Taliban’s New Guidelines for Journalists Poses Challenges To the Freedom Of Press

Since the cataclysmic takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan, new rules and guidelines are being set with many freedoms being challenged.  With the return of restrictions for women, stricter punishments, executions, sexual assaults, and more Taliban recently set guidelines for journalists causing a wave of concern regarding freedom of the press in Afghanistan.

Interim director of the Government Media and Information Center, Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, announced 11 guidelines for journalists on September 19. Journalists are required to comply with the 11 guidelines while reporting from Afghanistan. While the new guidelines may emphasize the delivery of bias-free information, it is also problematic and dangerous as it requires more censorship and does not promise freedom. Since the Taliban took over last month, local Afghan journalists have fled the country for fear of their lives or are in hiding awaiting a chance to escape the country.

International organizations are apprehended regarding the new set of guidelines as they see potential harm and restrictions. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is expressing its concern as numerous reports of abuse and violence against media workers have been increasing. They also highlighted that over 153 media companies have been shut down since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom organization called the new set of guidelines “spine-chilling” and added that some of them might seem reasonable, as they include an obligation to respect “the truth” and not “distort the content of the information”. On the other hand, the reality is that these rules are  “extremely dangerous because they opened the way to censorship and persecution.”

 The Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based press freedom organization, helps to track violence against journalists by the Taliban and protects Afghan reporters by providing emergency responses.

While many gaps exist in the new set of guidelines, journalists will have to continue their work by coordinating with the government media office.