MODERN JOURNALISM AND CHALLENGES OF TRADITION

Media Group
www.mobygroup.com

MODERN JOURNALISM AND
CHALLENGES OF TRADITION

AFGHANISTAN EXPERIENCE
6-7 June 2008, London UK

Zaid Mohseni
Director

TOLO TV Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan. Phone: +93(0)799 32 10 10 Email: info@tolo.tv Web: www.tolo.tv

BRIEF BACKGROUND ON AFGHANISTAN

MOBY MEDIA GROUP
Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan. Phone: +93(0)799 32 10 10 Email: info@tolo.tv Web: www.tolo.tv


•History of war 1978-2001 has resulted in climate of
fear and distrust

•One of world’s largest drug producers (2007)

•One of poorest countries in the world

•Very low literacy rate

•Lack of electricity, public health, water

•More than 50% younger than 21 yo

•TV/visual images/music banned under Taliban

• Current population approaching 32.7m (July 08 Est.
CIA World Factbook)
MOBY MEDIA GROUP


•Progress since 2001
•Telecoms
•“New” Media
•Radio – 20+ in Kabul (total of 75 planned)
•Print - hundreds
•TV – 14 in Kabul (total of 18 planned)
•Internet and other
• Construction of roads – Kabul/Kandahar,
Kabul/Mazar, Kabul/Jalalabad/Pakistani border

•Main parties involved with media development
• Private sector
• USAID
• Internews
• Various others

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

BACKGROUND ON MOBY MEDIA GROUP

•ARMAN FM – First commercial radio station in Afghanistan (April
2003)

•Afghan Scene Magazine (2003) – English monthly

•TOLO TV – Launched in October 2004, first national commercial TV

•YELLOW PAGES AFGHANSITAN – 2005 – b2b platform

•LEMAR TV – launched in August 2006 – first predominantly Pashto
national TV channel

•ARIA PRODUCTION – Producing ads, content such as serials,
dubbing, feature film support, video clips

•BARBUD MUSIC (2007)– Production of music

•456 (2007) – telephony IVR – interactive access to content

•QUQNOOS.COM (2008) – Online news portal

Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan. Phone: +93(0)799 32 10 10 Email: info@tolo.tv Web: www.mobygroup.com
MOBY MEDIA GROUP


MOBY MEDIA GROUP


•Current coverage:

• ARMAN FM – 14 cities free to air and on internet

•Tolo TV - 14 cities free to air, entire Afghan region
by satellite (DTH)

•Lemar TV – 8 cities free to air, entire Afghan region
by satellite (DTH)

•Afghan Scene Magazine – 10,000 copies a month
distributed around Afghanistan and internationally

• Yellow Pages – 80,000 copies

• Quqnoos.com – online news portal in Dari/Pashto
and English
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS – ARMAN FM

• First Afghan female DJ on Arman FM, 2003

• First time female and male DJs interacted in Afg, 2003

• First time use of non-formal language on Afghan
radio, 2003

• The “Arman Effect” – Altai Consulting Report 2005

• According to JWT Altai Consulting in Jan 2007,
Arman FM dominated market in all major cities, 37%
overall share. Next highest is 12%

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS – TOLO AND
LEMAR

• First Female VJs on TV – Tolo TV 2004

• First Women’s TV program in 2005

• Hard hitting news and current affairs programs:

• MPs falling asleep – news/satire

• Interview with Taliban

• Corruption – Former Chief Justice, police, etc

•Entertainment programs – Afghan Star, Khanda
Bazaar, Serials, etc

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS – TOLO AND
LEMAR
…Continued

•Reporting in a manner allowing people to discuss
community problems openly

• Round tables encouraging the free flow of ideas
and views and encouraging tolerance for views of
others

•Freedom of speech/media issues

• War crimes related issues

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS –
ARIA PRODUCTION

• Largest production house for audio/video in
Afghanistan

• 14 hours of content produced daily

• Average of 3 hours a day dubbed from various
languages

• Working on various local production projects
including local ads and ads for international market

• Video clips

• Feature films - Kite Runner, Dreamworks local
support

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS –
ARIA PRODUCTION

• First serial in Afghanistan, The Secrets of this House

• Female Director

•Script writers all Afghan trained by Jonathan Lawton
(script writer for Pretty Woman)

•Concept by Hafiz Assefi and Atiq Rahimi

•30 minutes per week

•Touching on local issues like
•Corruption
•Family disputes
•Romance
•Womens issues
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS – BARBUD

• Launched in 2007 in order to promote musical artists,
but primarily to give a voice to young artists including
Afghan Stars

• Recruited music composers and arrangers

• Small studio created for professional recording of
music for all types of music including traditional

•3 music CDs released so far, available for sale online
through iTunes, CD baby, etc and also in local shops in
Afghanistan

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS – QUQNOOS.COM

• Launched in 2008 in order to provide timely news,
with 5-10 articles a day in English, Dari and Pashto

• accessible anywhere in the world with daily video
clips as well from our other media outlets

