By Rukhshana Media
Since the Taliban took over, women journalists have disappeared from 15 out of 34 provinces, and 84 % of them have lost their jobs, said Reporters Without Borders in a report released on Monday.
A new survey by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) shows that since the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, more than 230 media outlets have closed across Afghanistan and over 6,400 journalists have lost their jobs, with women journalists “hit hardest.”
“The Taliban controlling many localities impose conditions on the local media that include not employing any women journalists at all. The media landscape is now largely devoid of women journalists, even in regions such as Kabul where traditionally there were more of them,” the RSF report reads.
Before the Taliban took over, there were 543 media outlets in Afghanistan which were reduced to 312 by the end of November, according to the survey.
“More than four out of every ten media outlets have disappeared and 60% of journalists and media employees are no longer able to work,” the RSF report reads.
The closure of media outlets has been uneven in different provinces, with the eastern province of Nooristan hit the hardest, losing four of its five media outlets. In major cities, like Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, the third and fourth-largest cities of Afghanistan, more than 60 % of media outlets have been closed.
In late November, Afghan channel Tolonews reported that 257 Media outlets were closed by the 100 days of the Taliban’s return to power.
The report is yet another confirmation of the Taliban’s implementation of its two media regulations. In the Taliban’s first media regulation, issued on September 19, the group asked journalists and media not to produce content “contrary to Islam” and not to report on “matters that have not been confirmed by officials.”
The second media regulation, issued on November 21 by the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, ordered media to not broadcast movies that are opposed to the “principles of Sharia and Afghan values” and depict “women actors.” It also ordered forced “hijab” for women journalists working for local TV channels.
In the past months, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch have issued warnings about the Taliban restriction on women journalists and the media in Afghanistan.
