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Understanding and Addressing Mis-/Disinformation in the Afghan Media Ecosystem

Internews (2024), 21 pp.

"This report summarizes Internews’ six-month social media monitoring research conducted in 2023 that aimed to better understand the online mis- and disinformation environment in Afghanistan. [...] The first phase of the study revealed key aspects of Afghanistan's digital information landscape. The ... research found four common narratives around mis- and disinformation including the Taliban/Taliban de facto authorities’ threat to human and minority rights, loss of self-rule, the Taliban de facto authorities’ legitimacy as a governing body, and opposition to their governance. Most of the associated mis- and disinformation associated with these narratives originated from the Afghan diaspora. The research also found a gender imbalance in the digital discourse, with male-dominated discussions and limited female participation. Gender narratives on social media are mostly driven by men, often portraying women passively, and include disinformation tactics by the Taliban de facto authorities, such as falsely showing women's support for oppressive policies. Anti-Taliban sentiments included former government figures who significantly shape digital discourse and contribute to spreading disinformation including exaggerations or fabrications of the authorities’ actions. However, alongside anti-Taliban sentiments, there was a notable pro-Taliban commentary endorsing their governance and presenting them in favourable ways. Our findings for the second phase reveal several troubling trends. Many news stories feature clickbait or misleading headlines that don't align with the actual content. A significant problem is the presentation of unverified information as fact, which fosters public mistrust. Approximately 40% of false news stories lack sources, and over half rely on just a single source, affecting the depth and reliability of reporting. Additionally, there is a tendency to use sensational headlines and emotionally charged content to increase engagement, often sacrificing factual accuracy. The rapid spread of misinformation is also facilitated by exploiting audience behaviours on social media. Afghan media, particularly those dependent on donor funding, struggle to balance accurate reporting with the need for high audience engagement. Complex reporting dynamics in Afghanistan include protecting sources, relying on second-hand information, and the difficulty of verifying claims made on social media. While some media outlets endeavour to use diverse sources, the challenges of fact verification and maintaining reporting integrity persist. The report recommends establishing fact-checking initiatives, promoting digital literacy, and ethical journalism practices. For media outlets, transparency, audience engagement, and balance are key. Meanwhile, donors should prioritize funding for independent media, invest in technology, and support capacity building and collaborative reporting initiatives." (Executive summary, page 3) more

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Unpacking Affective Polarization in Afghanistan: Ethnic Politics, Elite Competition, and Online Divisive Content

Mohammad Qasim Wafayezada

Tokyo: Toda Peace Institute (2024), 25 pp.

"Affective polarization has been a persistent feature of Afghanistan’s society and politics in the past decades. However, with the instantaneous collapse of the republic’s government and the return of the Taliban, the country has witnessed heightened affective polarization along ethnic and ideol ... more

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Impacts of Social Media on Public Policy Development in pre-Taliban Afghanistan

Hazrat Bahar

Global Media Journal - German Edition, volume 13, issue 2 (2023), 19 pp.

"The impacts of media, mainly social media, have attracted greater scholarly attention. However, their effects on public policy development and the decision-making procedure of a government have not been examined so far. Thus, this study examines such effects in pre-Taliban Afghanistan before August ... more

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Policy Paper: Unpacking Content Moderation in Pashto and Dari

Shmyla Khan et al.

Meedan;Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) (2022), 25 pp.

"Content moderation at scale is an extremely complicated issue, however by looking at specific examples such as the case studies and data highlighted in this study, the conversation can start to take into account more diverse experiences and context that is normally overlooked. Emerging from these e ... more

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"When the Battle's Lost and Won:" Narratives of Peace in the Afghan Film 'A War'

Axel Heck

Peace & Change, volume 45, issue 1 (2020), pp. 101-125

"This article examines the ways in which cinematic film underscores the latency of structural violence in its visualization of peace, specifically through the juxtaposition of the life world of the two main protagonists in the Danish film A War (2016): Captain Claus Pedersen who serves as a Danish s ... more

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Afghanistan-Pakistan Media Affairs: Challenges and Opportunities

Rahimullah Yusufzai

Islamabad: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) (2019), 34 pp.

"The media in Afghanistan and Pakistan has never been so large, vibrant and independent. It has attained unimaginable power and become a key player in politics and other walks of life. Media is the fourth pillar of the state and democracy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan in the true sense of the wor ... more

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Das Theater der Unterdrückten und Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung in Afghanistan: Kollektive Ermächtigung und neue Dependenzen

Hjalmar Jorge Joffre-Eichhorn

Peripherie, volume 37, issue 1 (2017), pp. 52-75

"Seit März 2007 organisieren lokale und internationale Aktivist*innen in verschiedenen Teilen Afghanistans beinah täglich Aktivitäten mit den unterschiedlichen Techniken des Theaters der Unterdrückten (TdU) des Brasilianers Augusto Boal (1931-2009) sowie anderen emanzipatorischen Theatermethoden ... more

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Implicit Counterinsurgency: Media, Development and Security in Afghanistan

Nicholas Ross Zevely

George Washington University, Master Thesis (2016), iv, 69 pp.

