A group of Afghan media heads and journalists at an event on Thursday said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected media outlets financially and that they have not received support by the government so far.  

Media owners said a joint plan will be made with the government to overcome economic challenges for media outlets. 

 “Support should be provided to media outlets without any discrimination if there is any available resource,” said Mujib Mehrdad, the editor-in-chief of Hasht-e-Subh Daily.  

 “The numbers are much higher than provided by the government about the impact of COVID-19 on media outlets. On an average, each media outlet has fired 20 to 25 percent of its employees,” said Zabihullah Jahanmal, a TOLOnews journalist.  

Other media owners called on the government to help them revive their business.  

 “The government should facilitate long-term loans to media outlets,” said Khalida Tahsin, head of Killid Radio, a Kabul-based media outlet. 

“They (government institutions) refrain to provide information to the media,” said Hamid Haidari, head of 1TV, a Kabul-based TV network. “The interesting point is that some information is divided as classified while it does not contain classified contents.”  

Officials from the Ministry of Information and Culture at the event said the concerns will be shared with the leadership of the ministry to find a solution for it. 

“The Ministry of Information will share the concerns of the Afghan media with the leadership,” said Shiwai Sharq, the deputy minister of information and culture. 

Statistics by NAI, an organization supporting open media in Afghanistan, indicate that at least six journalists died and more than 1,000 more were infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic and a large number of media workers lost their jobs.