Addis Ababa — The Ethiopian media acted inappropriately so much so that it is hard to say professional journalism exist in this country, emphasizing the fact that media could play a significant role to strengthen democracy in any nation, an Ethiopian-American Scholar said on Wednesday.

While delivering a speech on democracy, governance and the role of the media at the US embassy here , the scholar said the Ethiopian media did not live up to expectations and should be criticized for the unfair coverage of the turn of events in the run up to the fateful may 2005 election, and beyond.

"The role of the media during the election period was shameful. . . . I can not see any professionalism that is not being a good educator," Professor Mekonnen Haddis, who is a poet and educator in Maryland USA, said.

He said the unfair coverage by the local media on different political issues as rather undermining the strength of the nation's democracy.

He said the media totally opposed to any thing of the government or totally sided with it, which he said was not the role of a media at all.

He said even if the media has an obligation to criticize and at the same time appreciate the wrong and right acts of the government on different issues, perceiving the two extremes would lead to unfairness letting the profession and all the efforts in building a democratic society in a predicament.

"Democracy by its nature is not to get every thing totally fit," the American Professor said.

"Practicing these extremes is dictatorship by itself this is not the media's obligation!" According to the scholar, the Feudal way of life which the country experienced for decades sticking on such believes as 'to like or dislike something totally' is been reflected among the society in general and the Ethiopian media in particular.

The media should first of all take itself very seriously and think of itself as educated and devoted body to serve the public, he said adding the point here was to keep eyes open on what the government is doing and thus being critical of it.

The media coverage on election 2005 has prompted the government to take certain punitive measures on private media houses, which resulted in a major shift on the contents of the media house from serious political issues to some what social and general human interest issues, according to a recent study.

Professor Mekonnen has been here for the last eight or so months, giving lectures on a variety of issues in the country, according to the Public Information Department at the US embassy in Addis Ababa.

The professor received a PHD in International Studies from Pacific Western University, California, USA, 1986.

He taught at the Bowie State University in the United States, where was also responsible for regularly upgrading courses of Modern Political Philosophy, Survey of World Civilization, African American History, US History, and Introduction to Political Science and International Relations.

He now runs his own Consulting House.

The Professor is also known for his hundreds of poems and was named in 2000 as one of the Best Poets of the last 100 years by the International Society of Poets.