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An Explosion of News: The State of Media in Afghanistan

Peter Cary

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2012), 56 pp.

"The exponential media growth in Afghanistan over the last decade is due to the enthusiasm of Afghan entrepreneurs and to support from the United States and other nations, states this report. According to the executive summary "support from the United States, the biggest donor, has waxed and waned. ... more

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The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition
Deep Insights

David Page, Shirazuddin Siddiqi

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 27 pp.

"[...] Afghanistan is a fragile, fractured state and has one of the most fragile and fractured media, where almost anyone with sufficient funds and the opportunity to move quickly has been able to establish a media presence. This environment has enabled the flourishing of television, radio and other ... media established and owned by powerful political and religious leaders, or by those with allegiance to them. Some fear a future of increased ethnic, sectarian and factional strife being played out through the airwaves. Though there are some very successful commercial television channels, there is no independent and widely trusted national media capable of transcending or creating communication across the fracture points in Afghan society. Most media is either localised or seen as serving political, religious or other agendas. The future of the national broadcaster, RTA, still the only broadcaster with a truly national presence, is uncertain. While journalism as a whole has expanded greatly, investigative journalism remains limited. The sustainability of the newly established commercial media is widely questioned. With the total annual advertising market in the country estimated by some at little more than $20 million, there are real concerns that if donor support declines much of the media will wither or fall prey to factional, religious or extreme forces. There is no shortage of such forces. A number of media outlets already play upon ethnic and sectarian tensions. The Taliban, notorious when in power for shutting down media and banning video tape, have embraced the web and run one of the most effective media strategies in the country. In 2012, the mood music is one of compromise with the Taliban. Concern in the country is growing that new found media freedoms may be the price of that compromise. The role of donors in media support in Afghanistan is probably greater than in any other country at any other time. Such support is largely responsible for the development of a substantial media sector, but it faces criticism that it is poorly coordinated, short term and not informed by aid effectiveness principles; that it focuses too heavily on advancing the agendas of the donors; and that in some sectors it is distorting the media market in ways that create dependency and inhibit the development of genuinely sustainable Afghan media ventures." (Executive summary) more

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Cluster Evaluation Report: UNDEF-Funded Media-Related Projects

Pierre Robert

United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF); Transtec (2012), 40 pp.

"This report is the cluster evaluation of 12 UNDEF-supported projects related to the media. It concerns projects that either focused on media capacity building or included a significant element of work with the media. The projects were implemented between 2007 and 2011; they lasted between 12 and 24 ... more

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Afghanistan Media Development & Empowerment Project (AMDEP) Media Law and Policy Program. Participants' Manual

Philadelphia, PA: Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) (2012), iv, 381 pp.

"Through the design, development and delivery of curricula and the training program in Afghanistan on the subject of media law, the hope is to empower Afghan lawyers to serve as a critical resource to journalists, media managers, and local government officials. Through the trainings, participants ch ... more

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Media development, information operations, and the liberal order: Mapping US mass media policy and practice in the Afghan intervention, 2001-10

Daniel Wiley

Toronto: York University, Master Thesis (2012), iv, 149 pp.

"Since 2001 the development and use of the nascent mass media environment has been an integral component to the US-led democratization of Afghanistan. This approach is embedded in a history of US-led liberal order building, in which liberal principles and democracy are deployed strategically as me ... more

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Picturing Afghanistan: The Photography of Foreign Conflict

Paul Verschueren

New York: Hampton Press (2012), xiii, 199 pp.

"Picturing Afghanistan is an in-depth account of the Euro-American visualization of the conflict in Afghanistan. Comparing images in public affairs, psychological warfare, journalism and the photobook, the author argues that there are no strong boundaries between photography in war and photography a ... more

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Strategic Communications in Afghanistan’s Transition Context

Jamil Seddiqui

Swansea: Swansea University, Thesis (2012), v, 64 pp.

"Following a decade of extensive international involvement and arduous fighting, Afghanistan is currently going through a significant Transition intended to enable Afghans to assume responsibility for their own security, development and governance. In addition to opportunities, this process provides ... significant challenges to the Afghan society and its development partners. This study raises awareness of the role and potential of strategic communications to address some of these challenges and aid Afghanistan’s Transition objectives beyond the timeframe set for 2014. In treatment of this topic, this study provides a theoretical and historical overview of communication for development, Afghanistan’s pre- and post-2001 situation with reference to the use of important channels of modern and traditional communications, and examines pertinent perspectives on the importance of strategic communications, particularly in strengthening Afghanistan’s Transition context. In addition, this study focuses on the contribution of strategic communication in non-security matters, particularly governance and peace promotion, and identifies some major challenges where the potential of strategic communications to contribute has remained underexploited. Drawing on these discussions, the results indicates that, in spite of some measures put to the fore, the Afghan government lacks an overarching strategic communications framework integrating multi-media, multi-outlet and public outreach to help in achieving the Transition goal; a stable Afghan state. Pointing clearly to the need for such an integrated campaign, the dissemination of negative perspectives, such as that suggesting that Afghanistan would collapse after 2004, has given space to insurgents propaganda, a challenge which can be addressed through effective strategic communications. In the conclusions, this study argues on the importance of strategic communications as an strategic tool to aid Afghanistan development agenda particularly in the Transition context and presents some practical recommendations to the Afghan government and its deployment partners for effective use of strategic communications in view of a holistic approach aimed the strengthening development of Afghanistan and particularly the Transition process." (Abstract) more

