Afghan media is swinging between optimism and pessimism about the future after 2014.
Sohail Sanjar, journalist and chief editor of Hasht Sobh (eight in the morning), thinks shrinking budgets are likely to
Sohail Sanjar, journalist and chief editor of Hasht Sobh (eight in the morning), thinks shrinking budgets are likely to cramp the freedom the media has enjoyed since the US-led forces ousted the Taleban in 2001.
Sanjar’s prophecy for the future is dark. “We will be witness to the gradual death of the media. This may be shocking news but it is better that the Afghan government, and the media, plan for financial independence.”
Sidiqullah Tawhidi of Free Media Watch counts 2014 as a year of reckoning. “A number of free media could vanish.”
What of freedom and liberty?
Farida Nekzad, chief editor of Waqt (time), a news agency, believes if the media is passive and compliant “we can expect state liberty will be dormant” and the media could “lose the achievements of 10 years”.
She divides media in Afghanistan in three categories: media that belongs to political heavyweights; media that speaks up for the aspirations of people; and, the government media.”
While she thinks the media in the first and third category will weather the storm, what concerns her is the plight of the print and electronic media that is independent of people in power and political parties.
Nekzad warns of reports that “some TV channels as well as print media” have already retrenched “tens of their staff because of economic problems”. In her opinion, “Should the government and international community ignore the (budget) problems, the space for media that is aligned to individuals (powerbrokers and politicians) will expand; and, free media and liberty will become the monopoly of a limited few, (signaling) the death of democracy.”
Freelancer Nurullah Barez who says he’s already feeling the pinch in terms of work, observes: “Media managements should have had deliberations for financial independence.”
However, Mohammad Rahmati, Chief Editor of Tamadun TV, allegedly financially supported by Iran, thinks the concern may be uninformed. “Those responsible must have planned in the beginning for rainy days (ahead).”
All is not lost, he believes, “the water has not reached the throat”. He urges managements that have not prepared strategies for financial independence to do the “work some of the media have already done (and) save themselves from the fall.”
