Before I started covering local media, I often wrote about international media issues. And something struck me hard each year when Reporters Without Borders released its World Press Freedom Index and when the Committee to Protect Journalists released its Global Impunity Index showing where journalists were killed without consequences.
The people losing their lives and being imprisoned were often local journalists — people who live in and cover their communities.
This week, American troops officially left Afghanistan, and one of the vulnerable groups that remains is local journalists. In a piece Monday, The Washington Post’s editorial board wrote about those left behind, which “appear to include many local journalists who worked for U.S.-supported media such as the Afghan service of RFE/RL.” USA Today reported "thousands of Americans and Afghans stranded in Afghanistan are at risk of Taliban retribution, but one group stands out: employees of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a federal agency funded by Congress that operates Voice of America and other media outlets dedicated to promoting American-style democracy around the world."
We don’t know what will happen to journalists or freedom of information in Afghanistan yet. CPJ reported last week that the homes of some journalists in Afghanistan have been raided and some journalists were beaten by the Taliban. Newsweek reported that at least two journalists were killed while waiting to leave the country in the recent attack on Kabul’s airport.
On Wednesday, Farangis Najibullah reported for Radio Free Europe’s Gandhara on a local female reporter still working in Afghanistan. The reporter said this of her future: “For now the Taliban says women will return to work, media outlets can function. I don't know if they will keep their promises and I'll be able to continue my job or whether I will be killed or arrested.”
The Pulitzer Prize Board gave a special citation to Afghan Journalists and media workers last week — $100,000 to be administered by CPJ for emergency relief. The U.S. Agency for Global Media Employee Association is raising money to help Afghan colleagues who were able to leave the country. And the International Women’s Media Foundation is raising money to support women journalists in Afghanistan.
There are stories to tell about the Afghan refugees that will settle in our communities. What resources do they have? What support do they need? What can we learn from past refugee resettlements? I hope the journalists who made it out of Afghanistan can continue their work here. We’re going to need their voices.
I don’t mean for today’s newsletter to be a call to action. I’m not sure what action we can take now. Instead, I hope it’s a reminder that there are journalists and media workers around the world who cover their communities, just like local journalists in the U.S., and who risk so much to do so.
The young woman RFE spoke with said this about why she was still working:
“I also felt it was my responsibility as a journalist to go out and report about what's going on. It's a journalist's duty to highlight problems in society, the wrongdoings of government, and people's issues. I can't solve people's problems but it's my job to become their voice.”
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