ENJU President, Anteneh Abraham, told Addis-Ababa’s Addis Admas’, a weekly newspaper published in Amharic, this week that the Union was opposed to plans by the NEBE to adopt the code, because it contained provisions that would restrict media freedom. Also, Abraham said it was not within the mandate of the electoral body to formulate codes for the media.
Anteneh told Addis Admas that it was the duty and responsibility of professional organizations like ENJU to formulate such codes and that the intention by the NEBE to introduce the codes for journalists was in bad taste and tacitly betrays obsession by the authorities to always want to control the media. “We are deeply concerned that the mere act alone of wanting to restrict the media by the (electoral) board would hamper the freedom of the media,” he said.

Ethiopian journalists’ body rejects “restrictive” election code of conduct
The Ethiopian National Union of Journalists (ENJU) has opposed plans by the country’s National Electoral Board of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (NEBE) to adopt a media code of conduct to be used for covering the general election scheduled for 2010.

