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…
Taliban intelligence officers force Foreign Policy columnist Lynne O’Donnell to tweet apologies for her reporting
Washington, D.C., July 21, 2022 – Taliban authorities must stop harassing members of the press, and the intelligence officers who recently intimidated and threatened Australian journalist Lynne O’Donnell should be held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. O’Donnell, a columnist with the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy, arrived in Kabul on July 16,…
Taliban forces beat journalist Reza Shahir, charge 3 others over corruption reporting
New York, June 9, 2022 — The Taliban must investigate the beating of journalist Reza Shahir, and immediately drop all charges against journalists Firoz Ghafori, Basira Mosamem, and Olugh Beig Ghafori, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. At about midnight on June 3, Taliban forces stopped Shahir while he was on his way to…
Afghan journalist Ali Akbar Khairkhah disappears in Kabul, Taliban cracks down on women reporters
Washington, D.C., May 27, 2022 – Taliban authorities must investigate the disappearance of Afghan journalist Ali Akbar Khairkhah and ensure that local officials allow female journalists to do their jobs without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Tuesday, May 24, Khairkhah, a photojournalist and reporter with the local Subhe Kabul newspaper, disappeared…
Taliban intelligence agents detain, pressure Afghan journalist Jebran Lawrand to stop critical reporting
Washington D.C., May 23, 2022 – Taliban authorities must investigate the arbitrary detention, questioning, and intimidation of Afghan journalist Jebran Lawrand and allow local press members to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On April 25, Lawrand, a political programs manager and presenter at the independent Kabul News TV station, was summoned…