IT’S TIME FOR AP TO STOP THE ONSLAUGHT OF TRUTH IN THE NAME OF JOURNALISM
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Elshadai Relief & Development Association
Sep. 07, 2007

(elshadai@ethionet.et) It’s to be recalled that – when Associated Press (AP) came up with its baseless report that attempted to tarnish our noble effort to tackle the problem of begging by falsely tying it to the millennium celebration (“Homeless Ethiopians Moved Out of Capital”, Aug. 28, 2007) – we did our best to strongly yet politely refute the unfounded story (“Putting the Record Straight …” Aug. 31, 2007). We also contacted AP’s Ethiopia Correspondent, Anita Powell, to enlighten her on the spirit and purpose of our work – giving her the benefit of doubt that, after all, she might have lacked enough information on the three-year project with a long-term goal to help the poor and the marginalized.

However, from what we read in her latest reports (“Ethiopian Stray Dogs …”, Sep. 04 and “Coptic millennium celebrations fall flat …” Sep. 07), we can’t help but think that AP’s lady in Addis is on the onslaught against truth mission under the mantra of journalism. We would leave for others concerned to disprove her stories that don’t hold water, but we feel compelled to, once again, challenge her altered assertion that:

“… an announcement [has been made] by a government-backed private organization that it would move thousands of homeless people from the capital to the countryside ahead of the celebration …”

The AP correspondent seems to have learned a good lesson that she should refrain from naming names when the story is unsubstantiated. She also has changed the story on the background of her imaginary implementer from the initial “a development group that receives government funding” to the current “government–backed private organization”. We have to admit here that this is indeed good editing, as it’d be worse for the former to get involved in this type of alleged activity than the latter. But the fact remains that there is no such entity – be it a “development group” or “private” – that “said” or “made an announcement” as claimed by AP. If there were, it’d be expected of the international news organization to specify its source as well as the date and place of announcement.

We can’t quite figure out as to why Ms. Powell has chosen to stay the course in her overt misinformation campaign. May be everyday is a slow news day for the AP correspondent who appears to be barricading herself in Addis. If that’s the case, we would like to take Ms. Powell to task by openly and publicly offering her the opportunity to make a trip to regional rural areas where she would be able to see firsthand the thousands of people who eagerly left the life of begging behind, and returned to a meaningful and productive life months ago.

However, from what we have come to see in Ms. Powell’s reporting and witnessed from her visit to our office, we doubt that old-fashioned, hardcore, fact-based journalism appeals to her. What she, instead, seems to be interested in is tabloid-like reporting that would appeal to emotions.

It’s really unfortunate that the AP correspondent could not overcome her bias to see and feel the good and positive things happening all around her at the dawn of the new Ethiopian millennium. But the seemingly young Ms. Powell could indeed be from the school of journalism that subscribes to the notion that only bad news is newsworthy. If so, this is perhaps what is forcing her to create her own story if or when necessary. Or it’s possible that she adheres to the “know your audience” principle. After all, her audience in the West would likely expect to hear from journalists like her on latest fashion from Paris; tennis from Wimbledon; suicide bombing from Iraq and misery from Ethiopia. But we have news for her: She may choose to close her eyes and mind, but Ethiopia is marching down a path of development.

The other possible scenario is that the Ms. Powell could be allowing herself to be used by special interests or people with a one-sided political agenda. When our PR volunteer called the AP correspondent after her first false report, she apprehensively went, “What do you wanna me to do? I’m a results-oriented person. If there’s anything you wanna me to do, just let me know!” But our volunteer ethically replied, “It’s not my job to tell you what to do or what to write. It’d be our job to refute your story, but I just called to let you know that there are errors in your reporting”. Come to think of it, perhaps there are others who would take advantage of Ms. Powell’s, “What do you want me to do?” offer, and tell her what exactly she should do.

Anyone who has dealt with us would know that – as an organization that has been in the mission of helping the poor and the disadvantaged for the last 18 years – we would much rather be discussing child welfare and sustainable development. And we certainly do not wish to subscribe to “conspiracy theory”. Nonetheless, after sadly noticing Ms. Powell’s obsession with negative reporting and her onslaught on the effort to help the poor and the homeless, we can’t help but wonder if the lady might have her own personal agenda, after all.

To sum up, whatever Ms. Powell underlying reason may be, it’s high time for her superiors at AP to put a cap on their correspondent’s groundless reporting. Failing that, one can’t help but think that the self-proclaimed “largest and oldest news organization in the world” is degenerating into tabloid news network.