Politics · Ethiopia · Horn of Africa
Ethiopia suspends The Reporter indefinitely, silencing one of its last independent newspapers over ‘national interests’
The media regulator halted the English and Amharic papers and their websites from 2 November. Human Rights Watch called it part of an assault on the press. In February, Addis Standard lost its licence.
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia’s media regulator has indefinitely suspended The Reporter, one of the country’s oldest independent news outlets. The paper “has been ordered to remain fully suspended from publication and broadcasting indefinitely, effective Monday, November 2, 2026, until legal and professional ethical obligations are fully met,” the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) said on Facebook, AFP reported via Africanews.
The authority accused the outlet of “repeatedly disseminating content that contradicts Ethiopia’s national interests” and of publishing distorted information that harms foreign investment, tourism and diplomacy. It also said the paper carried “unbalanced and biased” reports. The suspension covers the publisher, the Media and Communication Center, which was founded in 1995 by journalist Amare Aregawi, and was imposed under the 2021 media law after more than a year of monitoring and a final warning, Ethiopia Today reported, citing the EMA statement. The same outlet noted that the order came two days after The Reporter ran an editorial headlined “Press Freedom Is Not A Luxury!”
‘The new normal’
“In what has become the new normal, the Ethiopian government has silenced yet another independent media outlet,” Human Rights Watch said, calling for the decision to be reversed. The group said the move pointed to growing use of vague claims about “national interests” to shut down critical reporting. Since 2025, it said, Ethiopian authorities have banned numerous outlets, deported foreign correspondents and targeted local journalists. In October, police detained journalists Samuel Getachew and Amanuel Gebremedhin, who were jailed for eight days.
The Reporter publishes in English and Amharic and runs a news website. Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country with about 130 million people, ranks 148th of 180 in the RSF press freedom index, and in February revoked the licence of Addis Standard, which has appealed, AFP reported.
AB24’s reading from Addis Ababa: the suspension leaves very few independent Amharic-language news sources in the country. Watch whether The Reporter challenges the order, whether the EMA spells out what the paper must change to reopen, and whether other outlets face similar warnings.
Sources: AFP via Africanews, 3 Nov 2026; Human Rights Watch, 3 Nov 2026; Ethiopia Today, 2 Nov 2026.
— AB24 · Addis Ababa