VOA News June 5, 2016 A veteran American journalist and his Afghan translator were reported killed in Afghanistan Sunday, after coming under attack while traveling with an Afghan army unit in southern Helmand province. The U.S.-based National Public Radio identified the dead as photojournalist David Gilkey and translator Zabihullah Tammana. Two other journalists in their
Global Voices: The prominence of stereotyping and name-calling on Afghan social media allows an insight into fragile interethnic relations in a country that has experienced more war than peace in recent decades. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: An Afghan film, Wolf and Sheep, which is about poverty and the poor living conditions in a remote village in Afghanistan, has won an award at this year’s Cannes Festival. Director of the film, Shahrbano Sadat, said the movie also talks about stories involving war, violence and drugs. “This is a great achievement
Authorities in southern Kandahar province have banned women’s songs in the local media, a move which has sparked outrage among the media supporters in the country. The Ministry of Information and Culture has also voiced concerns regarding the censorship of women’s songs by the local authorities in Kandahar saying such moves are against the enforced
VOA News Zia-U-Rahman Hasrat, Noor Zahid May 10, 2016 NANGARHAR, AFGHANISTAN/WASHINGTON—After being knocked off the air by government airstrikes, so-called Islamic State group (IS) has restarted radio broadcasts into a restive area of Afghanistan. The radio channel, which broadcasts from a remote mobile transmitter in the mountains along the Pakistan border, has returned with new programming
VOA News May 6, 2016 An Afghan media watchdog estimates that 300 journalists have fled Afghanistan for Europe in the past year because of growing security concerns. The journalists include employees of major TV networks such as 1TV and Tolo, the country’s leading commercial broadcaster, according to Sidiqullah Tawhidi of Nai-Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan,
Tolo News: Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah marked World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday at an event in Kabul and applauded local media for their achievements over the years and said government would do everything possible to protect journalists from coming under attack. Increased levels of press freedom and a growth in Afghanistan’s media sector are two of
Tolo News: Afghanistan improved two places in the recently unveiled Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, going from 122nd place in 2015 to 120 this year out of 180 countries. According to the index, Finland, Netherlands and Norway are ranked the highest respectively in terms of freedom of expression. Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan are the
Tolo News: Sesame Workshop on Thursday unveiled its first Afghan Muppet, Zari, who will make her debut in season five of Baghch-e-Simsim, the local co-production of Sesame Street. Zari, will be featured in new, locally produced segments that focus on curriculum topics like girls’ empowerment, national identity, physical health and social and emotional wellbeing. Baghch-e-Simsim (Sesame Garden) has
Sydney Morning Herald: The company that was paid more than $1.6 million to promote Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s anti-refugee telemovie is owned by a man known as the “Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan” who himself came to Australia as a refugee. Saad Mohseni fled to Australia as a teenager with his family in the early 1980s, shortly