Afghanistan IKM Leipzig

The Afghanistan special collection is developed by the "Afghanistan Media System and Public Spheres" Project at Leipzig University, Germany. Six exiled academics from Afghanistan are researching the Afghan media landscape from 2001 to the present day, in order to shed light on current developments in their home country from a communication science perspective.

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Media and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 5 pp.

"Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan media sector has experienced dramatic growth in all areas: television, radio, print, internet, mobile phones. As such, the sector holds tremendous potential for making significant contributions to peacebuilding in the country. However, the media sec ... more

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Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines

Richard Lance Keeble, John Mair (eds.)

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Arima Publishing (2010), x, 295 pp.

"This book explores the journalism coming out of the Afghan war from the frontline and from the greater comfort of the library. It is an unusual hybrid: the testimony of some of the best frontline correspondents of our era, much of it placed in appropriate historical contexts, alongside detailed aca ... demic analysis – and much more. It ranges from the poppy fields of Helmand province to New York via the Iraq War and the modern rebirth of “embedding”. It mixes action, reflection and analysis and focuses on some of under-reported groups such as women and the humanitarian effort in Afghanistan. It has its origin in a conference in Coventry in March 2010 put on as part of the university’s Coventry Conversations series (with financial support from the Pro Vice-Chancellor and the Dean of Business) in conjunction with the BBC College of Journalism and journalism.co.uk (the website forum for digitally active journalists). All of that conference can be seen and heard on bbc.co.uk/journalism and Coventry.ac.uk/itunesu. Many of the contributors to this book took part in that conference though some extra pieces have been specially commissioned. The war in Afghanistan will soon be coming up to its tenth anniversary. Operation Enduring Freedom started on 7 October 2001 as a response to the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Freedom in Afghanistan has far from endured in that decade. There are today 100,000-plus US troops, 10,000-plus British troops and 17,000 from ISAF allies – including Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Canada. US intelligence admit that there are now fewer than 100 al-Qaeda (the reason for invading in the first place) fighters left in the country and that the Taliban could fight on for ever. British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons on 14 June 2010 after his return from his first official visit to Afghanistan that it was only the presence of the ISAF troops that kept al-Qaeda from returning to Afghanistan in numbers. The West is fighting a phantom and desperately searching for an exit strategy. The trouble is they will leave behind an Afghan government scarred by illegitimacy, corruption and more. The Killing Fields will continue for a while yet. Journalism has escaped comparatively lightly – just nine Western journalists killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Like all big stories, this war has attracted the cream of British journalistic talent especially the broadcast reporters. TV awards have been won on the field of battle by the new Brahmins – the war corrs parachuted in and out of Helmand. The idea for the conference and for the book took hold when I judged the Royal Television Society News Programme of the Year Awards for 2009. All entries featured front line action from their stars. Many of them have contributed to this book." (Pages 3-4) more

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Can You Help me Now? Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

Sheldon Himelfarb, Cecilia Paradi-Guilford

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 15 pp.

"A decade ago, mobile phone usage in Afghanistan was almost nonexistent; now there are 13 million subscriptions for a total of 29 million citizens, and the annual growth rate of subscription is estimated at 53 percent. A number of factors have fueled this dramatic increase, including the sheer popul ... more

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Afghan Media in 2010: Synthesis Report

Eric Davin, Philibert de Mercey, Carlotta Tincati, Kinga Komorowska, Arezo Malakooti, Sébastien Duhaut

Altai Consulting;USAID (2010), 178 pp.

"In 2004-2005, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Transition Initiatives commissioned Altai Consulting to conduct the first comprehensive media evaluation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, looking at the impact of the Afghan media on opinions and behav ... iors three years after the beginning of the country’s reconstruction. The evaluation found, among other things: that Afghans were avid and sophisticated media users and that cultural barriers to media use were less significant than previously expected; that the radio played a predominant role throughout the country; and that media are instrumental in social progress and education. However, since publication of that report1, Afghanistan’s media sector has seen important changes. To inform future assistance from the international community to the Afghan media, it was deemed necessary to assess the current state of the Afghan media – by reflecting a full and accurate audience profile, to determine program preferences, to measure the impact of the Afghan media on local opinions and behaviors and to gauge Afghan expectations in terms of programming and messaging. A large-scale research project was thus planned and conducted from March to August 2010. This research included a deep probe into the media sector and the public’s behaviors and expectations. The methodology used to achieved this included a combination of: literature review; direct observations; key informant interviews with most relevant actors involved in the media sector; 6,648 close-ended interviews in more than 900 towns and villages of 106 districts, covering all 34 provinces of the country; an audience survey on more than 1,500 individuals run daily for a week; about 200 qualitative, open-ended interviews; and 10 community case studies. Such an effort guarantees that results presented here are fairly representative of the Afghan population at large. This document provides a comprehensive synthesis of data collected during the survey. A database of media actors, 16 priority district reports, 10 case study reports, a complete description of the methodology and the original datasets from the main quantitative research and the audience research are publicly available, allowing anyone interested to access more focused information as needed." (Introduction, page 8) more

