The Afghan government has bowed to pressure from news organizations and watered down a blanket ban on live television coverage of militant attacks, a government spokesman said on Saturday.
Rather than a total blackout on live broadcasts of the violence that regularly blights the capital and other cities, the government has told broadcasters not to show the faces of security personnel or “disturbing” images.
The government issued the ban earlier this month following one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul, which killed 16 people including foreigners in a well-coordinated militant suicide and gun assault on guesthouses.
Afghanistan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and domestic critics said the ban amounted to censorship.
The uproar prompted the government to consult with Afghan media representatives, news associations and senior officials, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omar, told reporters.
The meeting resulted in a resolution “that guarantees media freedom ... and it guarantees nobody is kept from attaining information,” he said.
“Journalists should act professionally while preparing reports which cover terrorist attacks,” the resolution says.
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