Tolo, the main channel in Afghanistan, survives the emirate’s first year and places women in key positions to respond to restrictions imposed by the Taliban
In the Tolo News office, the action is constant from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., the hours when the news doesn’t stop streaming on the screen. The main information channel in Afghanistan, with offices in all 34 provinces, is adjusting to operate under the emirate, but “keeping our two red lines very clear: don’t lie and don’t broadcast Taliban propaganda. The day they force us to do so, we will disappear because we continue to report with this government, we tell the facts,” said Hekmat Safi, who directs this private television owned by the Moby Group.
When the Islamists returned to power, few thought Tolo would survive, but a year later, they have not lost a single broadcast day. Kabul’s headquarters is shielded by concrete walls, and you must pass two checkpoints to reach the newsroom, which is hidden in a building with boarded-up windows. All bombproof, proof of the attacks this canal was subjected to by the same Taliban who are now in government. In 2016, Tolo lost six employees in a suicide bombing on the bus that took them to work.
“The Ministry of Information imposes very vague guidelines such as not to broadcast Islamic State (IS) propaganda or content that threatens national security, the same as 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,” said Safi, who, like most current employees, came to the station after the regime change.
One thing that is forbidden is the coverage of attacks and explosions and that is why, after the United States operation against Ayman Al Zawahiri, which took place 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 broadcasting of fictional series, a direct blow to the Moby Group’s entertainment-focused channels. In March, the Taliban arrested three workers for reporting the ban and spent 24 hours in jail.
The workforce consists of ninety employees, twenty-five of whom 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.
Sonia Niazi, 22, is responsible for providing the news feed every hour. A few minutes before her shift, she puts on her veil and mask before going in front of the camera, it’s not because of the coronavirus, it’s because the Islamists are forcing journalists to keep covering their faces with masks. She has been in Tolo for four months and for her it was “before a pleasure to come to work, but now with the mask it is a martyrdom. I dream of the day when I can bring the news that Afghanistan is back to the way it was with the previous government that we will have a normal life again and freedom of education and expression for women I will of course give that news without a mask.
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 is time for action, for someone to do something to stop this situation. Words are superfluous”.
Niazi is responsible for briefing, Aisha Sharifi is at the control desk and Madina Morwat is responsible for selecting the topics in the newsroom. She has been working as a journalist for six years and without hesitation confirms that “we have never had as many problems accessing information as we have now.” She combines office work with reporting, which is her true passion, warning that “despite all the difficulties we will continue to face, I became a journalist to give a voice to Afghan women, always so oppressed, and I will not leave it. ” .
Source: La Verdad
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