Ethiopian News Agency (ENA)

The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) — Amharic ቴ-ኢትዮጵያ ዜና አገልግሎት (Ye-Ityopya Zéna Agelgelot, IZA) — is the official state-owned national wire service of Ethiopia, headquartered in Addis Ababa near the Semien Hotel. Established in 1942 as a news distribution service within the Press and Information Bureau, ENA is the oldest news organisation in Ethiopia and is widely considered the oldest national news agency in Africa. The agency operates a network of 38 branch offices across the country and produces news, features, programmes and documentaries for distribution to public, commercial and community media in eight languages: Amharic, Afan Oromo, Tigrigna, Somali, Afar, English, Arabic and French. ENA also publishes the bimonthly magazine Negari and operates a media complex with three television and four radio studios inaugurated in January 2024 at a reported cost of over 200 million Ethiopian birr.

Media assets

News agency: ENA

Publishing: Negari

Ownership and governance

ENA is fully owned by the Ethiopian state and was restructured in 2019 to be accountable to the House of Peoples’ Representatives, which approves the agency’s board on the recommendation of the executive. The seven-member board includes sitting Members of Parliament, blurring the institutional boundary between editorial oversight and political authority. The chief executive officer is Seife Deribe Endale, confirmed in post as of April 2026, who reports formally to the board and informally to senior government communications officials.

ENA is structurally distinct from the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA), the federal state-owned newspaper publisher established in 1940 (which produces Addis Zemen, Ethiopian Herald, Berissa and Al-Alem). EPA is a separate institution under its own CEO (Mesafint Tefera, appointed December 2023) and is profiled separately in this dataset. ENA does not own or directly publish any daily newspaper.

Source of funding and budget

ENA is almost entirely dependent on direct government subsidies. There is no audited annual financial report, and detailed budget breakdowns are not publicly disclosed. According to government data referenced in the previous SMM profile, ENA received a state subsidy of approximately ETB 100 million (about US $1.7 million) for the 2023–2024 fiscal year, with local media analysts estimating that more than 90 percent of ENA’s operating budget comes directly from the federal government. Supplementary revenue from international partnerships and bilateral content-exchange arrangements is not publicly itemised. The 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 budget allocations have not been publicly disclosed at outlet level, although ENA’s reported infrastructure investments, including the 200 million birr media complex inaugurated in January 2024, indicate continued capital injection alongside operating support.

The agency’s commercial revenue model includes domestic content syndication to public and private Ethiopian media, advertisement and short-message production for government clients, and bilateral content-exchange arrangements with foreign state agencies. ENA signed a content-exchange agreement with Russia’s Sputnik in October 2022 and an MoU with Italy’s Agenzia Nova in January 2025, both signed under CEO Seife Deribe.

Editorial independence

ENA does not exhibit editorial independence in the conventional sense. The agency has functioned for decades as an instrument of state communications, with senior editorial appointments tied to the ruling party, formerly the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), now its successor the Prosperity Party. Censorship and self-censorship are deeply entrenched in newsroom culture: a 2010 IREX assessment found that journalists “routinely toe the government line, with little room for dissent or critical coverage,” and a 2017 academic analysis of Ethiopian state journalism identified persistent self-censoring practices that have continued into the post-2018 reform period despite some legal liberalisation.

CEO Seife Deribe has repeatedly framed ENA’s mission in terms of national-development and image-building rather than independent journalism. In a March 2026 panel discussion on Ethiopia as an “investment destination,” he described ENA’s role as “promoting the country’s development efforts and investment opportunities” and “showcasing Ethiopia’s economic progress.” In an April 2026 forum on agricultural transformation, he emphasised that the agency’s mission is “shaping national discourse and promoting development priorities” and “reshaping Ethiopia’s global image.” This institutional positioning, explicit promotion of a national narrative rather than balanced reporting, is consistent with the SC classification.

ENA’s coverage through 2025–2026 has consistently mirrored federal-government framing on contested issues: the aftermath of the Tigray war (formal cessation November 2022 but continued tensions), the Amhara conflict (state of emergency August 2023 to June 2024 with continuing pressures), the deteriorating Eritrea–Ethiopia relationship, and the run-up to the June 1, 2026 general elections scheduled by the National Election Board of Ethiopia. There is no internal ombudsman, no published editorial code, and no independent oversight mechanism. The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), the federal media regulator established under the 2021 Media Proclamation, has been criticised by RSF for “failing to promote quality journalism or protect media freedom” and would in any case have no jurisdiction over ENA’s internal editorial practices. Reporters Without Borders 2025 ranked Ethiopia 145/180, last placed Ethiopia in the “very serious” category for the first time, down from “difficult” in 2024.

AI and digital policy

ENA’s primary digital channel is the ena.et portal, with editions in English, Amharic and Afaan Oromo, supported by active social media presence on Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube and Telegram. The 2024 media complex inauguration substantially upgraded the agency’s TV and radio production capacity, and ENA has signalled regional expansion ambitions including planned bureau openings in Kenya and Djibouti and a stated vision to become Africa’s leading news source by 2030–2032. No formal AI policy, content-provenance commitment (e.g. C2PA), or disclosure framework for AI-generated content has been published by ENA. There is no public statement on synthetic-media disclosure, automated translation between the agency’s eight operating languages, or AI use in editorial workflows. The Ethiopian Media Authority has not issued sector-wide AI guidance as of April 2026.

April 2026