The federal regulator has cancelled the registration of Ethiopian Media Authority for one of the country’s best-known independent outlets, saying the decision takes effect from 24 February 2026 and accusing the outlet of “repeated” breaches of media ethics and national laws. (Addis Standard)
The target of the move, Addis Standard, rejected the regulator’s account. Its editor, Yonas Kedir, said the newsroom never received formal notices of the alleged breaches and called the EMA’s claim that repeated warnings were issued “factually incorrect.” The publication’s owner, JAKENN Publishing PLC, said it was exploring legal avenues to challenge the revocation. (Addis Standard)
Rights groups and press-freedom monitors say the latest action fits a wider pattern of pressure on independent media in Ethiopia this year. International watchdogs have raised alarms after raids on the outlet’s offices and staff homes in April 2025 — when police briefly detained managers and seized laptops and other equipment — and after other recent moves that have included the withdrawal of foreign news agencies’ credentials. The raids, and the retention of journalists’ devices for weeks afterwards, prompted concerns from the Committee to Protect Journalists about potential misuse of sensitive data. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
Addis Standard’s troubles are not new. The regulator suspended the site during the Tigray conflict in 2021 after accusing it of amplifying the agenda of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) — a move widely condemned at the time by rights groups and foreign media organizations as an attack on independent reporting. Individual journalists from the outlet have also faced arrest in earlier years, including the 2020 detention of Medihane Ekubamichael on politically charged accusations. (Al Jazeera)
Analysts say the timing is particularly worrying. With national elections looming, critics contend that revoking licenses, limiting foreign accreditation and tightening control over reporting create an environment that is hostile to scrutiny and civic debate — conditions that observers say are inconsistent with a free and fair electoral process in Ethiopia. International reporting and rights organizations warn that silencing independent outlets at such a sensitive moment risks skewing the information space in favour of the authorities and narrowing voters’ access to independent verification and critical scrutiny. (The Guardian)
The EMA said its actions were prompted by regulatory investigations and public complaints, but it did not name the specific reports or concrete examples that allegedly breached the law. Addis Standard’s publisher says that lack of detail and the absence of prior formal notices undermine claims of due process and that they will press the case in court. Legal challenges and international pressure are likely to follow, but for now the revocation leaves one of Ethiopia’s most prominent independent newsrooms operating under the cloud of an official ban at a moment when many say independent voices are most needed. (Addis Standard)
