Afghan newspapers stop printing, go online

KABUL (Tolo News): The Afghanistan National Journalists’ Union reported that due to the financial crisis, around 150 print media outlets across Afghanistan have stopped printing newspapers and magazines since the fall of the former government. Many of these outlets continue publishing news online, while some have shut down completely.
Ahmad Shoaib Fana, chief executive of the national journalists union, said: “Print media has stopped in the country. If the situation goes on like this, we will face a social crisis.”
Ali Haqmal, a journalist working for 8 Sobh newspaper, reports that the outlet is now publishing online. He said: “We made efforts to do whatever people expect. We focus on reporting online, and we still try to get the information to the people.”
Ashaq Ali Ehsas, deputy chief of 8 Sobh newspaper, said: “Each day 15,000 papers were being published and distributed in Kabul and some provinces. The process was disrupted due to problems over the printing and distributing of newspapers after the fall of the government.” Arman Mili Newspaper is another famous newspaper which has stopped operating. Sayed Shoaib Parsa, the founder of the newspaper, said: “We had 22 employees here. All lost their jobs. We are waiting for the situation to normalize so we can restart publishing.” Watchdog organizations recently said the Afghan media outlets are running out of funds and face a lack of information under the Taliban.