Foreign Policy's Phelim Kine reports on the many, many threats that Afghanistan journalists face: The Taliban said last year that it would specifically target journalists and NGOs as part of its insurgency, and there were eight journalists killed in 2014. A Human Rights Watch report documented how media outlets are increasingly subject to harassment, threats and violence from security forces and pro-government warlords. And the official Media Violations Investigation Commission, rather than examining if complaints about the accuracy of reporting have merit, directly forward complaints to the Attorney General's office to intiate legal action against journalists. The result? Afghani journalists self-censor in order to protect themselves (this reminds me of how some Mexican news outlets stopped reporting on drug trafficking because of the murders and kidnappings they faced from drug cartels): "A Kabul-based senior newspaper editor told Human Rights Watch that reporting on certain politically connected mujahidin warlords — veterans of the conflicts against both the Soviet occupation and the Taliban — were effectively off limits for his reporters," Kine reports.
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
