We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: PF: Afghan Pakistan Newsrooms
HEADLINE: From Exile, Afghan Journalist Finds Work in Diaspora Media
TEASER: With journalism her passion, Mina Akbari has found work at Afghan media outlets run outside the country’s borders
PUBLISHED AT: 02/27/2023 at 9:30am
BYLINE: Muska Safi
DATELINE: Islamabad
CONTRIBUTOR: Roshan Noorzai, Shahnaz Nafees
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Reuters, AP, AFP
GRAPHICS:
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO
TRT: 2:22
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO
EDITOR NOTES: For VOA Press Freedom; Please send edited copy to Jessica, Bezhan and Roshan))
[[INTRO]]
[[After fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Mina Akbari is again working as a journalist, reporting for diaspora media from her new home in Pakistan. For VOA, Muska Safi has more from Islamabad. Cristina Caicedo Smit narrates the story.]]
((NARRATOR))
After months of not working, Afghan journalist Mina Akbari is back to doing what she loves best: journalism.
She’s working for two new Afghan diaspora channels - Barbud Music and Faza TV in Pakistan. Both broadcast music, entertainment and news to Afghanistan.
Akbari, like many journalists, crossed into Pakistan after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
She works not just to support herself and her family.
((For radio: Mina Akbari is an Afghan journalist))
((Mina Akbari, Journalist (Female, Pashto)))
“The other reason was my love for the profession. I am totally in love with my profession.”
((NARRATOR))
The 22-year-old stayed in Afghanistan for a few months after the takeover. But since then, Akbari says, women have virtually disappeared from public view.
((Mina Akbari, Journalist)) (Female, Pashto)))
“The presence of women in media has become limited, and this will continue. Women will be omitted from the media. You will not see women in public at all. They will be covered from head to toe and confined to their houses.”
((NARRATOR))
Under Taliban rule women are barred from education, working outside, traveling long distances without a male relative, and even from going to gyms and parks.
The Taliban say all orders governing women’s rights are in “accordance with Sharia” or Islamic law
Media watchdogs say the impact on women in the media was immediate.
((NARRATOR))
Reporters Without Borders estimates that more than 80 percent of female journalists have lost their jobs since the Taliban’s takeover, and some have left the country.
Many of those who left face hardship elsewhere, says the Committee to Protect Journalists.
((For radio: Beh Lih Yi is the Asia Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists))
((Beh Lih Yi, Committee to Protect Journalists (Female, English))) ((Skype))
“A large number of them are in Iran and Pakistan, for instance, and they are facing very dire situations because of economic hardships, and the fact that they cannot continue to work from the countries that are hosting them at the moment.”
((NARRATOR))
Even in Islamabad Akbari says she receives threats on social media like many other Afghan journalists in Pakistan. She wants to be relocated to a third country, so she can live in peace and continue to do the job she loves.
For Muska Safi in Islamabad, Pakistan, Cristina Caicedo Smit narrates the story, VOA News.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
