26 OCTOBER 2011 | KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

 

CHALLENGE

Afghan journalists work in an uncertain political, legal, and regulatory environment, which can have a chilling effect on media content and open and fair discussion about social and political issues. Journalists often find themselves carefully negotiating complex issues attracting all range of legal threats.

 

INITIATIVE

To help Afghan journalists deal with serious media law issues, USAID provided media law training to a group of leading Afghan lawyers on core concepts of media law, media management law, and information and communications technology. Internews partners Nai and Annenberg provided lawyers with the expertise to aid journalists, media managers, and local government across the provinces of Afghanistan. Three one-week training sessions were designed and delivered through a partnership between The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Nai Supporting Afghanistan Open Media (a Kabul-based non-governmental organization), and Internews.

 

RESULTS

As a result of this initiative, these lawyers, with support from USAID, have formed Afghanistan’s first Media Lawyers Committee under the umbrella of the Afghanistan Independent Bar Association, and will provide legal services to journalists, media outlets, and telecommunication companies.

 

The sustainable nature of this USAID effort also has begun to materialize through the newly trained attorneys who have taken the initiative to organize media conferences and training sessions that promote the further development and empowerment of media in Afghanistan.