"The GeoPoll Afghanistan Media Audience Landscape Establishment Survey comprised of 2,000 Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) with respondents across the country, conducted in from December 2023 to January 2024. Based on the survey data, approximately 67% of the adult Afghan population wat
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ch television at least once a month." (Page 2)
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"Within the complex media and educational landscape of Afghanistan, characterized by the takeover by the de facto authorities, a study of the current Media-Based education was facilitated by the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Union (AIJU) and Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) with the support o
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f UNESCO. The study aims to understand the current media landscape in the country particularly the creation and distribution of educational content. It has the objective of assessing the current context of consumption of educational content published on different media platforms, with a special focus on their accessibility and relevance for the communities, mapping the broadcast and digital learning environment within the country and of evaluating the needs of the communities. Aligned with UNESCO’s mission to promote freedom of expression and education, this research investigates the potential of media to provide alternative opportunities and tools for learning. The resulting report “Media Mapping on Educational Content Production and Dissemination in Afghanistan” provides narratives and perspectives of those working in the media sector, including media managers, who are working under very challenging conditions. It reflects the communities’ experiences, including those of girls - who face significant barriers and restrictions in accessing traditional educational opportunities. The report provides valuable insights into the opportunities and obstacles for Media-Based education within the Afghan media sphere. The detailed findings aim to guide stakeholders and present actionable insights that seek to enhance the work of the media sector in facilitating access to education in the current environment of Afghanistan." (Back cover)
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"While most adult Afghans have access to some form of media platform, only around one in three have access to internet, with less than half of mobile users owning a smartphone. Men exhibit higher usage of radio and internet compared to women (52% male vs 43% female for radio and 36% vs 29% for inter
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net). Use of TV, however, is nearly identical among men and women. Men predominantly use media in the evenings between 7 to 10 pm, while women use media during the day, with an increase in women’s TV usage during daylight hours compared to findings from our previous survey (March 2021). With increased limitations on women’s movement, work and education; media and the internet have become essential lifelines for women, serving as their main source of news and information." (Key findings, page 2)
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"Afghan presence in India dates back centuries. It exists in the form of goods, language, cultural and political influences, and other subtler yet significant forms. The influx of Afghan students, traders, and medical tourists in India, especially post the 2001 regime change in Afghanistan, has give
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n a boost to the relations between the two historical neighbors. The Afghan diaspora in India has, however, maintained its distinct cultural identity through language, food, crafts, and commodity exchanges, giving rise to transnational social formation. In recent years, among other ways, Afghans have maintained these transnational connections through the media. While the transnational flow of Indian media, including its consumption and influence in Afghanistan, has been thoroughly looked into by scholars, the role and influence of Afghan media among the Afghan diaspora in India have largely remained unexplored. This paper looks into how the Afghan diaspora in Delhi engages with media from their homeland. By using ethnographic tropes and by taking a cue from works of transnational media studies, the paper attempts to trace the flows, media consumption, and its influence in keeping the idea of ‘Afghaness’ thriving away from the ‘homeland’." (Abstract)
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"TV is the most popular media platform. Majority of TV viewers and radio listeners watch and listen to those media weekly. Urban, educated and younger people watch TV more than rural, less educated and older people. Men listen to radio and use internet more than women [...] A nationally representati
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ve sample of 2,729 adults aged 18+ in Afghanistan were interviewed over the phone in February and March." (Page 1)
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"Fieldwork from across Afghanistan allowed Osman to record the voices of Afghan media producers and people from all sectors of society. In this moving work, Afghans offer their own seldom-heard views on the country's cultural progress and belief systems, their understandings of themselves, and the r
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ole of international interventions. Osman looks at the national and transnational impact of media companies like Tolo TV, Radio Television Afghanistan, and foreign media giants and funders like the British Broadcasting Corporation and USAID. By focusing on local cultural contestations, productions, and social movements, Television and the Afghan Culture Wars redirects the global dialogue about Afghanistan to Afghans and thereby challenges top-down narratives of humanitarian development." (Publisher description)
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"Afghanistan has made great strides in establishing media and communications outlets. However, very little is known about the ways in which Afghans actually engage in information exchange. To inform work with the media and effectively enhance access to information in Afghanistan, Internews commissio
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ned Sayara Research to map information ecosystems in three areas of Afghanistan. The information ecosystem in Afghanistan is vital to understand how Afghans make decisions about everything from personal security to health, migration, and livelihoods. Using a systems approach to analyzing information within and across communities is a powerful way to uncover deficiencies in current approaches and opportunities for future work." (Internews website)
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"Access to and use of internet in Afghanistan has grown in the past decade to reach approximately 12% of the population. Social media penetration has followed the same course, challenging traditional media platforms and providing new platforms for public discourse. Social media carries the expectati