• want to be the premier news portal for all Afghanistan
related matters

•Many feature and opinion pieces from distinguished
writers

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP - NEWS TEAM
• Afghans as news consumers - sophisticated

•Therefore, Credibility, credibility, credibility

• How have we gained credibility?
• using new breed of reporters and backing them
• neutrality on political issues (no political
aspirations for owners)
• accuracy of reporting
• providing news team with freedom to report,
including on our own group eg.
• use of experts wherever required but under our
supervision
•Investment and reinvestment in technology
• in touch with pulse of the nation
• ongoing communication with key stakeholders
• achievements in other areas eg music, serials,etc
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP - NEWS TEAM
• Have sympathies of the masses (AG incident)

• Entertainment programs are important in getting
viewers

• Maintaining the balance for the right audience

•Youth

•Older

• not without our threats/challenges

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MOBY MEDIA GROUP CHALLENGES

•Human capital, expertise, electrical power, money

•Market is very small, even though we have a big
chunk of the market

•Biggest challenge currently is political, followed by
recruitment/training

• Since about 2006, the government has not been
working hard to protect media and journalists, and in
many cases has been the cause of problems

•News related pressures and challenges from
Government

MOBY MEDIA GROUP


•On 18 March 2006 four senior staff members of Tolo
TV (including well known reporter Nawab Momand)
were detained by NDS illegally overnight and released
without charge next day, re reporting of Taliban clip

•On 12 June 2006, NDS invited various members of the
media where a 3 page document was presented to
them signed by the head of the NDS. This was rejected
by the media in its entirety.

•On 18 June 2006, a modified version of the document
referred to above was given to media outlets on behalf
of the NDS which was unsigned, but included various
restrictions including:

MOBY MEDIA GROUP


•Media not to air reports which may create fear
from terrorist organisations
•Interviews with ‘terrorists’ not allowed
•Terrorist incidents and stories as lead stories not
allowed
•Reports which will create anxiety amongst the
publics not allowed
•Reporting of fatwas from terrorists not allowed
•“Negative” stories and reports not allowed
•Reports which show the armed forces in a
negative light or as weak not allowed
•Reports which are against the policy of the
government relating to neighbouring states not
allowed
•(the above document was withdrawn and explained as
a ‘misunderstanding’ on the night of 18 June 2006
Presidential Office)
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

•On 19 August 2006 on the Independence day of
Afghanistan, President Karzai specifically mentioned
the media and said that media has exceeded its
mandate

•media was called to a meeting at the Presidential
Office- the President justified and defended the above
document

•On 22 January 2007, Tolo TV news coordinator Sharif
Hassanyar was detained for talking to the Taliban.
Sharif Hasanyar was released on 23 January 2007 at
about 6pm without charges or any explanation.

•On 17 April 2007, at 7pm, more than 50 armed police
under direct orders from the Attorney General, entered
Tolo TV premises and violently attacked staff of Tolo
TV, arresting 3 but later releasing them.
MOBY MEDIA GROUP


•Tolo TV staff members, were taken directly to the
Attorney General’s Office and detained. They were
released in 1 hour with no charges or an explanation.

•Asef Nang arrested by the NDS on 1 July 2007, on the
basis he translated article accusing President Karzai of
spying prior to becoming president. Eventually
released on 14 July 2007. Not charged with any crimes.

•Kamran Mirhazar arrested by the NDS on 14 July 2007
on the basis he wrote articles on web based news site.
He was released and re-arrested. He has now left the
country.

•On 6 October 2007, Mujahid Kakar, senior journalist
and head of news department of Tolo and Lemar TV,
arrested by the NDS. He was released without charge.
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

Media Group
Other examples
-Indian serial bans – pushed by the Ministry of
Information and Culture.
-Kambakhsh – Death sentence for publishing a
story allegedly blasphemous
- Censoring of our content, much of it is now self
censored, which may cause local Afghans to
move to foreign satellite and cable channels
rather than local Afghan channels
-Our channels have viewers in Pakistan and Iran,
and Uzbekistan. It is possible that our broadcasts
are not to the liking of some of these
governments.
-

MOBY MEDIA GROUP

Media Group
Other examples (continued)
-Most governmental actions against media carry
disturbing linguistic, religious, ethnic undertones
- misinformation also causing problems -
examples
-Elections in 2009 could be a motivating factor,
although one would expect that everyone would
be courting the media rather than threatening

- Training/Recruitment challenges
- lack of professional trainers and weak
educational institutions
- lack of professionalism
- institutional trainers are ‘old school’
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

Media Group
Other examples (continued)

- Training/Recruitment challenges (Cont’d)
- staff sometimes do not think longer term and
move jobs for only marginal pay rise
- training overseas complicated by visa
issues, eg all US training courses require staff
to go to Pakistan for their visas despite 120m
USD spent on US Embassy in Afg, same for
UK, France, etc.
- English language skills not developed
enough to take advantage of international
courses

Zaid Mohseni zaid.mohseni@tolo.tv
MOBY MEDIA GROUP

MODERN JOURNALISM AND CHALLENGES OF TRADITION

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