How reliable are journalists in exile?

Beware journalists in exile, warns Terje S. Skjerdal, a lecturer in journalism in both Norway and Ethiopia. He argues that journalists in the West are too willing to believe accounts from fellow journalists who have fled from oppressive regimes. Uncritical coverage of their stories risk being counterproductive, he argues. Drawing on his knowledge of Ethiopian media fugitives, he points to the fact that many could not be trusted and some were not, strictly speaking, journalists at all. He writes: "Perhaps the problem arises when journalists leave their professional objectivity behind and become activists." His central message: do the basics by checking your sources.