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ons of propagating change in Afghanistan through open expression, but the reality of its usage provides a need for a more nuanced assessment of its impact on Afghan society Social media users represent approximately 9% of the Afghan population, and are a homogenous group of primarily young, urban, and educated individuals." (Executive summary)
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"The main thing I really liked about this project is that UNHCR invested the resources for proper qualitative social media monitoring, as opposed to the purely quantitative analyses that we see so often and which rarely go beyond keyword counting. To complement the social media information, the team
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held focus group and other discussions with refugees who had arrived in Europe. Among other things, these discussion provided information on how the refugees and migrants are consuming and exchanging information [.] Monitoring the conversations on Facebook enabled the team to track trends, such as the rise and fall of prices that smugglers asked for different routes (see image). In addition, it provided fascinating insights into how smugglers are selling their services online. Among other things, the team found: More than 50 Facebook pages offer short-term accommodation in transit countries (mainly in Turkey); Over a hundred financial agents (sarafs) are present on Facebook. They not only keep the deposited smuggling fees as intermediaries between smuggler and client, but also manage financial transfers; Over 100 “asylum and immigration consultants” offer so-called “advice on asylum claims” and provide fake “proofs” of persecution; Occasionally up to 20 users will pretend to be “satisfied clients” posting messages of gratitude, or pictures to express their thanks, on certain smuggler pages. This usually occurs as a reaction to posts denouncing the irresponsibility or cruelty of smugglers; When business is booming, smugglers post vacancy notices as they are looking for additional staff on the ground, most often females. These vacancy notices contain very concrete requirements (language skills, experience with logistics and booking software etc.)." (http://sm4good.com/2017/05/10/fly-on-the-facebook-wall-how-unhcr-listened-to-refugees-on-social-media)
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"The Afghan media scene has experienced tremendous growth in the post-Taliban period, buoyed by international involvement and the passage of a series of laws lending some protection to journalists. Though Reporters Without Borders listed Afghanistan’s media environment 128 out of 179 countries in
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2014, 80.1% of Afghan adults overall say that they are satisfied with information provided by the media, including 34.0% who say they are “very satisfied." (Page 1)
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"Television remains the most popular medium in all provinces surveyed and among the different groups of respondents. It is also the most preferred source of information, followed by Radio. A great majority of the population watches TV on a daily basis. More than half of the population spends between
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1-2 hours a day in front of a television. Women are more likely to watch television on a daily basis, while men are more likely to spend more time in front of a television at one time. The use of internet is increasingly becoming popular in Afghanistan. It is a close second to television, but internet users are spending fewer hours a day online. Women politicians are found to be the most frequent users of internet. With television and internet dominating media use habits, radio is found to be falling in popularity among the population [...] When respondents were asked to rank the most important issue that women face in Afghanistan, discrimination (70%), male dominance (70%) and gender abuse (65%) were among the top five. While there was no differences among respondents on the importance of security; access to education (80%) and lack of family support (64%) ranked among the top five most important issues for women." (Executive summary)
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"In 2014, competition in the Afghan media sector has increased in order to attract diminishing advertising revenue. This has led to increased professionalization and a certain degree of segmentation with the introduction of specialist, niche channels. The pace of development of new outlets has slowe
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d, reflecting the challenging environment, and increasing competition: There is now an average of three TV channels created each year as opposed to the average of nine in 2010. The programming scene looks much like that of 2010, filled with news programming, drama series, entertainment programs and political debate, with the exception of the introduction of a significant level of sports programming. Production remains split between national production of a number of key genres, with a high level of internationally procured series, and movies, done so by a variety of means, largely illegal. Whilst there is an increasing desire for internal production, financial, social and political constraints continue to make this difficult. Among media users in the sample, 62% turn their TV on, and 32% turn their radio on at some point during the day, compared to 63% and 39% respectively last year." (Executive summary)
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"Afghanistan had the highest rate of suffering in the world for 2013 and 2014. Those with a post-secondary education are the most avid media users for news overall. Highly educated Afghans were more likely to use TV, radio, Internet, SMS, and social media on a daily basis for news than other segment
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s of the population. Radio remains important but TV is the most popular platform and new media is still nascent. TV is dominant in the North due to availability of electricity." (Key takeaways, page 40)
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"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
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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)
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"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
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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)
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"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
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region. Awareness was higher among women (60%) as compared to men (40%) men indicating popularity of the programme among its primary target audience i.e. women.
