Exiled journalists from Myanmar and Afghanistan say there is a decline in press freedom around the world during an online discussion with the Movement for Media Safety Philippines (MMSP) in observance of World Press Freedom Month sponsored by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) last Thursday, May 29.
Yasa Muhammad Sajjad, former broadcaster of Nur TV in Afghanistan, said that press freedom declined globally because only 4.4 % of journalists are safe, while 90% are threatened and oppressed by government for reporting on events that people must know about. He left Afghanistan in 2021 when the two decades of democracy was reversed by the Talibans who controlled the country again.
He said that it is necessary to keep the information flow in the country and maintain the trust of the homeland in the satellite broadcasts aired from other countries by displaced reporters.
Nyein Nyein, exiled Myanmar journalist of Irrawaddy in Thailand, said she and many journalists had to leave in 2021 when the military took over the government. She said that even reporting on natural disasters was a crime punishable by 20-year imprisonment according to the military leaders. Even while they are abroad, they do not claim that they are members of media because they are not safe from military intelligence but they must continue to tell the stories. Supported by the USAID and other international media to continue reporting about what is happening in Myanmar through insider informants, she said that when the funds run out, they will try to find other ways to diversify the delivery of the in-depth information to people in the country.
Lotfullah Najafizadah, exiled Afghanistan broadcaster of AMU TV since 2022 in North America, described his family’s ordeal when they escaped in 2021. He said he had no money and could not work but the dream to give free information and facts to people in Afghanistan through satellite could not be suppressed. “AMU TV responds to what people have no access to,” he said as the reason that they provide drama and other content from nearby countries to residents inside. Six months after the satellite launch with the United Arab Emirates source, Geo Poll noted three million watchers of their broadcasts where 1.7 were women. They have also missed 4,000 calls from interested viewers who want to talk but cannot. He said these are encouraging signs. There are three challenges in the online feeds according to him include how to keep running the digital channel without money, operating without the staff to prepare the programs, and building from scratch for equipment and needs.
Toe Zoe Latt, Independent Press Council Myanmar (IPMC), said that this media is called “One foot in, one foot out journalism.” The package is put on satellite by Burmese informants within and operated by reporters from different parts of the world with a 30 million daily audience. There are 42 journalists in prison because they tried getting access to information that people need to know, he said.
Lotfullah said that it was already an achievement for AMU TV that they are available for many with diverse content per se. He said that they wake up every day to deliver facts and interesting things in the channel. Access to information is very important, according to him because “taking access away is like taking a gun from a soldier.” The hybrid nature of the media in the country for now is for this access to the news inside and outside the country through the UAE satellite provider. The international media is not owned by Afghans and the Taliban can filter but cannot block the satellite feeds that maintain culture and a sense of belonging which is better than “taking up arms”. “I want to be a journalist” to empower the Afghan people to information and facts for regime change, claims Lotfullah.
There are 460 journalists from 62 countries forced into exile. Red Batario, Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD) and advocate for MMSP said that the conversation could result in a plan of action to support journalists in exile by the insights. He said that the idea was to network and address the issues that face media in many parts of the globe. NCB
