In the Tolo News office, the action is constant from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, the hours when the news does not stop flowing on the screen. The most important information channel in Afghanistan, with offices in all 34 provinces, adapts to work under the Emirate, but “keeping our two red lines very clear: do not lie and do not broadcast Taliban propaganda. The day they force us to do so, we will disappear from the antenna because we continue to report with this government, we tell facts, ”says Hekmat Safi, attached to the direction of this private television that belongs to the Moby Group.
When the Islamists regained power, few thought that Tolo would survive, but a year later they have not lost a single broadcast day. The Kabul headquarters is shielded by concrete walls and you have to pass two checkpoints to reach the newsroom, which is hidden in a building with boarded up windows. All bomb proof, proof of the attacks to which this channel was subjected by the same Taliban who are now in government. In 2016, Tolo suffered the loss of six employees in a suicide attack on the bus that was taking them to work.
“The Ministry of Information imposes very vague guidelines, such as that you cannot broadcast Islamic State (IS) propaganda or content that threatens national security, the same thing that happened before, but there is nothing concrete, they do not give us precise orders. and so everything is left to your interpretation. They want us to censor ourselves,” says Safi, who came to the channel after the change of regime, like most of the current employees.
One thing that is prohibited is the coverage of attacks and explosions and that is why, after the United States operation against Ayman Al Zawahiri, which occurred a few meters from the newsroom, they could not remove the cameras. Other restrictions on the media come from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which has banned the broadcast of fiction series, a direct blow to the Moby Group’s entertainment-oriented channels. In March, the Taliban detained three employees for reporting this ban and spent 24 hours in jail.
The staff is made up of ninety workers, of whom twenty-five are women. The youth of the staff and the presence of women in key positions are striking, “a management decision to respond to the constant restrictions imposed by the Taliban in all aspects of life, including journalism,” reports Safi.
“I dream of having a normal life again”
Sonia Niazi, 22, is in charge of giving the news summary every hour. A few minutes before her turn, she puts on her veil and mask before going out on camera, it is not because of the coronavirus, it is because the Islamists force journalists to continue covering their faces with masks. She has been in Tolo for four months and for her «before it was a pleasure to come to work, but now with her mask it is a martyrdom. I dream of the day that she can break the news that Afghanistan is back to how it was with the previous government, that we will have a normal life and freedom of education and expression for women. I will give that news without a mask, of course.
When the newsletter ends, he leaves the set and the first thing he does is show his face and smile. No one knows how long this situation will last or what the authorities’ next steps will be, but Niazi is “tired of the words of support and compassion from the international community, it’s time for action, for someone to do something to end this situation. Words are unnecessary”.
Niazi is in charge of informing, Aisha Sharifi is at the control table and Madina Morwat is in charge of selecting the topics in the newsroom. She has been working as a journalist for six years and affirms, without hesitation, that “we have never had so many problems accessing information like now.” She combines office work with reporting, which is her true passion, and warns that “despite all the difficulties we are going to continue, I became a journalist to give voice to Afghan women, always so repressed, and I am not going to leave it” .
#Report #gaze #Taliban #killer