2018 poised to be deadly year for journalists
WITH 32 JOURNALISTS KILLED SO FAR THIS YEAR, WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX SHOWS HOSTILE ATTACKS ON MEDIA ON THE RISE
Twin bombings in Kabul that killed nine journalists on Monday were the deadliest attack involving media in Afghanistan since at least 2002, and one of the most lethal ever worldwide, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
A 10th journalist, from the BBC’s Afghan service, was shot and killed in a separate attack outside Kabul. The bombings were the latest spasm of a conflict that began more than a decade and a half ago and shows no sign of ebbing.
The brazen attack came just days before the UN World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and puts a spotlight on the dangers journalists face while doing their jobs. According to Reporters Without Borders, 65 journalists were killed worldwide in 2017. While that number was the lowest in a decade, 32 journalists have been killed so far in 2018, according to the International Federation of Journalists – and the year still has eight months left to go, making it potentially the deadliest year in decades for journalists.
According to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), targeted attacks and hostility towards media workers and journalists is on the rise. Published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries. The 2018 report shows that many elected leaders of democracies see the media, not as an essential part of society and sovereignty, but as “enemies of the people” as termed by US president Donald Trump. The US itself has slid by two positions to rank 45 on the list. Verbal insults and bashing aside, journalists are at increasingly high risk of physical and fatal harm as well.
In this year’s index, Norway is first for the second year in a row as the best for free reporting by press workers. Unsurprisingly, North Korea has been in the last position for two years. Even though Norway and Sweden, among other Nordic nations, rank high, the global decline in press freedom has affected these countries as well.
Show of defiance in Kabul
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, journalists were shaken but defiant yesterday, vowing to continue reporting on the bloody conflict. The deadly assaults have rocked the tight-knit journalist community. Many of them are close friends as well as colleagues who back up one another as they work in an increasingly hostile environment.
Hours after the suicide blasts, dozens of Afghan news executives gathered at the site in a public display of defiance to militants. They condemned the government’s failure to provide security for journalists, particularly where secondary blasts are a constant concern. The message was “if they destroy a line of journalists, there’s going to be a longer line back at the scene within a few hours,” Tolo News director Lotfullah Najafizada said.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups are gaining control over increasing numbers of the Afghan population and the strength of local security forces has declined sharply, a US government watchdog warned yesterday.
The latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) paints a grim picture of the security situation in the war-torn country, and comes even as the Pentagon asserts that Afghan troops and US-led Nato forces are making steady progress in the gruelling, 16.5-year-old conflict.
It also comes on the heels of another deadly day in the capital, when twin blasts killed at least 25 people, including Agence France-Presse chief photographer for Afghanistan Shah Marai and eight other journalists.
According to Sigar, the strength of the Afghan security forces dropped by about 10 per cent over the course of a year — falling to a total size of 296,409 personnel in the army and police forces as of January 31.
The Taliban and Daesh group have stepped up their attacks on beleaguered Afghan troops and police in recent months, sapping morale already hit by desertions and corruption.
US forces used to provide Sigar with the number of Afghan troops being killed — the figures were more than 5,000 each year — but that information is now classified at the request of the Afghan government.
At the same time, the Taliban and other insurgent groups now control or influence 14.5 per cent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts — the highest level since Sigar started recording such data in late 2015.
The government, meanwhile, controls 56.3 per cent of the districts, with the remainder considered “contested.”
The varying population sizes of each district means that since August 2016, Afghan government control over its people has decreased.
“The overall trend for the insurgency is rising control over the population [from nine per cent in August 2016 to 12 per cent in January 2018],” the Sigar report states.
The document also found increasing numbers of civilian deaths as the Afghan air force has stepped up its operations while Nato has reduced its air strikes.
The facts on the ground paint a different narrative than the one pushed by the Pentagon, which insists the Taliban are weary and now have elements willing to negotiate for peace.
Ten journalists were among dozens killed in multiple attacks across Afghanistan Monday, in the deadliest day for the country’s media since 2001.
Two suicide blasts in Kabul killed 25 people including AFP’s Marai along with at least eight other journalists, in what Reporters Without Borders said was the most lethal single attack on the media since the fall of the Taliban.
The attack was claimed by Daesh, which has established a footprint in Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar.