Ethiopia Warns News Outlets Not to 'Mischaracterize' Tigray

Ethiopia's media regulator is warning foreign news outlets that publishing specific references that it says mischaracterize the country's war-torn northern Tigray region will be met with legal consequences.

"In reviewing and monitoring the news reports, the Ethiopian Media Authority [EMA] has found that some foreign media are repeatedly characterizing [the Tigray People’s Liberation Front - TPLF] as a national army by calling it the Tigray Defense Force or TDF," said an official statement issued on agency letterhead Friday that was sent to VOA. An earlier warning had been sent to at least two foreign media outlets. The statement sent to VOA, signed by agency chief Yonatan Tesfaye Regassa, comes one day after the EMA revoked the license of the Addis Standard’s publisher, accusing the monthly magazine and news website of advancing the agenda of a "terrorist group," without providing more specifics.