt government, rogue corporations, and dangerously lawless citizens. That is why newspapers, radio and television were once, until quite recently, the trusted mediums by which people swore.
Sadly, especially in the western nations, things are not the way they used to be with regards to the main stream media, and people are starting to feel suspicious and short changed, and therefore are looking elsewhere for trustworthy news. The press, as is being done on their behalf these days, is not worth defending or petitioning for, since they have abandoned their sacred commitment to society.
Since the George W. Bush administration came into power, it is only too obvious that the American media has lost its. And so, the majority of the American people have reverted to other means of news output, such as the internet, where they believe they might have multiple choices by which they might find the truth.
Today’s journalists are no better than the politicians or CEOs whom they were supposed to monitor, because, as it is said that power corrupts, the salary of the top media echelons has come to exceed that of presidents, senators and CEOs, thus elevating their hierarchy and allowing them to join the same clubs, which completely changes the face of the whole picture from what it is supposed to look like. It has come to the point of choosing between ultimate success, and dedication to one’s ideals and morality. Under the circumstance, one can easily assume that the western press has been bought, hijacked, if not also threatened.
The American press in particular, as well as the western press in general, seem to have become mouthpieces of rogue government policies. They have also come to relish wars and conflicts as they add fuel to them, especially ones that take place in Africa, where they are allowed to go wild and lie through their teeth, using them as compensation and substitutes for the news which they were forced to suppress back home in the name of security.
As we saw from the above top paragraphs, the results that are obtained when the press does its job genuinely, in the same way, if they did their job as it is supposed to be done, they could even prevent wars and conflicts from happening, especially those clandestinely supported by their own governments, supposedly in the interest of their country. By exposing the evil of those who would call others evil, instead of covering it up, many lives could be saved and nations would not unnecessarily remain stagnant and be drawn back every time they get up and dust themselves from the last conflict. In other words, the press should not be an instrument by which internationally condemned illegal deeds are clandestinely exercised. Its job is to expose it for the good of humanity.
Those advocating for the press, the likes of Reporters Without Borders, instead of going around blemishing the name of innocent nations for not having freedom of the press, should first make sure that the reporters for whom they fight are genuine and doing their jobs the way they are supposed to, without siding with rogue governments, even if it is their government. Journalists are not supposed to parrot liars or follow scenarios and mirages, as they are doing in the recent twisted case of people allegedly having been abducted from the Ethiopian desert, which they are trying, without any evidence or coherent reasoning, to blame it all on Eritrea, which by the way, is nothing new. The journalists, in this case, should only be in the business of finding the truth through their own investigation, and not be the mouthpiece of belligerent enemies who are looking for pretexts in order to start for a fight, as has become the fashion these days with the USA and their poodle cronies, the woyane, Israel and the British. The press should have no part in this, but should rather report it for what it really is - a charade!
This kidnapping of tourists, is nothing but a badly planned charade, which has fallen flat on its face before it even got on its feet, and which the instigators don’t know how to get out of , without losing face. If contemporary journalists were truly dedicated and interested in doing an honest day’s work, they should have found this labyrinth of allegations quite challenging for them to unravel and come out with the real thing, and not to just parrot what the liars have to say to them.
They first tried claiming the disappearance of French tourists, which apparently did not work out according to plan. Maybe the French just did not want to play the game of pretending to be abducted while hiding somewhere in one of the many empty posh hotels in Mekele. This is what the team leader, a Frenchman, and the tour operator said on Sunday, on the safe return of the team of seven foreign tourists from the Dalol area in the Afar Region:
The media reports that the tourists were abducted were all untrue”
Then it was the turn of British diplomats and their relatives to play the game.
Of this there were different versions
1. Scotsman.com says: “an international rescue mission after a group of wealthy foreign tourists, including some Britons, were kidnapped near the barren Danakil Depression - one of the lowest places on Earth.”
