“[Media] is very vulnerable, comparing with other things like schools, like universities, even like telecommunication systems and infrastructures. So the main concern is that if the Taliban is coming, what would be the discipline of the freedom of expression and those who are working with it?”
More than a month before the US withdrawal led to the collapse of the country, Center for Media at Risk Postdoctoral Fellow Richard Stupart spoke with media activists Najiba Ayubi and Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar about what the future may hold for Afghan media practitioners. Foreshadowing some of what was to come, they reflect on the dangers of the Taliban as they appeared at the time and the importance of international support if a meaningful public sphere is to survive in Afghanistan post-withdrawal. Overtaken by events as they actually happened, the podcast is a reminder of how unthinkable complete abandonment was to Afghan media leaders only a month before.
Najiba Ayubi is Managing Director of The Killid Group, a non-profit media network that includes two of Afghanistan’s most popular magazines (Killid Weekly and Mursal Weekly) and eight radio stations with a total of 12 million listeners.
Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar is a veteran journalist of 23 years and Managing Director of NAI, one of Afghanistan’s largest media development and journalist training organizations.
Richard Stupart is a postdoctoral fellow working on the practices and normative ethics of journalism of conflict. His current work explores the work of journalists reporting on conflict and its effects in Sudan, where he is interested in the role of affect/emotion and tactics of coping with risk by journalists working in conflict contexts, as well as practical ethical tensions that occur while reporting on the effects of the country’s war. Follow him on Twitter @wheretheroad
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