Fewer women, religious propaganda instead of entertainment shows. How the Afghan media is changing after the rise of the Taliban
Prominent Afghan presenter Shabnam Dawran is one of the most familiar faces in Afghanistan. However, she and other female colleagues were immediately fired after the radical fundamentalist Taliban movement took power the week before last, Radio Free Europe reports.
"When the system changed, I wanted to go to work. I didn't lose my courage, but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to continue. If the world hears my voice, it should help us because our lives are in danger," Shabnam, who until now worked for state television, said in a video posted on her Facebook page last week.Afghanistan's thriving media scene has been hailed as one of the greatest achievements of the past 20 years, in contrast to the ban on independent media during the brutal first Taliban regime at the turn of the millennium. There are nowan estimated 170 radio stations, more than 100 newspapers and dozens of television stations in Afghanistan . Under the previous Taliban government, television was banned, with only state radio, whose programming was dominated by calls to prayer and religious teachings. Already, there are ominous signs that those days are returning, reports Free Europe.
State television now broadcasts Taliban announcements, quotes from the Koran and Islamic sermons. The situation is different in the private media, with female anchors and reporters still working for the largest television station, Tolo TV, one of whom even recently conducted a live interview with a senior Taliban official. However, even private TV stations prefer to withdraw entertainment and music programmes or popular Western soap operas from the airwaves. It remains unclear whether the relative moderation of the current restrictions is only temporary or a broader shift in the Taliban's attitude towards the media and working women. The fact remains that radical Islamists are now seeking a more moderate image, with Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid promising at a press conference that the media would remain independent, but that journalists should not work against "national values" and Islamic principles.
However, there are great doubts whether the fundamentalists will keep their promises. According to Radio Free Europe, the Taliban have violently suppressed the regional press or some television or radio stations in previously controlled provinces, and dozens of journalists or media workers have been killed. Other media have been forced to broadcast Taliban and religious propaganda.
