Statement Number: 121
The president’s office, three weeks ago, requested Afghanistan’s Journalists and Media Organizations Federation to prepare a list of dedicated journalists to be appreciated by H.E. The President. It was planned to conduct the appreciation ceremony on the mark of Afghan National Journalists day in March 18, 2019. As previously, the cabinet of National Unity Government in one of its meeting approved the proposal of the federation to mark March 18, 2019 as the National Journalists Day in the country.
The federation, in reply to the request of President’s office, prepared a list of journalists operating in national and widespread media outlets, as well as another list of journalists operating in local media outlets at the provincial level. The selection process was carried out based on association with the directors of media outlets.
The federation hereby announces that its only role in this process was to reply to the request of presidency by facilitating the process of selecting journalists in association with media outlets. However, it did not play any kind of roles in how to appreciate these journalist, and/or how to conduct such ceremonies.
This statement is issued in response to the claims of some journalists after the appreciation ceremony which was conducted on April 1, 2019 in Presidential Palace. These journalists claimed that the federation violated their rights by ignoring them.
To sum up; federation by issuing this statement would like to clarify two following points;
Firstly, the number of journalists to be appreciated was specified by President’s Office and the federation had no role to increase or decrease this number. The federation’s role was to provide this list only. Thus, it is unrealistic to include all journalists of the country in such a limited list.
Secondly, the list was prepared based on the direct consultation and coordination with the directors of media organizations. Thus, the federation’s role was to facilitate such process only.
Therefore, the federation once again, announces through this statement, that it is an agency established to empower journalism in the country, and operates based on the laws and regulations of the country. Meanwhile, the federation is ready to answer to the enquires raised either by journalists or media outlets, even by any governmental or non-governmental organizations.
Secretary of the federation
