On Sunday, July 16, 2022, a safe in the office of “Ethiopia Insider,” an internet media managed by Haq Media and Communication, was broken into by unknown parties and its property was stolen. Haq Media and Communication believes that the media organization is facing repeated pressures due to the reports it produces, and this robbery is a consequence of these overlapping pressures.
Yesterday, colleagues of “Ethiopia Insider” stayed at work in the newsroom until 4:00 p.m. After locking the office, colleagues who arrived early this morning at about 7:00 a.m. found that the door of the office was locked, but the safe where the valuable assets of the newsroom were kept was broken into by force. They found it broken.
Three new and modern digital cameras, two zoom lenses, four other standard lenses, four laptops, and a smart mobile phone were taken from the looted safe. Haq Media and Communication reported the robbery to the police station near the Adei Ababa Stadium in Bole sub-city, and the station’s policemen attended the “Ethiopia Insider” office, picked up signs, and took statements from some colleagues.
Haq Media and Communication has a reasonable suspicion that “the matter is likely to be orchestrated,” as similar extortions have recently been observed against emerging media and civil society organizations struggling to gain a foothold in Ethiopia’s difficult media environment. For example, it was reported that the Ethio 251 Media Studio and the Research Office of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (Esmegu) were similarly broken into and looted.
“Ethiopia Insider” is an internet media institution that has been gaining credibility and acceptance by providing independent reports that maintain high professional ethics. Based on this acceptance, by expanding its institutional capacity, it has started experimenting with making video reports by completing material to present video reports to its audience. Haq Media and Communication believes that this robbery has a negative impact on the efforts of “Ethiopia Insider” to deliver quality reports and expand its reach. It calls on all concerned parties and stakeholders to contribute to preventing this type of impact on media and civic institutions.
Haq Media and Communication stated that it will follow up and announce the results of the police investigation in this case.
