Afghanistan’s Taliban morality ministry pledged Monday to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule will be gradually enforced.
“The law applies to all Afghanistan… and it will be implemented gradually” by persuading people images of living things are against Islamic law, spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP.
The Taliban government judiciary recently announced legislation formalising their strict interpretations of Islamic law imposed by the authorities since they swept to power in 2021.
Voice of America (VOA) is a state media network funded by the United States of America, whose purpose is to project soft power through journalism. In 1948, Voice of America was forbidden to broadcast directly to American citizens to protect the public from propaganda by its own government. The restriction was removed in 2013 to to adapt to the Internet age.
In 2005, the Washington Post reported that suspected Al-qaeda operatives were flown into Thailand to be detained and tortured. VOA’s remote relay radio station in Udon Thani province has been widely suspected to be the torture site. VOA has been conspicuously silent on the charges. Their reporters have unparalleled access to the details of the case, but none of them appear to have done any investigation.
According to David Van Zandt in MBFC’s methodology:
It’s crucial to note that our bias scale is calibrated to the political spectrum of the United States
To better understand this statement, it should be noted that MBFC regards VOA as “least biased” despite its uncontroversial status as the United States’ official propaganda outlet.