2. The survey found that about 45% of active radio listeners had ever listened to AWH, indicating that the programme has been heard by approximately 11 million Afghans. Listenership was highest in the South Western province (61%) followed by Eastern (49%) and South Central (48%) provinces. Hazarjat province reported the lowest listenership at 22%.
3. More than half of all female active radio listeners had ever listened to AWH. Again, it is apparent that the programme is reaching its primary target audience with 55% of women having ever listened to the programme. Nearly all those who were aware of the programme had heard the programme at some point.
4. Of all those aware of AWH, 76% of men and 83% of women had listened to it in the last month or more recently. Nearly a fifth of all active radio listeners had listened to the programme in the last 7 days with more than a third having listened in the last month.
5. Just over a fifth of all active radio listeners listen to AWH once a week or more. Slightly less than a third of female all active radio listeners listen to the programme once a week or more. As expected this figure is lower for men." (Exectuvive summary)
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"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
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to have heard it at some point. Eighty-nine percent of Afghans who have ever used BBC radio or TV indicated they will continue to use the BBC in the future and over three-quarters (76%) say they will recommend the BBC to others. BBC Afghanistan is the service most people still turn to for news and it is the most trusted source of news on TV or radio. Ninety-percent of BBC listeners feel they can trust the information provided by the BBC. People respect the service for being relevant, unbiased and educational [...] Afghans have a strong desire for news and information. The vast majority of Afghans (92%) think it is important to stay informed about current events in Afghanistan. The internal situation remains fluid, and this is a country going through a tumultuous social, economic, and political transformation. Afghans are also keen to stay informed about daily security threats to hear about the continuing struggle between the Afghan government and the anti-government elements, in particular the Taliban, for control over the future of the country." (Executive summary, pages 4-5)
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"[...] Radio listening amongst young people appears to be high and most of those interviewed listen daily, usually after lunch and in the evening. The BBC and VOA are popular stations with young people as are local radio stations including Radio Azadi, Aman and Sharq. However, in cities radio compet
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es with TV, and young people from middle and low income groups often prefer it. Young people like listening to music but are also interested in news, debate and programmes, dealing with real issues or problems that offer insight, analysis and helpful solutions. Such programmes according to local journalists, youth workers and young people are in short supply, whereas music is not. Most young people indicate strongly that they want radio to contribute to both their broad education and their schooling. They want information about Afghanistan, its history and culture, its development and place in the world. They want to know how to help themselves, their families and their country and they want to be informed in an interesting, entertaining and frank way. They also want to know how other young people live in neighbouring countries. Young men and women would like a radio programme that gives them a voice and encourages debate about issues that affect them (for example, schools in rural areas, the introduction of private education, how much study to do, examination procedures, how to get into university, available courses, marriage and job opportunities). Women say they want radio to deal with the specific problems they face in relation to their status, education, work and security. Young people want to hear provincial, district and rural perspectives, not just voices from Kabul. There are high expectations of what the media can achieve in Afghanistan in terms of improving civic behaviour, government accountability, and changing harmful cultural attitudes and practices, particularly towards young women. Young women say radio should do more to persuade and influence fathers, uncles, brothers and imams on issues relating to their rights." (Executive summary, page 4)
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