April 05, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

KABUL: Scan the pages of major newspapers around the world and the only news coming out of Afghanistan is about bomb blasts and the escalating conflict between the Taliban and Nato forces in the country’s south.

A two-day conference on ‘Media is Development’ organised last week in Kabul was overshadowed in the international media by a suicide bombing outside a mosque in the crowded old city that killed three people and seriously wounded a senior intelligence official, according to one report.

Concerned that the increasing level of violence is undermining Afghanistan’s stability and threatening both democracy and long-term development, independent media voices have been calling attention to the need for Afghan-led confidence building efforts facilitated by the media and civil society.

The first Afghanistan media and civil society forum on Mar 28-29, was a unique attempt to bring together media, civil society, government and international donor representatives to discuss each other’s role in the process of transforming the war-shattered country.

And, highlight the role of local media as a platform for both debate and dissemination among the general public of diverse ideas, opinions and views and concerns about the country’s past, present and future.

“Afghan civil society and Afghan media propose to be the players that will make a difference to the life of ordinary Afghans and win hearts and minds and most of all give hope for the future of their children,” said Shahir Zahine, chairman of The Killid Group (TKG), organisers of the Forum.

Over two days, journalists representing media organisations from across Afghanistan including northern-most Balkh and conflict-ravaged southern Helmand, cabinet ministers and members of Afghanistan’s ‘wolesi jirga’ (parliament), representatives of donor institutions like the European Commission (EC) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) focused on the linkages between state and civil society.

The reality is that media prospects have been unexpectedly clouded by blinkered perceptions of Afghanistan as a ‘post-conflict’ country five years after the overthrow of the Taliban by US-led military action. With major western donors withdrawing financial support, and in the absence of sufficient advertising revenue, Afghanistan’s free media has been struggling to survive instead of fulfilling its role of serving public interest.

Gaps in quality reporting and outreach have resulted in failures to expose and challenge corrupt and abusive systems and authorities; also compromising the developmental process including the establishment of a free and fair media. An example is the Mass Media Law. In the making since 2002, Afghanistan’s ‘wolesi jirga’ is due to discuss a draft bill that will replace the 2004 version of the law that is currently in force.

An addendum approved in 2006 had included a charter for a public broadcaster and a regulatory code for private media. But following a cabinet reshuffle last year, the Ministry of Information and Culture made major changes in the bill which has whittled away media autonomy and led to the removal of public service provisions.

A media law working group that includes the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association among others have said that should it be passed the new media law will stop the emergence of independent public regulatory bodies such as independent media commissions.

Under the 2006 version of the law, which prominent Afghan journalist Rahimullah Samandar, described as “the best law in the region”, five commissions were put in charge of regulating mass media including a commission to watch over the national radio and TV, and a commission on media complaints and violations.

In addition, the media bill awaiting approval from parliament has introduced a “number of vague provisions (open to misuse) that could affect the confidence of the media who would shy away from critical engagement, be it social or political,” rued Abdul Hamid Mobarez, former deputy minister for information and culture.

Speaking at the Kabul conference, he bluntly called the draft media law “a step backward, not a leap forward.”

“The ministry is determined to make structural changes to the Afghan media sector. The media has been divided into ‘governmental and non-governmental’ sectors — removing the public sector altogether,” he added.

Afghan media participants repeatedly urged member of Parliament Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, chairman of the parliamentary committee for culture, media and religious affairs, which has taken a keen interest in the media law, to postpone discussions on the draft law scheduled for April 4 by two weeks to include suggestions from the Forum.

Last week’s all-Afghan platform for media and civil society, concluded with a declaration affirming the “constitutional right of the people to be informed, and inform.”

Calling for an informed dialogue for participation and ownership of development, the declaration included a pledge to organise the Forum at least once a year to evaluate progress, and discuss ways to address new challenges facing civil society and media. “There is no alternative to free flow of information and ideas in a democracy because this is the basis for informed dialogue for participation and ownership of development,” the conference concluded. —Dawn/The IPS News Service