AP: Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) along with 14 French media outlets and production companies called on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on February 6 to release a journalist imprisoned for a month in Kabul. In a joint statement, RSF and French media said journalist Mortaza Behbudi, who holds dual French and Afghan citizenship, was arrested
BBC News: Afghan media have faced difficulties since the Taliban took power in Kabul on 15 August 2021. Outlets have endured severe restrictions, an economic crisis and waning Western support. There is growing self-censorship and editorial appeasement of the Taliban. Freedom of expression has largely disappeared. Click here to read more (external link).
Roshan Noorzai VOA News January 19, 2023 WASHINGTON — From regulations on what can be covered to rules on where women can work, journalists say it is increasingly difficult to report in Afghanistan. Restrictions on media “increased in the past year,” said Dawood Mubarak Oglu, a reporter who covers security and politics for the independent media
AFP: Nearly 1,700 journalists have been killed worldwide over the past two decades between 2003 and 2022, an average of more than 80 a year, according to an analysis published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: The number of journalists behind bars worldwide has risen to a 30-year high, according to the CPJ’s annual jail census, the Journalists Imprisonment Index, which was released on December 14th. According to the CPJ’s prison census, Afghanistan is globally ranked 17th in a tie with Iraq and Morocco as countries with the 3 journalists
8am: The suffocating atmosphere and censorship have also made the free flow of information and media face serious challenges. In the latest case, the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) has suspended Afghanistan’s membership in this organization. The institution has announced that the media freedom situation in Afghanistan is not in accordance with international commitments, and for
HRW: Two years ago today, former Tolo News TV presenter Yama Siawash was killed in a car bombing on November 7, 2020, moments after he climbed into a government-owned vehicle in Kabul. Despite the high-profile nature of the attack, the former Afghan government failed to carry out a thorough investigation or prosecute anyone for the
VOA News November 4, 2022 WASHINGTON — Afghan journalists who fled across the border to Pakistan to escape Taliban rule say they still face an uncertain future. Living in Pakistan often on temporary or family visas, many are unable to find work and are concerned about their legal status when their permits expire. “We don’t know
8am: The mainstream media in Afghanistan which had just started to get on its feet was shaken by the disruptions of 2021 – the takeover of the war-ravaged country by the Taliban. A survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent Journalist Association in December 2021 reported the closure of more than 200
Akmal Dawi VOA News October 4, 2022 The Taliban have weakened and censored the media inside Afghanistan, but their communications faults and governance shortcomings still receive widespread exposure on social platforms. Last week, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) dismissed as false a statement made by Khalid Hanafi, who runs the Taliban’s Ministry for