Kabul, September 22, 2013
A mass gathering to mark the 3rd International Media Ethics Day (IMED) was held in Kabul on Sept 22 with participation of about 80 of media official and journalists from different private and governmental media.
This gathering, which was organized and arranged by the CIME ambassador in Afghanistan with cooperation of the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) and NAI, Supporting Afghanistan Open Media, was aimed at discussing the importance of ethic in journalism and the country’s draft on codes of ethics. Participants delivered different fruitful speeches and discussions regarding the issue.
Ahmad Quraishi, Director of AFJC and CIME Ambassador to Afghanistan, delivered a welcoming speech and he also emphasized on the need for the codification of media ethics in Afghanistan.
He said that lack of the rules and regulations for the media ethics has caused the media related people to ignore it or pay less attention to media ethics and even some media outlets to violate it in some part of the country.
Quraishi insisted on active participation of the officials from the media outlets and journalists from all 34 provinces on the draft and to approve soon.
Speaking on the occasion, Director of the Media Watch at Nai organization, Siddiqullah Tawhidi, the Afghanistan journalists Federation which is consist of 10 organizations, including Nai, is working on draft of ethical codes.
He hoped the draft to be available in coming months and would be presented to a mass gathering of journalists for approval.
Towhidi also said that currently the media development is supposed to abide by media rules and code of ethics while violation of the codes can cause several problems; he believes “That following the rules can protect media people from several challenges and can also help journalists to work according to the standards and fight the criticism of their audiences,”
Meanwhile managing director of Shamshad TV, Ekhpelwak Safi, also focused on the role and importance of media ethics and said the draft to be approved in coming months.
It was declared in the gathering that a draft of media ethics will be ready for approval of journalists in close collaboration with different media outlets as well as the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture by the end of 2013.