2. The Independent says “The vehicles used by the British embassy staff and their relatives were found abandoned by the roadside in Hamedali, in the Afar region of Ethiopia, yesterday. They had bullet and burn marks on the bodywork, but belongings including mobile telephones, luggage and shoes had been left behind. A Foreign Office spokesman said the discovery of the cars was "distressing
3. The president of Ethiopia's northern Afar region said 20 to 25 troops attacked the embassy officials and their relatives as they slept. Ismael Ali Sero also said cars used by the sightseers were set on fire in the raid on their camp early on Thursday. Mr Ismael said the group was marched to the town of Waime in Eritrea. The Britons were taken 12-18 miles (20-30 km) through the disputed border region, he said. He said money, mobile and satellite phones were also stolen. hem speak
4. The Briton's tour operator Tony Hickey told the AFP news o tangency that three vehicles in which the Britons and 13 Ethiopians were traveling had been found destroyed in Hamed Ela near the border. Mr Hickey, who runs the Ethiopian Quadrants tour company, said locals reported the cars were hit by anti-tank grenade launchers and that one or two Ethiopians were also kidnapped.
5. “Eritrean forces are behind the kidnap of five British people in Ethiopia” a local official has told the BBC.
And on and on it went with dizzying and twisted endless contradictions with the five abducted sometimes all being as British, and at another time with one French and one Italian, which would logically make only three as British. The same with the 13 Ethiopian translators and drivers. Sometimes five are released and at another time just one escaped. What is more intriguing is that no one, not even a reporter has tried to interview these alleged released or escaped individuals who would have been the ideal first hand eyewitnesses of the whole situation.
As I wrote to console a fellow patriot who seemed worried about this whole confusion, that it might all be a pretext to invade Eritrea again, I on the other hand was hopeful and gratified, believing that my fellow Eritreans had heard my pleas to fight those who wish to harm us through positive thoughts to our country. “It seems to be working” I told my fellow Eritrean, and I gave him the example of the Babylonians and how God had punished their overreach and arrogance as they were building the tower of Babel in defiance of him. He made them speak in different languages in order to confound their ability to communicate thus making it impossible to continue with their grandiose plans of challenging him.
With truth and heartfelt good will wishes of her children filling her cup, Eritrea will always prevail to see her enemies crumble.
Army relieves General of Walter Reed Command after reports disclosed shoddy care and poor living conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
AND
The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut said it had temporarily closed several New York City restaurants owned by the franchisee that operated a Manhattan eatery overrun last week by rats.
An ADF-owned KFC/Taco Bell was closed by New York health inspectors last week after TV news crews peering through the windows recorded about a dozen rats skittering across the floors and climbing on tables and countertops.
The video, still circulating on the Internet, also brought shame on the city for giving a passing grade to the restaurant during a health inspection one day earlier.
These are results obtained when the media is at its best, practicing their journalistic skills and ideals to the fullest, the way it is supposed to be.
The press was designed to be a force in its own right which would police for the people by informing and alerting them, against a corrupt government, rogue corporations, and dangerously lawless citizens. That is why newspapers, radio and television were once, until quite recently, the trusted mediums by which people swore.
Sadly, especially in the western nations, things are not the way they used to be with regards to the main stream media, and people are starting to feel suspicious and short changed, and therefore are looking elsewhere for trustworthy news. The press, as is being done on their behalf these days, is not worth defending or petitioning for, since they have abandoned their sacred commitment to society.
Since the George W. Bush administration came into power, it is only too obvious that the American media has lost its. And so, the majority of the American people have reverted to other means of news output, such as the internet, where they believe they might have multiple choices by which they might find the truth.
Today’s journalists are no better than the politicians or CEOs whom they were supposed to monitor, because, as it is said that power corrupts, the salary of the top media echelons has come to exceed that of presidents, senators and CEOs, thus elevating their hierarchy and allowing them to join the same clubs, which completely changes the face of the whole picture from what it is supposed to look like. It has come to the point of choosing between ultimate success, and dedication to one’s ideals and morality. Under the circumstance, one can easily assume that the western press has been bought, hijacked, if not also threatened.
The American press in particular, as well as the western press in general, seem to have become mouthpieces of rogue government policies. They have also come to relish wars and conflicts as they add fuel to them, especially ones that take place in Africa, where they are allowed to go wild and lie through their teeth, using them as compensation and substitutes for the news which they were forced to suppress back home in the name of security.
As we saw from the above top paragraphs, the results that are obtained when the press does its job genuinely, in the same way, if they did their job as it is supposed to be done, they could even prevent wars and conflicts from happening, especially those clandestinely supported by their own governments, supposedly in the interest of their country. By exposing the evil of those who would call others evil, instead of covering it up, many lives could be saved and nations would not unnecessarily remain stagnant and be drawn back every time they get up and dust themselves from the last conflict. In other words, the press should not be an instrument by which internationally condemned illegal deeds are clandestinely exercised. Its job is to expose it for the good of humanity.
