As journalists join the thousands of Afghans fleeing the country amid the Taliban’s return to power, media experts fear that the country's now-flourishing news landscape will cease to exist. “We're getting hundreds of requests a day from journalists who want to leave the country, and although our primary concern is to help them get to safety, we're very concerned that a free press is going to disappear,” said Maria Salazar Ferro, emergencies director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
But if journalists stay in the country, they may face persecution, including the possibility of death. Even before their takeover of Kabul, Taliban forces targeted journalists and other media workers -- attacks that sharply increased during talks between the Taliban and the former government, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
The organization also found that members of the Taliban forces “engaged in a pattern of threats, intimidation, and violence against members of the media in areas where the Taliban have significant influence.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reporters Without Borders Tuesday that they will respect freedom of the press “because media reporting will be useful to society and will be able to help correct the leaders’ errors. “Through this statement to RSF, we declare to the world that we recognise (sic) the importance of the role of the media,” Mujahid said.
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