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Drama for Development: Cultural Translation and Social Change
Deep Insights

Andrew Skuse, Marie Gillespie, Gerry Power (eds.)

Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage (2011), xxiii, 324 pp.

"By assessing edutainment as a space of cultural translation, Drama for Development advances an often neglected perspective in this topics' research. It focuses on what happens when various goals, worldviews and needs from donors, producers and the audiences come together in the production and meani ... more

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Radio Sound and Social Realism: In the Terrain of Drama for Development Production

Andrew Skuse

International Communication Gazette, volume 73, issue 7 (2011), pp. 595-609

"This article explores the use of sound in the context of two BBC World Service development-focused social realist radio drama productions in Afghanistan (New Home, New Life) and Nepal (Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It examines the various ‘sound strategies' employed to enhance the realist aspirati ... more

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Analyzing Taliban Taranas (chants): An Effective Afghan Propaganda Artifact

Thomas H. Johnson, Ahmad Waheed

Small Wars & Insurgencies, volume 22, issue 1 (2011), pp. 3-31

"This article describes and analyzes a little understood Afghan Taliban propaganda tool: chants or taranas. These melodic refrains effectively use historical narratives, symbology, and iconic portraits. The chants are engendered in emotions of sorrow, pride, desperation, hope, and complaints to mobi ... more

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Designs, Devices and Development: Audience Research as Creative Resource in the Making of an Afghan Radio Drama

Andrew Skuse, Marie Gillespie

Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, volume 8, issue 1 (2011), pp. 132-153

"This essay analyses the role of audience research as a change agent in media development interventions in Afghanistan. It analyses how audience research in transnational contexts involves a complex set of intercultural negotiations and translations that contribute to the enduring relevance and sust ... ainability of the highly popular Afghan radio soap opera New Home, New Life. This is a ‘development drama’ that has been broadcast across Afghanistan since 1993. It is based on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and produced by BBC Afghan Education Projects (BBC AEP). Audience research has been vital to forging a dynamic relationship between the creative teams who make the drama, the donors who pay for it, and the audiences who consume it. The article addresses three broad themes. First, we outline how data gathered in formative audience research, prior to the creation of the drama, provides the creative team with the dramatic raw material for the radio serial. The extensive qualitative data gathered by Afghan researchers in local milieux is translated so as to enable culturally diverse teams of writers and producers to ground the serial narratives in the lived experiences of its audiences, and to introduce multiple local perspectives on development issues. Second, we show how evaluative audience research, data gathered in the postproduction phase, plays a key role in providing critical audience interpretations of New Home, New Life’s dramatic themes. In so doing, it creates feedback loops that allow audiences to become active participants in the ongoing creation of the drama. The research designs and devices, developed over the last two decades to document the changing life-worlds of Afghan citizens-cum-audiences, are part of an ongoing set of transcultural encounters that contribute to strengthening the social realist appeal of the drama and to calibrating how far any given storyline can be pushed in terms of cultural propriety. Third, we examine how during periods of military conflict, when routine audience research becomes dangerous or impossible and audience feedback loops are disrupted, the writers and producers have to rely on their own personal and political experiences, often with unpredictable ideological consequences. We draw attention to the limitations and challenges of making dramas for development in highly charged politicised and postcolonial contexts. While, development dramas may be a cheap and effective way of dealing with certain informational needs, such as landmine awareness, they cannot redress social and structural inequalities or, as Western donors wish, eradicate opium cultivation." (Abstract) more

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Afghanistan: Media and Telecoms Landscape Guide

infoasaid (2011), 72 pp.

"The Afghan media have flourished since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Under Taliban rule, television was banned and there was only one government-controlled radio station. Today Afghanistan boasts over 75 TV stations, 175 radio station and hundreds of newspapers and magazines. However, ... more

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The Practice of Public Diplomacy: Confronting Challenges Abroad

William A. Rugh

New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2011), xviii, 262 pp.

