Thread by @TsedaleLemma

Thread 👇
The dilemma of journalism ethics vs the fate of #Dembidollo uni students.

Protection of sources is one of the most important pillars of journalism.Without it, our line of duty is extremely vulnerable to threats & intimidation especially in countries like Ethiopia. 1/6

Of all the painful journey Ethio media had to go through & continued to endure,so far I am not aware of this sacred practice of protection of sources coming under state sanctioned threat whereby jurnos are forced to hand over the identity of their sources.Not to my knowledge. 2/6

However, protection of sources is not absolute, & can, under extreme cases, be restricted by law enforcement agencies, which means journalists are obliged to identify sources or their contacts. Such extreme cases include cases of national vital interests & safety of civilians.3/6

With that in mind, it is important to recall that on Dec. 17/2019, ESAT's Afaan Oromoo journalist Amanuel Mengistu interviewed the abductors of the 18 students of #Dembidollo univ shortly after he interviewed victims' families & the lone survivor of this tragedy Asmra Shume. 4/6

In the event of the utter inability of the fed. gov't, Amhara & Oromia regional states, as well as the security & intelligence apparatus to secure the release of the students and relieve them & their families of the pain they are enduring for 55 days & counting, it is now...4/6

.. clear on whether journalists shouldn't reckon with the fact that one of us is in possession of a vital information,at least the telephone contact, of one of the abductors & whether the police, using legal means (court injections), should not obtain this from jurno Amanuel. 6/6

PS: below is the link to the interview on ESAT (mentioned in thread 4/6). Fast forward to 7:54

Time to do some soul searching and perhaps some reflections?
cc @Haimanotwua @befeqe @dendeshaw @BerhaneSamson @TomGardner18 @VDublange @Kal_KidanY etc...