Afghan press

Sanjar Sohail is the owner and publisher of the Afghan 8 Sobh Daily newspaper. He studied at the Danish Institute of Human Rights in Copenhagen and is active in Afghan civil society.

Deutsche Welle: As a journalist how do you see the development of press freedoms in Afghanistan? Can you report what you want to?

Sanjar Sohail: The development of press in Afghanistan has been enormous and can be well described as a revolution. We could not have imagined this during the Taliban era. From a country with no voice, no picture, no video, Afghanistan has transformed into a country with 50 private TV stations, 100 radio stations and many newspapers. As far as the press laws in the country are concerned, we are allowed to do anything we want, but we have to self-censor certain things because of our social and historical background.

When do you get involved in self-censorship? What sort of topics would fall under that?

We cannot talk about anything against any religion and national interests of Afghanistan. There are some other red lines as well. These are suggested in our media laws as well, albeit they are not clearly defined. That is when Afghan journalists have to use their own judgement.

Do you face situations in your daily operations when a government official phones up and tells you not to do a certain story?

Sometimes they do it, but it doesn't work. My experience tells me that we can do whatever we like, and we don't care about the ministers and officials. But at times, for our own protection, we play safe.

Are you referring here to attacks on journalists by elements within society that don't want to see this kind of development of the media, such as the Taliban?

Yes. There have been so many cases of murders and killings of journalists in the past 10 years and unfortunately the government has never properly investigated these. That is the reason some journalists are afraid to talk about certain issues in specific regions and circumstances.

Do you feel the demands and media habits of your audience are changing with time?

Yes absolutely. Things in 2001 are not comparable with the present situation. Every year, 150,000 students finish high school in Afghanistan. Each year, at least 100,000 students go to university. That's a huge change. The number of media consumers is also on the rise. The media dynamics are certainly changing in our society.

What about the Internet? Are new media like Twitter and Facebook playing a role in Afghanistan?

Definitely. Right after the Egyptian revolution, the number of Facebook users in Afghanistan tripled to 180,000. We have a million active Internet users in Afghanistan now.

Interview: Grahame Lucas

Editor: Shamil Shams