"Relying heavily on scores of first-hand accounts collected through interviews, the studies examine the practice of public diplomacy largely from the perspective of American practitioners in different countries. The analyses follow the standard field officer approach, asking systematically: what iss ... more

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Starting a Local Radio Station: A Manual for Afghanistan

Parisa Saadatmand-Zitouni (comp.)

Arcata, Calif; Washington, DC; Kabul: Internews; USAID; Pact (2011), 100 pp.

"This manual describes the process for starting a local radio station—the organization of community support and planning, equipment needs, programming strategies, business growth and sustainability and journalistic ethics and standards. This manual does not insist that you follow a set of rules to ... more

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Media and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 5 pp.

"Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan media sector has experienced dramatic growth in all areas: television, radio, print, internet, mobile phones. As such, the sector holds tremendous potential for making significant contributions to peacebuilding in the country. However, the media sec ... more

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Make it Theirs: The Imperative of Local Ownership in Communications and Media Initiatives
Deep Insights

Simon Haselock

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 17 pp.

"This report presents the author's experiences regarding the relation of international interventions and local institutions in the (post-)conflict countries of Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan. Haselock states that media reforms are most successful where they are the result of partnership ... more

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Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines

Richard Lance Keeble, John Mair (eds.)

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Arima Publishing (2010), x, 295 pp.

"This book explores the journalism coming out of the Afghan war from the frontline and from the greater comfort of the library. It is an unusual hybrid: the testimony of some of the best frontline correspondents of our era, much of it placed in appropriate historical contexts, alongside detailed aca ... demic analysis – and much more. It ranges from the poppy fields of Helmand province to New York via the Iraq War and the modern rebirth of “embedding”. It mixes action, reflection and analysis and focuses on some of under-reported groups such as women and the humanitarian effort in Afghanistan. It has its origin in a conference in Coventry in March 2010 put on as part of the university’s Coventry Conversations series (with financial support from the Pro Vice-Chancellor and the Dean of Business) in conjunction with the BBC College of Journalism and journalism.co.uk (the website forum for digitally active journalists). All of that conference can be seen and heard on bbc.co.uk/journalism and Coventry.ac.uk/itunesu. Many of the contributors to this book took part in that conference though some extra pieces have been specially commissioned. The war in Afghanistan will soon be coming up to its tenth anniversary. Operation Enduring Freedom started on 7 October 2001 as a response to the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Freedom in Afghanistan has far from endured in that decade. There are today 100,000-plus US troops, 10,000-plus British troops and 17,000 from ISAF allies – including Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Canada. US intelligence admit that there are now fewer than 100 al-Qaeda (the reason for invading in the first place) fighters left in the country and that the Taliban could fight on for ever. British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons on 14 June 2010 after his return from his first official visit to Afghanistan that it was only the presence of the ISAF troops that kept al-Qaeda from returning to Afghanistan in numbers. The West is fighting a phantom and desperately searching for an exit strategy. The trouble is they will leave behind an Afghan government scarred by illegitimacy, corruption and more. The Killing Fields will continue for a while yet. Journalism has escaped comparatively lightly – just nine Western journalists killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Like all big stories, this war has attracted the cream of British journalistic talent especially the broadcast reporters. TV awards have been won on the field of battle by the new Brahmins – the war corrs parachuted in and out of Helmand. The idea for the conference and for the book took hold when I judged the Royal Television Society News Programme of the Year Awards for 2009. All entries featured front line action from their stars. Many of them have contributed to this book." (Pages 3-4) more

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The War in Afghanistan and Peace Journalism in Practice

Rune Ottosen

Media, War & Conflict, volume 3, issue 3 (2010), pp. 261-278

"This article argues that Johan Galtung’s theory on peace journalism can serve as a fruitful supplement to theory-building in the field of war and peace journalism, and critically reviews the scholarly debate on peace journalism. By using examples from Norwegian media coverage of the war in Afghan ... more

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The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam

Philip N. Howard

Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press (2010), xii, 285 pp.

"Around the developing world, political leaders face a dilemma: the very information and communication technologies that boost economic fortunes also undermine power structures. Globally, one in ten internet users is a Muslim living in a populous Muslim community. In these countries, young people ar ... more

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Minutes from the International Partnership Meeting

Copenhagen: International Media Support (IMS) (2010), 40 pp.

"This report provides an overview of the discussions and conclusions from the International Partnership Meeting in New York on 26 January 2010 organised by the Open Society Institute and International Media Support. At the meeting, 30 media support and press freedom organisations from across the wor ... more

The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition Deep Insights

Drama for Development: Cultural Translation and Social Change Deep Insights

Make it Theirs: The Imperative of Local Ownership in Communications and Media Initiatives Deep Insights

The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition
Deep Insights

Drama for Development: Cultural Translation and Social Change
Deep Insights

Make it Theirs: The Imperative of Local Ownership in Communications and Media Initiatives
Deep Insights