The freedom of press has always been bad and now it going on a downward spiral. Although censorship is strict and punishment is severe in Afghanistan, reporters are self-censoring because their lives are at risk if they don't report what the government approves. Human right groups in Afghanistan have been pushing reporters to defy the odds.
According to www. stripes.com, "A 50-page report released by Human Rights Watch said Afghan journalists — who have grown in number since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 — say they face increasing threats not only from insurgents but also from corrupt government officials."
Also according to the BBC Profile of Afghanistan, laws ban material that is deemed to be against Islamic law and some private stations have angered religious conservatives. TV stations self-censor, and often partially-pixelate images of women.
The media of Afghanistan is under an intense Microsoft and it basically whatever the government says, goes. Reporters who have failed to comply with Afghanistan's policies have been beaten or murdered. Also like many countries money and power influences what the media can and cannot show. According to a report founded by the Human Right Watch, powerful individuals bypass the media violations commission, going to the attorney general’s office to seek legal action against journalists whose stories they don’t like. The Information and Culture Ministry, meanwhile, “has served largely as a cudgel to intimidate the press.”
The Human Rights Watch is nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of roughly 400 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Also the organization seeks to press for changes in policy and practice that promote human rights and justice around the world.
Since the Afghanistan War the media had been protected by foreign military but now that conflicts are winding down the press have grown more fearful of repercussions. Attacks on journalists by Taliban insurgents often go unpunished, the report found, indicating “wider impunity and failure to establish the rule of law” in the country. The Taliban have gone as far as to threaten to kill a journalist's family if he decided to cover the 2014 election. being a reporter in a country where you can be killed for writing the truth can be very dangerous.
It is hard to disobey the media rules or "fly under the radar"in a country that owns so many media outlets. According to www.nationmaster.com, " Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), operates a series of radio and television stations in Kabul and the provinces; an estimated 175 private radio stations, 8 TV networks, and about a dozen international broadcasters are available". Afghanistan has a long way before their reporters can report the truth without repercussions. According to Freedom House.org, Afghanistan's media since 2011 is not free and severely strict as we see how many reporters get killed just for reporting something they had no permission to.
*Pic of reporters outside of a bombing site