Afghanistan’s media crisis
One year after the Taliban takeover Published August 11, 2022 The Taliban’s August 2021 takeback of power in Afghanistan has had a devastating effect on the vibrant media landscape that developed after the U.S.-led invasion 20 years earlier. Between censorship, arrests, assaults, restrictions on women journalists, the flight of experienced reporters, and the country’s declining…
CPJ’s recommendations for protecting journalists and press freedom in Afghanistan
The Committee to Protect Journalists makes the following recommendations to facilitate media freedom and ensure the safety of journalists in Afghanistan: To the Taliban, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan 1. Respect and guarantee the ability of all journalists and media workers to report and produce news freely and independently, without fear of reprisal, in…
Kathy Gannon: Courageous journalism is happening in Afghanistan. We can help.
Journalism in today’s Afghanistan is certainly wounded, but it’s far from dead. The evidence is produced daily, even hourly: This is not journalism as it was before the Taliban took power last August, but it is journalism. It demands our respect and support. Sounding the death knell on journalism in Afghanistan is an insult to…
‘I thought about the efforts and struggles of two decades… and cried’
The founder of a news agency dedicated to covering the lives and concerns of Afghan women on how female journalists are still reporting the news In November 2020, I decided to create an Afghan news agency run by and for women—an online news service that would counter the prevailing patriarchal norms of Afghanistan. The news…
Keeping hope alive
Afghan journalists in exile continue reporting despite an uncertain future “I lost my family, my job, my identity, and my country,” Afghan journalist Anisa Shaheed told CPJ in a phone interview. A former Kabul-based reporter for TOLONews, Afghanistan’s largest local broadcaster, Shaheed is one of hundreds of journalists who fled Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover…
Inside an Afghan news network’s struggle to survive
Threats, insults, beatings, and censorship: Former Ariana News staffers detail dire challenges during a year under Taliban control For veteran journalist Sharif Hassanyar, the final breaking point came in September last year. The Taliban had ousted the elected government of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani almost a month earlier, and the last American soldiers had since…
Afghanistan’s media faces crisis—and opportunity
Twelve months after the Taliban takeover, many Afghan journalists are out of work or on the run. Others try, very carefully, to challenge the powerful. The extreme distress that has gripped Afghanistan’s independent media since the Taliban seized power in Kabul on August 15 last year lands in my inbox—and the inboxes of many of…
Crew with Indian broadcaster WION News beaten, detained by Taliban in Kabul
New York, August 9, 2022 – Taliban authorities should cease their attacks on the press and ensure that those who harass and assault journalists are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On August 4, armed Taliban members attacked and detained a team with the independent Indian broadcaster WION News, including reporter…
Photographer Aye Kyaw reportedly dies in Myanmar military custody
Bangkok, August 8, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately disclose the status of photojournalist Aye Kyaw amid reports that he died in detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. At about 2 a.m. on July 30, military authorities arrested Aye Kyaw, a member of the Upper Myanmar Photography Association who had photographed anti-junta protests, at his home in the…
Japanese journalist Toru Kubota faces prison over Myanmar protest coverage
Bangkok, August 5, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On July 30, authorities arrested Kubota, a freelance filmmaker who contributes to international media outlets, while he filmed a small protest in the commercial capital…