…an individual’s reality is crafted by the stories covered by the media they consume. If the Oromo story is not covered, then it does not exist in the minds of the people who can make a difference.
55 million — the estimated number of the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. For years, the Oromo, with a population twice the size of Texas, have been subjected to egregious human rights persecution. Gruesome, violent attacks, imprisonments, and targeting of the Oromo continues, while Ethiopia’s administration enjoys a strategic allyship with the United States, with no calls for sanctions or a roll back on nearly a billion dollars in aid. Have you ever heard of them? If not, why is that?
The world is a large place, but due to the immense, ever-expanding library of online media, access to diverse stories, from the far reaches of the world, are much more accessible to the average person. In terms of education and knowledge, people have more access to information and current events than ever before — regardless of their location. Still, despite the number of media outlets and online platforms, the average person is confined by what these outlets and platforms deem “newsworthy.” Somehow, the persecution of the Oromo and the human rights atrocities they are enduring, have not yet gained the world’s attention.
Is it because human rights violations and abuses are not newsworthy? No, because there are a plethora of stories and coverage of Yemen, Belarus, and Syria. It could be because the human rights abuses are not significant in harm or number. However, as recently as December 2020, there are reports of hundreds being killed in protests. Furthermore, there are mainstream reports of singular cases of abuse in Iran and Jamaica, which do not quantitatively compare to the hundreds being raped and murdered in Ethiopia.
It may then be due to an avoidance of Ethiopia as a whole. Amnesty International has often reported on the arbitrary arrests and barring of humanitarian aid in the Tigray refugee camps, yet, there has been little to no coverage of the near-deadly hunger strike that continue among Oromo political prisoners. Outlets that did cover the strike, like the Guardian, took three weeks before they deemed the situation dire enough to be newsworthy.
The reality is that there is evidence of significant abuses against the Oromo people. There are plenty of media outlets and platforms to cover these stories, yet these stories are few and far between. This discrepancy shows that there is clear inequity in how human rights stories are covered. First, in the United States, Africa is covered significantly less than, say, the Middle East or South America. Even within this limited coverage, Ethiopia is not covered as often or in as much detail as other countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa.
On the other hand, the media covers what brings them subscriptions or “clicks.” That is to say “money talks.” Because the Oromos have only recently begun immigrating to other countries, they are just beginning to understand and cultivate the necessary skills needed to make their voice heard, most of the international community is not yet aware of the Oromo people or their plight. Therefore, media outlets perceive that there is little to no demand to cover stories on the Oromo’s persecution. Thus, all human rights news, even significant abuses, are not created equal in the eyes of the media. Outlets weigh the power the news story will bring (i.e., money and clicks) and the demand (i.e., existing desire for coverage) when deciding what to publish.
Gaining media attention and ensuring that attention is equitable, fair, and balanced has become incredibly important to an individual’s cultural evolution, as well as opinion formation. Studies have shown that a person’s views are based on what the media covers and how the topic is reflected during that coverage. Over time, these views are then transformed into values systems, by which we create our communities and the principles we live. In fact, public opinion research has shown that a person’s preferred media outlets build the foundation for their very perception of reality.
Therefore, an individual’s reality is crafted by the stories covered by the media they consume. If the Oromo story is not covered, then it does not exist in the minds of the people who can make a difference. OLLAA is committed to amplifying Oromo voices, so that the global community hears them, and, in turn, the media quotes them. OLLAA and its allies call on the mainstream medias and larger human rights organizations to cover the often overlooked Oromo stories.
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