Media watchdog reports a sharp increase in violence against journalists

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee said Thursday that it recorded 132 threats and violence against journalists in 2020 – a 26 percent increase compared to 2019.

This includes the death of seven journalists and media workers. Five were killed as a result of targeted killings and two with IEDs.

The AJSC said in its annual report, released Thursday, that this reports the worrying state of journalists safety and press freedom in the country.

“The rise in violence particularly the targeted killing of journalists has generated extensive fear among media workers, reduced media outlets’ content production capabilities, and expanded self-censorship,” the committee said.

The organizations stated that Afghanistan has reached a historically critical juncture and that although recent rounds of peace negotiations have caused some hopes that an end to the four-decade conflict may be in sight, the surge in violence – especially the targeted killing of journalists and civil society activists – has cast serious concerns over whether peace talks will succeed and whether core values enshrined in the constitution on freedom of expression and civil liberties will be protected if peace talks lead to a political settlement.

“The dramatically increased levels of direct attacks and assassinations of journalists at the end of 2020 has created widespread panic among media outlets and journalists across Afghanistan.

“These attacks have had a noticeably adverse effect on impartial and objective reporting, with many journalists admitting to reconsidering both how and whether to report on certain topics for fear of reprisal – effectively amounting to the increasingly widespread practice of self-censorship,” the AJSC said in a statement.

In addition, the economic impact of Covid-19 has compounded existing financial challenges for media outlets, often frustrating their efforts to raise sufficient funds, and thereby their capacity to generate media content.

The AJSC said media and civil society groups remain concerned that the delegation representing the Afghan Republic in negotiations with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar lacks a coherent strategy to preserve key constitutional rights including freedom of speech and a free and independent media.

“The Taliban’s ideological opposition to these values enhances concerns about the future of such freedoms. Further, the government’s efforts in early 2020 to draft a new Media Law, which could extensively limit press freedom if enacted, and the lack of meaningful commitment to investigate the cases of murdered journalists have fueled these concerns,” the statement read.

The report states that in 2020, AJSC recorded threats and violence against 132 journalists and media workers, which includes killing of journalists, injuring them, physical assault, kidnapping, various forms of threats, theft, verbal, legal and administrative abuse.

“2020 data shows 26 percent increase in violence and threats compared to 2019 in which AJSC recorded violence and threats against 105 journalists and media workers,” the statement read.

In addition to the seven journalists and media workers killed, 18 journalists and media workers were injured whilst reporting and on duty.

Another 10 journalists were physically assaulted, 47 threatened, 28 verbally abused and 13 journalists and media workers faced legal and administrative abuse by media managers.

Seven journalists were kidnapped and two experienced theft while gathering content from the field.

The AJSC said that based on data collected, Taliban and Daesh account for the majority of violence and threats against journalists. Government officials come second.