2 TV channels suspended against mass media law: AJC

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Journalist Center (AJC) has termed the suspension of operation of Barya and Noor television channels against the mass media law.

However, the Ministry of Information and Culture says the decision is to suspend operation of the two channels based on principles and after repeated recommendations.

Barya TV belongs to Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan and Noor TV belongs to Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan political parties.

The Commission on Media Violation (CMV) at the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) has suspended operations of the two private television channels.

CMV said on Tuesday Barya and Noor television channels’ operations had been suspended over violations of journalistic principles and disregarding Islamic values.

MoIC spokesman Khubaib Ghufran said the two electronic media outlets had been repeatedly advised to follow journalistic principles, but they continued to violate them.

The meeting decided to send the cases of Noor and Barya channels to the court and suspend their telecasts until the court’s verdict.

“MoIC is working to strengthen media outlets so they must respect Islamic values, national interests and core journalistic ethics,” Ghufran added.

In a post on X, AJC wrote that it called the suspension of these to media outlet “in conflict with the law of mass media in the country and a step towards restrictions on free media”.

The institution urged the government to reverse the decision and allow the two channels to resume their activities.

MoIC spokesman Khubaib Ghufran told Pajhwok the decision to suspend the two media was made members of the commission who had good knowledge about media and were familiar with all the principles.

He said: "We made recommendations many times, we called on them several times and held meetings with them. But they did not comply with, so we warned them several times, still they did not accept it and it was against the principles. their owners are out of the country and opposed to the system, they were spreading nonsense against the system, so it was decided to send their cases to the court. Whatever the court decides will be implemented.”

He said media support institutions should understand that this decision was made after recommendations, advices and investigations.

sa/ma