KABUL — Afghanistan ordered Western and domestic media on Tuesday to impose a blackout on coverage of violence during Thursday’s presidential election, saying it did not want Afghans to be frightened away from the polls.
Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt the election and authorities fear reports of violence on election day could hurt turnout and damage the chances of staging a successful vote.
Two decrees were issued, one from the Foreign Ministry banning all broadcasts of information about violence while polls were open, and the other from the Interior Ministry requiring reporters to keep away from the scene of any attacks.
A suicide car bomber killed eight people and wounded more than 50 in Kabul on Tuesday, one of a string of attacks countrywide. Dozens of journalists were on the scene within minutes of the blast.
“We have taken this decision in the national interest of Afghanistan in order to encourage people and raise their morale to come out and vote,” Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told Reuters.
“This decision will control the negative impact of the media. If something happens, this will prevent them from exaggerating it, so that people will not be frightened to come out and vote.”
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The media is muttering but I think it’s a great move. The biggest weapon terrorists have in their arsenal is the media. That’s what all the violence is about — headlines.
If they don’t get them they’ll go away until they figure out some other way to play.
This is going to be very interesting from where I’m sitting because there are lessons to be learned. This site will honour Afghanistan’s request and print only good news stories while the order is in force. We’ll see how it plays out.
Eventually the Afghans will figure out that the Taliban is a waste of air space and they’ll slaughter them all. It’s the Afghan way.