Media and Election
August, 2013 – Herat media house
As presidential and provincial council elections are approaching in Afghanistan discussions are also mounting about the foreseeable challenges ahead of the Afghan media, to discuss these issues and the role of media in the upcoming elections, Media house Herat hosted a roundtable discussion on “media and election”.
Local journalists, representative of the Independent Election Commission and government’s representatives participated in the roundtable discussion.
Participants discussed the role of media and journalists in the upcoming presidential as well as the provincial elections and the challenges they encounter along the way. Participants pressed that access to more and credible information will greatly contribute to the credibility of the election.
Participants expressed hopes that employees of the Independent Election Commission and other election workers will/should remain open to journalists and media.
Representative of the independent election commission said that the cooperation of the commission workers and journalists are vital for free and fair election, stressing that great efforts have been put on awareness these efforts still continue.
Participants highlighted the role media in public awareness, and stressed that media organizations need to focus on public awareness abou election through media.
Government officials present in the roundtable stated that government is doing everything possible to provide security for voting centers across the nation.
Independent election commission’s public awareness officer said “we will do everything for journalists to facilitate reporting. This week we have started distributing special ID cards for journalists, and we hope that this will help in terms of access to informatio
Currently, there are 20 TV channels, 15 radio stations and 100 print publications in Herat province, it ranks second after Kabul in terms of the number of journalists working across the province