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The War in Afghanistan and Peace Journalism in Practice

Rune Ottosen

Media, War & Conflict, volume 3, issue 3 (2010), pp. 261-278

"This article argues that Johan Galtung’s theory on peace journalism can serve as a fruitful supplement to theory-building in the field of war and peace journalism, and critically reviews the scholarly debate on peace journalism. By using examples from Norwegian media coverage of the war in Afghan ... more

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Afghanistan Media Assessment: Opportunities and Challenges for Peacebuilding

Eran Fraenkel, Emrys Shoemaker, Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 40 pp.

"[...] International donor support for Afghanistan's media has had two primary goals. The short-term goal has been to counteract the effects of insurgent communications in order to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. The long-term goal has been to create a free and independent media secto ... r that will continue to function after donor support has ended. Although millions of dollars have been invested in the development of the Afghan media sector and the growth of private media since 2001 is considered one of Afghanistan's greatest success stories, neither of these donor goals is being met. Donor support for Afghan media has led to the growth of radio and television outlets that are almost entirely dependent on foreign funding - direct and indirect. Recent strategic communications policies have neither diminished nor adequately countered the presence of extremist voices in Afghanistan. Despite some examples to the contrary, Taliban communications continue to affect the lives of ordinary Afghans, whereas many communications by and from Western sources do not. Neither short- nor mid-term analysis of the Afghan economy - ranked the third poorest in the world by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - foresees the growth of a market able to sustain Afghanistan's domestic media sector without foreign financing. The limited impact of Western communications endeavors, in conjunction with the predicted continued weakness of the Afghan economy, reveals an urgent need for a dramatic shift in the media strategies and goals pursued by the United States and its allies. First and foremost, donors should invest primarily in the Afghan media's production and dissemination of socially constructive contents rather than in building media institutions or infrastructure that the Afghan economy cannot support. For these contents to be received as authentic and credible, they must reflect the vulnerabilities and priorities that Afghans themselves have identified as vital. Donors should make a multiyear funding commitment to the media in Afghanistan. Support should be allocated to both terrestrial and wireless media through a transparent and competitive process developed jointly by donors and Afghan media experts. Aggressively supporting the dissemination of socially constructive contents through new outlets will permit access to both geographic and demographic segments of the population not adequately served by current media outlets." (Summary, page 3) more

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Media Development in Afghanistan

Massoumeh Torfeh

Media Development, issue 1 (2009), pp. 39-44

"The international community entered Afghanistan in December 2001 to oust the Taliban. It promised reconstruction, development and democratisation. At the time, the trauma of 25 years of war had left civil society in Afghanistan shattered and the media had become mere tools in the hands of the dicta ... more

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The Impact of the BBC World Service Trust's Programme Afghan Woman's Hour: Results from a National Survey in Afghanistan

Andy Bhanot, Emily LeRoux-Rutledge

Safia Haleem (ed.)

Kabul: BBC World Service Trust (2009), 68 pp.

"1. Overall awareness of Afghan Woman’s Hour (AWH) in Afghanistan was found to be high; 50% of all those who had listened to the radio in the previous month were aware of AWH. Awareness was higher in the South Western region at 64% compared with the lowest level of awareness at 23% in the Hazarjat ... more

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SkillCity Master Trainers Manual on Investigative Journalism with a Focus on Accountability and Transparency in Afghanistan

Wali Zahid

Kabul: Saba Media Organisation (2009), 143 pp.

"This guide, compiled with the most updated sources at the time of going to press in early 2009, will take you step by step towards becoming an effective investigative journalist, gaining and practicing the necessary skills and thus gaining the self-confidence required to do a job that is both effec ... more

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Freie Medien für ein liberales Afghanistan: Demokratisierung durch Journalismusförderung zwischen Theorie und Praxis

Maike Albrecht

Stuttgart: VDM Verlag Müller (2008), 106 pp.

