NPR's Racist Journalism against Eritrea
Berhane Alazar
As a regular tuner to
NPR, on May 2, 2013; I heard a "report" on Eritrea by certain
Gregory Warner; and I found his unsubstantiated report highly offensive and
downright stupid. This also shows how low the NPR network has gone down in any
integrity scale if it ever had one!
Notwithstanding his
unconfirmed and highly exaggerated "Report" that NPR sadly found it
to be newsworthy to broadcast, Gregory Warner who has no clue of what Eritrea
is all about. He clearly was spewing out a regurgitated long discarded stories
that certain misguided elements have tried and failed to hoodwink public
opinions against Eritrea. Fairness in elementary broadcast dictates to give an
equal opportunity for differing views before engaging in what amounts to uninformed
stories. But to let a Gregory, who apparently does not know anything about
Eritrea, demonize the government and people of Eritrea are nothing short of
racist and irresponsible yellow journalism.
Unless Gregory has some
ulterior motives and want to know what exactly is going on in Eritrea, he may
have just burnt the only bridge he may have had.
How can Gregory expect or
why would the Eritrean government allow you to waste their time when you are
approaching them with your mind already adulterated by falsehood?
To
start with, do you honestly believe that any useful or impartial "Facts" can be
forthcoming by contacting individuals who may be fugitive from the law in the
first place? People who have some axe to grind against the Eritrean government
are unlikely to tell you that they were economic refugees - for they know
"Political repression", would be a better ticket to gain them acceptance by
certain gullible governments abroad.
Nevertheless,
notwithstanding any baggage of hearsays and innuendos concocted against Eritrea
by certain quarters, then you would have found out for yourself that Eritrea
has been hard at work to improve the lot of its people in spite of all the
hurdles thrown at her.
Giving
priority where priority is due, Eritrea continues to build basic
infrastructures including transportation and communication systems, schools and
medical facilities. The government has given a priority of priorities to the
attainment of food security. To that effect, extensive agricultural plots have
been prepared that are being fed by modern irrigation and water catchment
schemes - including building some large dams and water reservoirs throughout
the country. In an attempt to alleviate the hardship the long abused people of
Eritrea suffered under various Ethiopian regimes, potable water supply and electrification
projects have been underway throughout the country including some renewable
wind and solar energies in the remote areas of the country.
Eritrea
is one of handful developing countries that are expected to meet the UN
Millennium Development Goals of 2015 before 2015!
Eritrea,
not only believes in, but puts in practice the universal women suffrage by
placing women on par with their male counterparts in every aspect of Eritrean
life. It is not uncommon to see women in high government positions including
cabinet ministries and state governorships. Eritrea is also on the record for
making Female Genital Mutilation illegal irrespective of one's cultural belief.
Eritrea is a country where Christians and Moslems live side by side in harmony
respecting and honoring each other's faiths!
Are there problems in
Eritrea? Of course there are. But in spite of the unjustified declared and
undeclared sanctions that have been placed against her, she is on the economic
launch pad. I am not saying this for the sake of saying. This is the facts on
the ground that anyone can see for him/herself if genuinely interested. But
that is neither here or there. The point is NPR loses any credibility it may
have had by airing unverifiable one sided story. That is a sure bet of losing
friends and supporters.
Received on Fri May 03 2013 - 12:05:27 EDT
