Afghanistan: Clock ticking for foreign-funded media outlets as endgame nears

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign-funded local radios and newspapers are closing down in parts of Afghanistan as sponsors have either stopped or reduced funding in view of the fast approaching endgame in the war-ravaged country, Afghan journalists say.

Most local media outlets in Afghanistan were receiving funds from the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRTs) that were introduced by the US in Afghanistan and were key instruments through which the international community delivered assistance at the provincial and district level.

The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which were also extending funds to Afghan media outlets, have stopped or cut funding as well, forcing some of the Afghan radios, magazines and newspapers to shutdown or reduce staff.

Afghanistan’s media has witnessed notable growth over the last 11 years since the fall of the Taliban, who had banned television. Only the state radio ‘Sharia’ and a few newspapers survived in that time.

Since the collapse of the Taliban regime, nearly 80 television channels, more than 175 FM radio stations and hundreds of publications have spread throughout the country. Over 100 small radio stations with limited/local reach are being run from US military bases, according to the Afghan media.

Afghan journalist Nematullah Karyab, speaking to The Express Tribune via phone from Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, said that most radio stations have almost stopped broadcasting because of a shortage of funds.

“Radio stations are at the verge of closure as they are no longer receiving foreign funding,” Karyab told The Express Tribune. He said that the radio management could not pay salaries to their staff and there are no advertisements in Kunar to run these stations.



He added that some radio stations have reduced their transmission from 10 hours to only two or three hours. He said that some local radios were popular among the people and the closure will deprive the people of receiving local news.

Karyab said that some magazines and dailies are also on the verge of closure as they are also facing a financial crisis.

An Afghan journalist in Khost province, Ilyas Wahdat, says the PRT and North Atlantic Treaty Organization  (Nato) had been giving $3,000 to $8,000 monthly to media outlets but the money was stopped, forcing senior journalists to quit. “Most of the previously foreign-funded media organisations are facing severe financial difficulties and some cannot even pay rent and are getting loans to run affairs,” Wahdat told The Express Tribune by phone from Khost. He said that untrained people are now running their media outlets.

Mammon Durrani, an Afghan journalist in Kandahar, however, says that the Isaf-funded radios are still active and had not yet been affected. He did acknowledge that the print media is facing funding issues and some newspapers, including an influential magazine ‘Sur Ghar’ (Red Mountain) shutdown recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.