- The Short Life of an Oromo Ethiopian Newspaper

The Short Life of an Oromo Ethiopian Newspaper

The Oromo media is struggling to survive while it concurrently tries to serve approximately 40 percent of the population in Ethiopia. Most recently, the Oromo people have seen both the launch and the quick close of the Qubee Afaan Oromo newspaper Yeroo and the only Oromo television broadcast on Ethiopian Television (ETV) taken off the air. In response, RAP 21 recently examined the climate that has led much of the Oromo media to its demise. To delve further, RAP 21 now spoke to former representative Jamal Mohammed of the Jimma Times, which owned Yeroo, on how he makes sense of the complex web of factors strangling the media and preventing information from reaching the Oromo public.

RAP 21: Could you describe the Yeroo newspaper in terms of its circulation, readership, and cost? When was it launched?

Jamal Mohammed: Yeroo newspaper is the first private newspaper written in Qubee Afaan Oromo. It is different not only because it is in Afaan Oromo, but also since it uses Qubee, an Oromo alphabet. Read More.