Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT News Report
KABUL: A number of reporters covering parliament events, accuse the nation house’s secretariat of censorship and hide some important matters from media.
These journalists say they haven’t been allowed to go inside the main hall for 10 days, and security officials ban them from entering the media center.
They have to wait just outside the building for hours for the lawmakers to come out and answer their questions.
Zabihullah Zaher, a reporter from Shamshad TV, said Monday that he was not allowed to cover the events from inside the hall for more than a week, as parliament secretariat make censors for the events and ban journalists from entering the hall.
“We have been waiting outside the parliament building for 10 days so that the MPs come out and answer our questions. We don’t know what is going on in the parliament sessions,” said Zaher.
The parliament TV channel has no broadcasting from parliament conversations either.
The ban came after legislators failed to elect a speaker and the election was led to verbal and physical tensions among the newcomers.
Some parliament members believe that journalists have the right to enter the hall and cover the events.
“If this situation continues far from media representatives, I think our sessions will face more impasses. If journalists are present, some MPs will avoid talking about some issues,” said Fatema Aziz, a member of parliament who hails from Kunduz province.
