WASHINGTON: Taliban and Islamic State militants have extended news “black holes” in Afghanistan to prevent journalists from exposing their activities, says a report released here on Tuesday.

The report by a media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, calls on Afghan authorities to “do everything possible to protect journalists and media outlets” in Afghanistan, where threats and attacks by the jihadi Islamic State group have been added to those by the Taliban.

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The Taliban, and now members of Islamic State, have created news “black holes” in several northeastern provinces including Badakhshan, Nangarhar, Baghlan and Nuristan.

“Freedom of information in these provinces has gone from being limited to non-existent, giving rise to new information black holes,” the report warns.

Media outlets have been the targets of armed attacks. They include Radio Donya Novin in Charikar, the regional bureau of the independent Afghan news agency Pajhwok and the US government-funded Voice of America in Jalalabad. On June 12, at least two VOA journalists were injured in such an attack.

The report says that fighting in places like Badakhshan and Nangarhar has been so intense that journalists have been forced to stop working altogether and entire villages have fallen under rebel control.

These provinces now rank alongside Helmand in the south and Khost in the east as regions where the Taliban have terrorised the media.

“The rebels are carrying out attacks almost every day but we cannot cover them,” a journalist in Nangarhar told Reporters Without Borders. “The security forces have told us they cannot guarantee our safety, so we cannot do our job”.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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