The Ethiopian Media Authority says the publisher of the Amharic Reporter and the English-language The Reporter repeatedly published content contrary to the national interest. The suspension covers print, broadcast and online operations.
The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) on Monday 2 November indefinitely suspended the registration certificate of Media and Communication Center PLC, publisher of the Amharic Reporter and the English-language weekly The Reporter, AFP reported. The suspension covers print, broadcast and digital operations and will remain in force "until legal and professional ethical obligations are fully met", the authority said in a statement on Facebook.
The regulator's case
According to Addis Standard, the EMA said more than a year of monitoring had identified "repeated violations of law and professional ethics". It accused the outlet of disseminating content that "directly contradicts Ethiopia's national interests", sensationalising politically and economically sensitive issues, presenting information from national forums selectively and so creating "suspicion and confusion among the public", and publishing distorted information that harmed foreign investment, tourism and diplomacy. It also accused the paper of "unbalanced and biased" reporting.
The authority said it had discussed its concerns with the owner and chief editors over the past year and issued a final warning without seeing improvement, and that it acted under Proclamation No. 1238/2021, the media law. New Business Ethiopia, which published a translation of the statement, said the Amharic Reporter had been the only active private Amharic newspaper in Addis Ababa. The Reporter had not publicly responded by the time of writing.
A wider pattern
The Reporter was founded in 1995 by Amare Aregawi and recently marked its 30th anniversary. In February 2026 the EMA revoked the registration of JAKENN Publishing, publisher of Addis Standard, which has challenged the decision in court; the case is pending. In June, the correspondent of the French daily La Croix was expelled, AFP reported.
Ethiopia ranks 148th of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. According to the organisation, five journalists are currently detained in Ethiopia, four of whom have been held for nearly three years on terrorism charges that carry the death penalty.
The suspension comes as federal forces fight Tigrayan forces in the north, clashes in Oromia and the Somali region have driven tens of thousands of people into Kenya, and tensions with Eritrea remain high, leaving fewer independent outlets reporting on these crises from inside the country. The EMA says it is enforcing the law and professional ethics.
Image: Men reading a newspaper in Addis Ababa, 2004. Terje Skjerdal, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.