Those advocating for the press, the likes of Reporters Without Borders, instead of going around blemishing the name of innocent nations for not having freedom of the press, should first make sure that the reporters for whom they fight are genuine and doing their jobs the way they are supposed to, without siding with rogue governments, even if it is their government. Journalists are not supposed to parrot liars or follow scenarios and mirages, as they are doing in the recent twisted case of people allegedly having been abducted from the Ethiopian desert, which they are trying, without any evidence or coherent reasoning, to blame it all on Eritrea, which by the way, is nothing new. The journalists, in this case, should only be in the business of finding the truth through their own investigation, and not be the mouthpiece of belligerent enemies who are looking for pretexts in order to start for a fight, as has become the fashion these days with the USA and their poodle cronies, the woyane, Israel and the British. The press should have no part in this, but should rather report it for what it really is - a charade!
This kidnapping of tourists, is nothing but a badly planned charade, which has fallen flat on its face before it even got on its feet, and which the instigators don’t know how to get out of , without losing face. If contemporary journalists were truly dedicated and interested in doing an honest day’s work, they should have found this labyrinth of allegations quite challenging for them to unravel and come out with the real thing, and not to just parrot what the liars have to say to them.
They first tried claiming the disappearance of French tourists, which apparently did not work out according to plan. Maybe the French just did not want to play the game of pretending to be abducted while hiding somewhere in one of the many empty posh hotels in Mekele. This is what the team leader, a Frenchman, and the tour operator said on Sunday, on the safe return of the team of seven foreign tourists from the Dalol area in the Afar Region:
The media reports that the tourists were abducted were all untrue”
Then it was the turn of British diplomats and their relatives to play the game.
Of this there were different versions
1. Scotsman.com says: “an international rescue mission after a group of wealthy foreign tourists, including some Britons, were kidnapped near the barren Danakil Depression - one of the lowest places on Earth.”
2. The Independent says “The vehicles used by the British embassy staff and their relatives were found abandoned by the roadside in Hamedali, in the Afar region of Ethiopia, yesterday. They had bullet and burn marks on the bodywork, but belongings including mobile telephones, luggage and shoes had been left behind. A Foreign Office spokesman said the discovery of the cars was "distressing
3. The president of Ethiopia's northern Afar region said 20 to 25 troops attacked the embassy officials and their relatives as they slept. Ismael Ali Sero also said cars used by the sightseers were set on fire in the raid on their camp early on Thursday. Mr Ismael said the group was marched to the town of Waime in Eritrea. The Britons were taken 12-18 miles (20-30 km) through the disputed border region, he said. He said money, mobile and satellite phones were also stolen. hem speak
4. The Briton's tour operator Tony Hickey told the AFP news o tangency that three vehicles in which the Britons and 13 Ethiopians were traveling had been found destroyed in Hamed Ela near the border. Mr Hickey, who runs the Ethiopian Quadrants tour company, said locals reported the cars were hit by anti-tank grenade launchers and that one or two Ethiopians were also kidnapped.
5. “Eritrean forces are behind the kidnap of five British people in Ethiopia” a local official has told the BBC.
And on and on it went with dizzying and twisted endless contradictions with the five abducted sometimes all being as British, and at another time with one French and one Italian, which would logically make only three as British. The same with the 13 Ethiopian translators and drivers. Sometimes five are released and at another time just one escaped. What is more intriguing is that no one, not even a reporter has tried to interview these alleged released or escaped individuals who would have been the ideal first hand eyewitnesses of the whole situation.
As I wrote to console a fellow patriot who seemed worried about this whole confusion, that it might all be a pretext to invade Eritrea again, I on the other hand was hopeful and gratified, believing that my fellow Eritreans had heard my pleas to fight those who wish to harm us through positive thoughts to our country. “It seems to be working” I told my fellow Eritrean, and I gave him the example of the Babylonians and how God had punished their overreach and arrogance as they were building the tower of Babel in defiance of him. He made them speak in different languages in order to confound their ability to communicate thus making it impossible to continue with their grandiose plans of challenging him.
With truth and heartfelt good will wishes of her children filling her cup, Eritrea will always prevail to see her enemies crumble.
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