"This paper focuses on post-September 11, 2001 media assistance in Afghanistan at the confluence of the development and defense sectors, otherwise known as the security-development nexus. It is out of this nexus that a burgeoning press-state system developed amid an ongoing conflict between the Gove ... more

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"Stop Reporting or We'll Kill Your Family": Threats to Media Freedom in Afghanistan

Patricia Gossman

New York: Human Rights Watch (2015), 45 pp.

"Afghan journalists face threats from all sides: government officials exploiting weak legal protections to intimidate reporters and editors to compel them not to cover controversial topics; the Taliban and other insurgent groups using threats and violence to compel reporting they consider favorable; ... and police and justice officials letting threats, assaults, and even murders go uninvestigated and unprosecuted. Most of the threats come from individuals acting on behalf of powerful government officials or influential local actors, including militia leaders and so-called warlords. Violent attacks on journalists that go uninvestigated and unpunished reflect wider impunity and failure to establish the rule of law in Afghanistan. Afghan journalists often respond to the dangers with self-censorship. Many steer clear of reporting on sensitive issues—including corruption, land grabbing, violence against women, and human rights abuses—as a means to minimize safety risks. Kabul-based editors often avoid assigning stories that could put their reporters at significant risk. Editors and journalists told Human Rights Watch that self-censorship has become a survival mechanism for them. Those outside of the country’s main cities are especially vulnerable to reprisals from powerful individuals and groups because they are more exposed: they lack the protection provided by a larger Afghan media and international presence. The cultural and social conservatism of the provinces also contributes to the difficulty of reporting on controversial issues outside of the capital. The Taliban and other insurgent groups remain a potent source of intimidation and violence against journalists and media outlets. When the insurgency first emerged in 2002, journalists were among its early targets because the insurgents treated journalists as extensions of the Afghan government or Western military forces. However, in recent years, the Taliban and other insurgent groups have used the media as a propaganda platform, and actively court the press in their campaign against the government, including by pressuring reporters to cover their statements or not write articles deemed critical, sometimes with threats of violence. Female journalists in Afghanistan face particularly formidable challenges. In addition to the dangers facing all journalists, they must contend with social and cultural restrictions arising from being Afghan women in the workplace, which limit their mobility in urban as well as rural areas, and increase their vulnerability to sexual violence." (Summary, page 1-2) more

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Ein Fall für Kommissar Amanullah. Justizaufbau mit Fernsehkrimis: Westliche Entwicklungsfachleute rümpfen die Nase, doch in den Wohnzimmern in Kabul kommt die Botschaft an

Dorn Townsend

welt-sichten, 26. Juni (2014)

"Seit einigen Jahren zeigt das afghanische Fernsehen zahlreiche Krimis und Dokumentationen von Gerichtsprozessen. Sie werden von Afghanen produziert, aber aus dem Ausland finanziert, unter anderem von der Europäischen Kommission, den Vereinten Nationen und der US-amerikanischen Entwicklungsagentur ... more

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On Media, Social Movements, and Uprisings: Lessons from Afghanistan, Its Neighbors, and Beyond

Wazhmah Osman

Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, volume 39, issue 4 (2014), pp. 874-887

"From Tehran to Tahrir Square to Gezi Park-to mention only three key sites of protest made prominent in 2013-social media has been lauded as one of the key factors enabling popular uprisings and social movements. This has provided further hype for new or digital media, which were already being toute ... more

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Medien und Öffentlichkeit im Demokratisierungsprozess in Afghanistan: Die Transformation des Staatssenders Radio Television Afghanistan in einen öffentlichen Sender

Merjam Wakili

Berlin; Münster: Lit (2013), 365 pp.

"Der Fokus ist auf die angestrebte Umwandlung des Staatssenders Radio Television Afghanistan in einen öffentlichen Sender gerichtet. In Experteninterviews mit Vertretern dreier relevanter Akteursgruppen und einer schriftlichen Rezipientenbefragung wurde unter anderem herausgefunden, dass RTA eine h ... more

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Strategic Communications in Afghanistan’s Transition Context

Jamil Seddiqui

Swansea: Swansea University, Thesis (2012), v, 64 pp.

