Covering Afghanistan in Exile

Afghan journalists launch a news organization to cover their home country from afar.

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Amu TV anchor Nazia Hashimyar. (Contributed Photo)

STERLING, Virginia—Nazia Hashimyar stared into the camera from behind a blue and white news desk Wednesday, the words “Amu News” written in Farsi on an LED background behind her.* In a moment, her image and voice would be transmitted into her home country of Afghanistan for Amu TV’s first satellite broadcast.

It was a moment of hope, but one born of significant loss.

Female journalists can’t report safely from within Afghanistan, but Hashimyar will be an anchor for start-up news outlet, Amu TV, headquartered in Sterling, Virginia. Its purpose is to offer a lifeline of credible news and information for Afghans starved of information not strictly censored by the Taliban. Exiled Afghan journalists Lotfullah Najafizada and Sami Mahdi founded the network last August. Its online news outlet offers coverage in Farsi, Pashto, and English, its target audience is those within the country, and 75 percent of its readership is Afghan.

Since Amu TV launched online last year, it’s had over 100 million pageviews. Najafizada and Mahdi hope the satellite channel, launched Wednesday, will take that engagement even further: Satellite TV is the most popular source of information for people in Afghanistan, especially in rural areas where internet access is scarce.

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Comments (14)
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  1. Steve Vandzura

    So appreciative of you who reported this and The Dispatch as a website that will present info like this

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    Ben Connelly

    Great article! I’m gladdened to hear of this.

    “ To protect journalists still on the ground, many of the bylines on the website go to “Amu TV” rather than specific reporters. The journalists in Afghanistan primarily send raw material—footage and background information—to colleagues abroad, who do in-person reporting elsewhere.”

    Those journalists have guts! Good for them.

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    JohnM.

    This was such an uplifting read on a subject I knew nothing about. Thanks so much for the reporting. You two make a dynamic duo.

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    Seth

    Beautiful reporting, you two. As a veteran of Afghanistan, it means a lot that people haven't moved on from that country and those brave Afghanis that put their faith in us. Thank you for lending them a voice.

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    1. Philip.R.M.Hunt

      As an Oakland As fan I always fear that any of our players get good that just means that they will soon get traded. I fear that Harvest and Charlotte will get noticed and get called up to the major league. I am still bummed out about David French going to NYT.

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    Taylor L

    Thank you for the reporting

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    CVS

    Fantastic article. I was unaware of this project but it is very important.

    In the long run, Afghanistan will be a problem so long as radicals run it and indoctrinate the population. This is a small step, but an important one, in fighting that.

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    Cthocas

    The dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan is Dari, not Farsi. Farsi is spoken in Iran. They are mostly interchangeable in written form, but in verbal form they can be quite different and difficult to hold a conversation across. (Imagine a speaker of Posh English attempting a conversation with an American hillbilly in the Ozarks; same language, little understanding.)

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    Aylene Wright

    So I have been quite critical of TD lately for focusing on early horserace political stories over everything else.

    But this article is exactly the kind of reporting that isn't about something that ultimately ephemeral, that I think TD is really good at. Seems most other media outlets wouldn't even consider this a story.

    But I really appreciated it.

    Please, more of this kind of thing.

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      Taylor L

      Here, here.

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  9. William H.

    Thank you for reporting this story. I can only express my admiration for these brave and determined people.

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    Christian M.

    Love this type of reporting. Had no idea something like this existed and it's a pleasure to read up on the strength of these men and women.

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