ABSTRACT
When the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came
to power in 1991, they liberalized the press allowing for unprecedented levels of
freedom of expression. The end of the Cold War raised the importance of democratic
credentials for governments seeking international legitimacy. The EPRDF wished to
demonstrate they were different from the Soviet-backed Derg military government,
and needed to earn the confidence of a nation that had endured decades of guerrilla
war, recurrent government clampdowns, and the targeted assassinations of the ‘‘Red
Terror’’ (197778). More than 200 newspapers and 87 magazines were started in Ethiopia between
1992 and 1997.1 Many of these publications were deeply critical of the EPRDF’s
ambitious political project to consolidate power and fundamentally restructure
the Ethiopian state through ‘‘ethnic federalism’’. Responding to this criticism, the
EPRDF sought to control the press through arresting journalists and using the state
media for propaganda. In the long term, this contradictory strategy failed to
facilitate the development of a media system that could contribute to genuine
democratic governance.
