Afghanistan Times
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By Farhad Naibkhel-KABUL: Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah says that nobody has the right to create barrier ahead of media across the country.
“No one has the right to call to media outlets and push them to censor publication and broadcasting,” Abdullah said Tuesday on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day.
Though the government has failed to fulfill commitments regarding media, but efforts will be held to address challenge faced by media throughout the country, Abdullah added.
He said: “As press freedom day celebrated under the motto of ‘It is the right of you to have access to information’, the government would remain committed to support media to have access information.”
Pointing to media responsibility, the chief executive asked media to prioritize national interests in their reports.
Culture minister Abdul Bari Jahani called media achievements the most important gain, saying that the ministry would make efforts to further foster the movement.
Plan is underway to address challenges particularly security issues faced journalists, he added.
Mujeeb Khelwatgar from the media supporting organization, Nai, said that media faces information limits, blaming the government for inattention.
He called security challenge another barrier ahead of the media, saying that 117 security cases against media were registered since May, 2005. “These include 12 killing cases, which revealed 33 percent increase of insecurity threat for journalists.”
“Lack of budget is another problem for media, and 157 media organization closed due to lack of financial support in the past two years across the country,” he added.
He highlighted that no media outlets were closed due to insecurity, but some were due to lack of budget in the country.
If the financial issue not solved, Afghanistan will be witness of closing of more media organs, he noted.
Media outlets operation is improving day by day, but grounds are limited day by day, so it is essential to the related organs to pave better ground for further progress of media across the country, he underlined.
