Ethiopia suspends The Reporter indefinitely: the media authority cites threats to national interests, press-freedom groups call it censorship

Independently verified

The suspension: in a statement on 2 November, the Ethiopian Media Authority accused the Amharic- and English-language editions of The Reporter and their digital platforms of repeatedly publishing reports that undermine national interests, damage Ethiopia's image, threaten national security and violate journalistic ethics. It suspended the registration certificate of the paper's publisher, Media and Communication Center PLC, for an 'indefinite period', under the 2021 media law; Human Rights Watch says the suspension took effect immediately. The paper: The Reporter was established in 1996, publishes in Amharic and English, and is one of Ethiopia's oldest independent newspapers; Human Rights Watch describes it as the country's last privately owned Amharic newspaper and one of its few remaining independent outlets. The regulator's fuller account: the EMA said The Reporter disseminated 'distorted information' that was 'not balanced', based on 'unconfirmed information', and had a 'negative impact on foreign investment, tourism and diplomacy'; that it had monitored the outlet's content for over a year and held repeated discussions with the publisher and editors-in-chief, including issuing a final warning before the suspension; and it mentioned no specific report to substantiate its allegations. The response: CPJ's Africa programme coordinator, Muthoki Mumo, said: 'Ethiopia's media regulator has become an instrument of censorship, using vague and sweeping allegations of threats to national interests to systematically punish independent journalism,' and called on the authorities to reverse the decision immediately. Human Rights Watch called the action part of the government's ongoing assault on the media and civic space. CPJ also records that The Reporter recently published an editorial titled 'Press Freedom Is Not A Luxury!' criticising the authorities for treating independent reporting as a national security threat. The wider pattern, as documented by CPJ and HRW: in 2026 the EMA also revoked the authorisations of Addis Standard and Wazema Radio and revoked Reuters journalists' credentials for six months, a 2025 ban on two Deutsche Welle journalists remains in place, and journalists from The Reporter Magazine and Addis Standard were detained this year; HRW records that since 2025 the authorities have banned numerous outlets, deported foreign correspondents and targeted local journalists through arrests, enforced disappearances and office raids.