Journalists have claimed that there is “corruption” in the distribution of assistance by media-supporting organizations to media workers.
“I have not received any aid yet. Even if there is assistance allocated for journalists, it is being looted by the media- supporting organizations– some of whom the Afghan media community does not even recognize,” said Mohammad Raqi, a journalist.
“The foreign organizations who claim that they have financially supported the Afghan journalists — we have not witnessed such a program and have not received any aid from any organizations,” said Mustafa Shahryar, a journalist.
The Afghan journalists said that despite the media workers facing heavy financial problems, there is no transparency in the aid process.
“I myself have been dismissed from Kabul news TV channel. Our organization has been closed and I have not received any assistance from IFJ or any other organization,” said Ahmad Najim, a media worker.
“If any organization is providing any aid, it must have been for certain people, who have received it. Unfortunately, the Afghan journalists who are facing severe challenges have been forgotten,” said Abdul Raziq Sadeqqi, head of a radio station in Badghis.
The International Federation of Journalists reported that since August 2021, nearly at least 200 journalists have been granted amounts averaging €350 to individual journalists who remain in Afghanistan, mostly to help with feeding themselves, overnight shelter, and medicines.
The IFJ cited the figures from a survey, which it said is conducted in affiliation with the Afghan National Journalists Union.
The report detailed where its funds were allocated, including:
“Evacuation grants of up to 2,000€ to pay for flight costs for the handful of journalists who have obtained visas.
Nearly 40,000€ administered by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) to provide respite accommodation for exiled Afghan journalists in Islamabad.
Two guest houses in Islamabad to accommodate exiled journals, opened in August 2023, with financial support from UNESCO.”
However, some of the media supporting organizations in Afghanistan said that there has been no financial assistance in the ongoing year to the Afghan media community.
“The Afghan Independent Journalist Union has not received any assistance from the IFJ in 2023. It has no information about distribution of this amount of money to the 200,” said Hojatullah Mujadidi, head of the Afghan Independent Journalist Union. “These programs have not been implemented in coordination with the media-supporting organizations in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan National Journalist Union is not aware of it,” said Masroor Lutfi, head of Afghanistan’s National Journalists Union.
With the fall of the former government, the Afghan media organizations have been engulfed with financial and economic challenges that also drove most of them to halt their operations.
—Agency
