Ethiopia revokes media licence of independent outlet Addis Standard

By Rédaction Africanews with AFP

Ethiopia on Tuesday revoked the licence of independent online outlet Addis Standard saying it harmed national interests, in the latest curb on press freedom. Africa’s second most populous nation s ranks 145th out of 180 in the press freedom index compiled by Reporters without Borders.

According to a statement posted on Facebook by the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), whose director is appointed by the lower house of parliament, Addis Standard “has been repeatedly disseminating reports that violate media ethics, Ethiopian laws, and endanger the national interests of the country and its people”.

It said Addis Standard had ignored several warnings “to correct its course and refrain from its detrimental practices”.

“Therefore… the registration certificate of Addis Standard online media has been revoked effective from today, February 24, 2026,” it added. Addis Standard is one of the country’s few independent media outlets, with nearly one million followers on X.

It has covered the situation in Amhara, where rebels have been fighting federal forces for several years, as well as in Tigray, a region in the north of the country where renewed tensions are raising the risk of another conflict. Ethiopia has been cracking down on journalists as legislative elections, scheduled for early June, draw closer.

In February, the press credentials of three Ethiopian Reuters correspondents were not renewed after the agency published an investigation claiming that Ethiopia hosts a training base for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that have been fighting the regular army in neighbouring Sudan since April 2023.

In December, local journalists working for Deutsche Welle were “permanently suspended” and the credentials of BBC correspondents were also not renewed.

Four journalists, imprisoned for nearly three years, are being prosecuted on terrorism charges and face the death penalty, even though capital punishment is rarely carried out.

According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), the media landscape under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018, remains “highly polarised and marked by a culture of opinion at the expense of fact-checking”.