"Following a decade of extensive international involvement and arduous fighting, Afghanistan is currently going through a significant Transition intended to enable Afghans to assume responsibility for their own security, development and governance. In addition to opportunities, this process provides ... significant challenges to the Afghan society and its development partners. This study raises awareness of the role and potential of strategic communications to address some of these challenges and aid Afghanistan’s Transition objectives beyond the timeframe set for 2014. In treatment of this topic, this study provides a theoretical and historical overview of communication for development, Afghanistan’s pre- and post-2001 situation with reference to the use of important channels of modern and traditional communications, and examines pertinent perspectives on the importance of strategic communications, particularly in strengthening Afghanistan’s Transition context. In addition, this study focuses on the contribution of strategic communication in non-security matters, particularly governance and peace promotion, and identifies some major challenges where the potential of strategic communications to contribute has remained underexploited. Drawing on these discussions, the results indicates that, in spite of some measures put to the fore, the Afghan government lacks an overarching strategic communications framework integrating multi-media, multi-outlet and public outreach to help in achieving the Transition goal; a stable Afghan state. Pointing clearly to the need for such an integrated campaign, the dissemination of negative perspectives, such as that suggesting that Afghanistan would collapse after 2004, has given space to insurgents propaganda, a challenge which can be addressed through effective strategic communications. In the conclusions, this study argues on the importance of strategic communications as an strategic tool to aid Afghanistan development agenda particularly in the Transition context and presents some practical recommendations to the Afghan government and its deployment partners for effective use of strategic communications in view of a holistic approach aimed the strengthening development of Afghanistan and particularly the Transition process." (Abstract) more

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Designs, Devices and Development: Audience Research as Creative Resource in the Making of an Afghan Radio Drama

Andrew Skuse, Marie Gillespie

Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, volume 8, issue 1 (2011), pp. 132-153

"This essay analyses the role of audience research as a change agent in media development interventions in Afghanistan. It analyses how audience research in transnational contexts involves a complex set of intercultural negotiations and translations that contribute to the enduring relevance and sust ... ainability of the highly popular Afghan radio soap opera New Home, New Life. This is a ‘development drama’ that has been broadcast across Afghanistan since 1993. It is based on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and produced by BBC Afghan Education Projects (BBC AEP). Audience research has been vital to forging a dynamic relationship between the creative teams who make the drama, the donors who pay for it, and the audiences who consume it. The article addresses three broad themes. First, we outline how data gathered in formative audience research, prior to the creation of the drama, provides the creative team with the dramatic raw material for the radio serial. The extensive qualitative data gathered by Afghan researchers in local milieux is translated so as to enable culturally diverse teams of writers and producers to ground the serial narratives in the lived experiences of its audiences, and to introduce multiple local perspectives on development issues. Second, we show how evaluative audience research, data gathered in the postproduction phase, plays a key role in providing critical audience interpretations of New Home, New Life’s dramatic themes. In so doing, it creates feedback loops that allow audiences to become active participants in the ongoing creation of the drama. The research designs and devices, developed over the last two decades to document the changing life-worlds of Afghan citizens-cum-audiences, are part of an ongoing set of transcultural encounters that contribute to strengthening the social realist appeal of the drama and to calibrating how far any given storyline can be pushed in terms of cultural propriety. Third, we examine how during periods of military conflict, when routine audience research becomes dangerous or impossible and audience feedback loops are disrupted, the writers and producers have to rely on their own personal and political experiences, often with unpredictable ideological consequences. We draw attention to the limitations and challenges of making dramas for development in highly charged politicised and postcolonial contexts. While, development dramas may be a cheap and effective way of dealing with certain informational needs, such as landmine awareness, they cannot redress social and structural inequalities or, as Western donors wish, eradicate opium cultivation." (Abstract) more

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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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Kabul, Teheran 1979ff: Filmlandschaften, Städte unter Stress und Migration

Sandra Schäfer, Jochen Becker, Madeleine Bernstorff

Berlin: b_books (2006), 395 pp.

"1979: Im Iran wird der Schah gestürzt, die islamische Republik entsteht; parallel eskaliert mit dem sowjetischen Einmarsch der Bürgerkrieg in Afghanistan. Bilder über Afghanistan waren seither zumeist Bilder der Zerstörung. Diesen Außenansichten setzt ›Kabul/ Teheran 1979 ff‹ Perspektiven ... more

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Print Islam: Media and Religious Revolution in Afghanistan

David B. Edwards

Anthropological Quarterly, volume 68, issue 3 (1995), pp. 171-184

"This article considers the role of three forms of print media in the development of radical Islamic political ideology and organization in Afghanistan. Through an examination of newspapers, pamphlets, and magazines, the article considers the way in which textual forms have supplemented ideological ... more