Afghanistan: TV channel stops broadcast, blaming unbearable pressure

Kabul News, one of the private TV news channel in Afghanistan, stopped broadcasting owing to what it called “political and economic pressures”. The channel was founded by Abdul Karim Khurram, close aide to the former President Hamid Karzai and was on air for ten years.

Speaking to Harici, a senior official of the channel said that “political and financial pressures” have reached an unbearable point. The official, who wished anonymity, said that the channel has lost a major part of its monthly income since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.

“There were lots of issues, besides financial problems, we were facing some political pressures,” he said without elaborating further.

More journalists lost their jobs

Over 60 journalists and media workers have lost their jobs after the channel ceased broadcasting. The new unemployment added to the number of hundreds of journalists who lost their jobs since last year.

Kabul News TV staff posing for a group photo.

An official at Afghanistan’s National Journalists Union, Masror Lutfi said that around 70% of journalists become jobless and nearly 280 media outlets have stopped their operation during the span of one year.

Meanwhile, UNAMA said that it has recorded human rights abuses of more than 200 reporters in Afghanistan since August 2021. “Record high numbers include arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, threats and intimidation,” the agency said, adding that the media in Afghanistan is in peril.

The channel is still active in social media

Whatever the reason, the closure of the TV channel is a big slap in the face of free media in Afghanistan. But still the channel could use social platforms to carry out its journalistic activities. An official from Afghanistan Journalist Committee (AJC) told Harici that Kabul News was among the most watched news channels, covering domestic events and was focusing on hot political debates and programs, and exclusive interviews.

As per AJC information, the official said the TV channel went out of air due to political pressure and the intervention of some security institutions of the Taliban, but it is likely that it will continue activity on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Free media in Afghanistan

Of course, it is not a good sign to see that media outlets in Afghanistan are losing power and being shut down in one way or other way. Such a trend will definitely further restrict free media in Afghanistan.

“It’s not like the Taliban are imposing new restrictions on the media. We do respect freedom of media and freedom of expression as far as it does not go against the national interests of Afghanistan,” a Taliban official at the Ministry of Information and Culture told Harici.

The official said that the Taliban are not happy to see the closure of a TV channel, but it is the TV’s administrative decision. “A number of media outlets have been shut since 2021’s Taliban victory, but it’s not due to pressure by the Taliban, but it’s because their foreign sponsors are gone,” the official added.

He said that a large number of media outlets were receiving funds from US, EU and other countries during the past government, but now they are left alone. “No one can blame the Taliban for the closure of media outlets. They lost their sponsors and why the Taliban should be blamed for,” he questioned.

There are still a few independent media running in Afghanistan and still there is room for the media supporting organization to support these outlets before being shut down permanently.