The return of the Taliban to energy in Afghanistan, precisely two years in the past, has led to a progressive lack of headlines and freedoms on the press degree, inside which dozens of media shops have fallen by the wayside and by which the presence of girls journalists is more and more decreased, in accordance with a report by the Worldwide Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Of the greater than 90 paper newspapers that went on sale earlier than the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021, solely eleven stay, whereas the variety of tv and radio stations has fallen by greater than 50 p.c, as has the variety of staff within the media.
As well as, if two years in the past 1 / 4 of the informants had been girls, these now barely characterize 15 p.c of the career, proof of the restrictions that the Taliban have been imposing on society as a complete.
Seven journalists have misplaced their lives and 26 have been arrested lately, additionally marked by denunciations, harassment and intimidation, in accordance with the IFJ, which perceives an more and more decreased margin of maneuver for many who dare to proceed working towards the career.
CENSORSHIP
The Taliban have tried to manage the nation in political and informational phrases, to the purpose that TikTok is prohibited and different social networks equivalent to Fb and X proceed to function with smaller variations.
“Content material that contradicts the emirate’s insurance policies is censored by the central controllers of social networks, factors out one of many interviewed journalists, Miasma Nazari, earlier than warning of the persecution and arrest of those that publish a lot of these messages.
The manager director of the Nationwide Union of Afghan Journalists, Ahmad Shoaib Fana, experiences an “ambiance of worry” the place “entry to neutral data has diminished.” “Censorship and self-censorship have change into rampant, and journalists are pressured to navigate the harmful territory of permitted content material,” he stated.
Because of this, he has appealed for the “important” collaboration between the Afghan regime, the worldwide neighborhood and the organizations in protection of the press “to keep away from the collapse of the media panorama”, since “to safeguard the position of the media between the federal government and the folks is paramount”.
For the assistant secretary common of the Worldwide Federation of Journalists, Tim Dawson, “the destruction of a big a part of the unbiased media in Afghanistan is without doubt one of the most stunning and traumatic penalties of regime change.” “If the Taliban authorities desires to construct an open and self-confident nation and earn worldwide respect, it should act instantly to safeguard the opposite media and be certain that journalists can do their jobs with out hurt or harassment,” he claimed. he.
