Hiiraan Online

Since the Ethiopian tanks rolled into the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the sentiment of its residents and the language of the mass media was at least misfit. (At best mismatch misfit and at worst inaccurate.)

What's been reported since the occupation was misleading and deceptive. Foreign media has generally degraded (relegated) the conflict into backwater (onto the backburner). Had they bother to report in Somalia; they tend not to give any credible account. For example, they purposefully avoid mentioning the presence of the Ethiopian forces at all, let alone revealing atrocities committed by them. Oftentimes they blatantly ignore the core principles of journalism, i.e. impartiality and objectivity.

As for the local media (exception in this case BBC & VOA), I must admit that they have suffered great injustice as they are in-between rock and hard place. Nevertheless, what I would like to highlight in this short article is the gross miss-usage of the Somali language and amateurish manner that they report events in this critical period.

Indeed, it is always helpful to call things by their right name. For example, “Somalia is under occupation” is a proven fact by the nature of the conflict and by the International Law. So by calling it otherwise, is virtually violation of journalistic ethics and rewriting the Somali language. Hence, when people take arms to defend their land, they should be called freedom fighters, not a vaguely concocted names such as forces opposing the government or  worse insurgents, etc.  For argument’s sake, if there were no foreign occupying forces then such names would rightly fit.

Usually you find one media outlet with different and conflicting approaches to regular events happening in Somalia. For example, so far the only Somali speaking cable (satellite) Universal TV have numerous reporters who would describe the events and use different terminologies and definitions by hit and miss technique.  It is evident that such anarchic method of reporting confuses the general public.

As my previous article on media, I conclude that journalism is an art (entertains, mis/informs, educates) and a weapon (affects many people’s lives), so that it should be used sensibly and judiciously.  When the Arabic media is reporting events in the Occupied Land, they don’t tattle with vague words but they put things into perspective, so that the Arabic public are sufficiently informed. I emphasise here as George Orwell famously quoted “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”

By Hussein Sheikh-Ali (Damumaye)

London, UK
E-mail: [email protected]