"Die Arbeit untersucht, welche Rolle die Medien für die Demokratisierung des von 24 Jahren Krieg zerstörten Landes spielen können. Vor allem internationale Hilfsorganisationen sind gefordert, die aufkeimende afghanische Presse auf dem Weg zu Demokratie und Freiheit zu begleiten. Nach theoretische ... more

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Media and Conflict: Afghanistan as a Relative Success Story

Yll Bajraktari, Christina Parajon

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2008), 8 pp.

"The development of media in post-Taliban Afghanistan has been relatively successful (compared with both the Taliban regime and other countries subject to international intervention) in establishing free and responsible expression despite the lack of electricity, harsh terrain, absence of viable med ... more

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Democracy or Polyarchy? US-Funded Media Developments in Afghanistan and Iraq Post 9/11

Michael J. Barker

Media, Culture & Society, volume 30, issue 1 (2008), pp. 109-130

"This paper has demonstrated that the benefits for the general Afghan and Iraqi public derived from the ‘promotion of independent media’ by institutions like the NED are questionable, especially for parties interested in encouraging more deliberative or participatory forms of democracy. Instead, ... more

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Media for Democracy in Afghanistan: A Handbook for Journalists

Sukumar Muralidharan (ed.)

Bruxelles: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) (2008), 28 pp.

"The purpose of this handbook is to lay out some principles that could function as guideposts for journalists in Afghanistan as they seek to grapple with the evolving complexities of democracy in action. It seeks to provide concrete suggestions on how global best practices in political reporting and ... more

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Growth Under Adversity: Afghanistan Press Freedom Report 2007-2008

Sukumar Muralidharan (ed.)

Redfern; Kabul: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific;Afghan Independent Journalists' Association (AIJA) (2008), 19 pp.

"Independent media have expanded and diversified in Afghanistan, though the country remains a precarious and hazardous place for journalists and media organisations. Nine journalists have been killed between January 1, 2007 and the writing of these lines (though one case remains a little unclear), w ... more

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Afghanistan Media Survey

D3 Systems;ACSOR-Surveys;BBC Trust (2008), 30 pp.

"BBC listenership in Afghanistan remains strong and the station has retained a strong brand presence. BBC radio is among the most listened to stations in Afghanistan. Over half (57%) of adults had listened within the past week at the time of the survey in January 2008. 75% of the population claimed ... more

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Die Projekte der DW-Akademie in Afghanistan: Medien stärken heißt Demokratie fördern

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2007), 39 pp.

"Als Partner des staatlichen Rundfunks Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) leistet der Auslandssender Deutsche Welle (DW) einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Demokratisierungsprozess in Afganistan. Denn freie, unabhängige und verlässliche Medien sind in einer Demokratie unverzichtbar. Sie versorgen die Men ... more

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Development On-Air: Women's Radio Production in Afghanistan

Sarah Kamal

Gender & Development, volume 15, issue 3 (2007), pp. 399-411

"This case study investigates the launch of a women’s radio station in Herat, Afghanistan, in October 2003. It follows four women journalists’ struggles in balancing the demands of a highly conservative culture on the one hand, and the objectives of their Canadian journalism trainers on the othe ... more

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Wanted, Dead or Alive: Media Frames, Frame Adoption, and Support for the War in Afghanistan

Jill A. Edy, Patrick C. Meirick

Journal of Communication, volume 57, issue 1 (2007), pp. 119-141

"This paper attempts to measure the impact of naturally occurring media frames on public support for a policy. Content analysis of network nightly news during late October of 2001 reveals that U.S. media framed the events of September 11 in terms of both war and crime. A concurrent survey of 328 Ten ... more

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Journalism Afghan Style: Afghanistans Medienlandschaft und ihre Besonderheiten

Merjam Wakili

Berlin: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin (wvb) (2007), 212 pp.

"Wie arbeiten Journalisten in einem Land wie Afghanistan? Wie sah und vor allem wie sieht die Medienlandschaft und die Pressefreiheit in dem vom Krieg geschundenen Land am Hindukusch aus? Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert Antworten zu diesen bisher von der Forschung komplett vernachlässigten Fragen. D ... more

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Medienpolitik in Post-Konfliktstaaten: Beiträge zum politischen Wiederaufbau am Beispiel von Afghanistan

Mariam Tutakhel

Duisburg: Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden (INEF) (2006), 44 pp.

"Die Annahme, dass eine kontrollierte Presse das Ziel einer Förderung demokratischer Strukturen immer ad absurdum führe, darf vor dem Hintergrund einer politischen Ausnahmesituation nach einem bewaffneten Konflikt durchaus hinterfragt werden. Die in diesem Zusammenhang geführte Diskussion über M ... more