PESHAWAR: Due to the ongoing financial crisis, some 150 print media outlets across Afghanistan have stopped publishing newspapers and magazines, Afghanistan National Journalists Union has said.
The Union informed that many newspapers and magazines have gone online since the fall of the previous government while some are completely close now. Ahmed Shoaib Fana, the chief executive of the union, said the print media in the country is completely shut down. “If this situation continues, Afghanistan will face a social crisis,” Fana warned in a statement.
Read more:
Journalists reject Pakistan media development authority bill
Taliban shutdown ministry of women affairs
‘Taliban faces daunting task to keep peace in their ranks’
Ali Haqmal, a journalist working for Subh newspaper, said that now his newspaper no more afford to public edition and is being published online. He said: “We are now focused on online reporting. We still trying to get information to the public.” Ashiq Ali Ehsas, deputy chief of the same newspaper, said that before the Taliban takeover he used to publish and distribute 15000 copies of his newspaper in the province. However, after the fall of Ashraf Ghani government, the process was hampered because of the financial crisis.
Another reputed newspaper recently closed down is Arman Milli. The founder of the newspaper Syed Shoaib Parsa said: “there were 22 employees but they have lost their jobs now.” He said that they are waiting for the situation to return to normal so that they can resume publishing. International media Watchdog organizations have recently warned that the funds of Afghan media outlets are running out and they are facing problem to provide information to the public under the Taliban administration.
However, the turmoil of media in Afghanistan does not begin with the Taliban takeover. Before the Taliban control, it was reported on 11 August that 51 media organisations across Afghanistan have closed down because of escalating violence. Among those channels were also four television centers and 44 radio stations which were the primary source of information for the local population.