From: awetnayu@hotmail.com
Date: Wed Jul 30 2008 - 19:08:18 EDT
Reuters Confused or Confused Reuters
Amanuel Biedemariam
Negative publicity is a double-edged sword. What you dish out can come back to you, and thanks to the Internet, what Reuters or other news organizations do can be countered in exact same manner.
I am writing this in response to an article by Jack Kimball, Reuters / July 17, 2008, “In Eritrea, youth say frustrated by long service.” This article caught my attention for two reasons: perspective and timing.
Perspective:
Reuters could have provided different perspectives on how a national service impacts a nation, how it relates to Eritrean national struggle, and the idea of nation building or compare it to the history of national service of other countries.
Furthermore, Reuters could have looked at the current Eritrean economic situation and provide alternative views by interviewing economists and provide in depth analysis to give people perspective. Reuters could have asked Eritreans who went back to their country for the first time after independence 1991 and compare it to how it is today.
Reuters could have provided historical accounts of services that demanded nations and people to do more than expected, mandated or considered standards set in the respective nations. A good example is World War II. US service men and women who were called on to go to war and give up their life in order to save other nations. The US was not willing to involve itself in the war effort, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt deemed it necessary to send troops to Europe and fight Nazi Germany because he was convinced it was the right thing to do.
For nations that are in the process of building and defending their nation from enemies day and night like Eritrea, national service should be looked at as an example not an object of ridicule. Eritrean youth are forced to defend and build their nation in this manner by necessity not by choice. Reuters could have chosen to draw comparison to what is happening in Iraq with US troops who are in their third and forth tour of duties, or the Marshal plan. One could look at the US depression of the 1920s and try to relate it and draw a historic comparison of countries in hardship and how they got out of it.
Timing:
Reuters could have chosen to release the article at later or earlier periods; instead, they released it at a time when Eritrea was conducting a major youth campaign in Sawa and around the world. Reuters released the article when Eritrean families were celebrating the graduation of their kids from the military and academic institution of Sawa. The article is meant to counter any good news Eritrea can get out the youth celebration. Over 10,000 students graduated from Sawa and every one of them was present for graduation. Those who graduated have alleviated the overstretched service requirements by becoming buffers while enlarging the pool. That in-turn will create a larger pool of educated youth with expertise needed to safeguard and build the country’s interests.
Reuters-Confused or Confused Reuters?
Reuters confused: because they have lost a sense of obligation, a sense of decency, a sense of Journalistic integrity, balance and fairness when they decided to forgo their Journalistic profession and decided to play comedian by telling or regurgitating an old tired joke while addressing a matter of a great importance to the people of Eritrea.
Reuters is confusing the idea of National Services to ones self-interest. Eritrea introduced National service to break free from the chains of colonialism, neo-colonialism and barbaric hands of the Western Colonizers. It is breaking free from the tentacles that chained Africa. Reuters is confused because Eritrea, a country that was supposed to have failed six months after the war of 1998; is turning the tide thanks to National Service and other programs. It is confused because Eritrea is doing what most African countries can not do; find indigenous solutions contrary to Western interests. Confused is Reuters by the tenacity of the Eritrean psyche that is united and uniformly committed to educate itself, strengthen, nurture itself and grow against their wishes.
Reuters thought Eritreans will not challenge the negative PR propaganda timed to coincide with Eritrean accomplishment and counter what has been achieved with great success. Eritrea is breaking a historic trend of Third World incompetence by leaders who bow and beg to the West. Eritrea is breaking the trend of ineptitude and helplessness by teaching self-reliance and by walking the walk.
What is unambiguously clear at this point is the fact that there is no free press. The Western press is here to push the Agenda of the powers! They pay the journalist and have them report a story angle as directed. Few conglomerates with finical interest control information and agendas that prop Western political agendas. To expect Reuters to act differently is a dream; because their purpose is to manipulate news in order to serve the rich and powerful West, since it is all about their vested interest.
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