Despite unprecedented gains in Afghanistan’s media independence in the last seven years, the war-torn country remains a media “battleground,” according to a former BBC journalist from Afghanistan.

Reporters are still being threatened by warlords, drug traffickers and shades of government interference.

In the last four years, 12 journalists have been killed – including three in 2008. Others have been detained, beaten and forced to leave the country, said Janan Mosazai during a presentation for the Probus Club at Kanata United Church on Oct. 14.

“This is an indicator of how things have gone south for the media,” he said.

Most recently, an Afghan journalist was sentenced to 20 years in jail, downgraded from a death sentence, for distributing a blasphemous article that suggested the Prophet Mohammad had ignored the rights of women.

Mosazai, now a graduate student at Carleton University, is working on a radio thesis about the state of the media in the country still largely living in the shadow of the Taliban.

“They were removed from power, not destroyed, and that’s a very important distinction to make,” he said.

Once dominated by communist dictators then Islamic fundamentalists, Afghanistan’s media is now partially owned by drug thugs and warlords with no regard for journalism ethics.

In post-911 Afghanistan, there has been an astronomical growth in media ownership in the country, said Mosazai. There are now about 600 newspapers, 100 known radio stations and 16 TV stations, he said.

But media companies are bought up by those with money, said Mosazai, and the wrong people tend to have money in Afghanistan.

Mosazai worries people could lose faith in the media and the country could be plunged back into a propaganda state.

The media gained new freedom to publish ideas without running them by state authorities in 1964 – a period known as the “decade of democracy” – when King Mohammad Zaher brought in the Afghan Constitution.

This freedom, however revolutionary, was short-lived.

After years of rule with dwindling freedom, communists led a bloody campaign to overthrow the government in 1978.

They didn’t need to claim the palaces or the military, said Mosazai. The rebels only wanted the newspapers and airwaves, said Mosazai, to spread their message.

“The media was used solely for state purposes, propaganda purposes and for purposes of control and later indoctrination,” he said. “The phrase free media or not state media had no meaning.”

The media became a “battleground” between communist and religious fundamentalist groups fighting for control of the masses, said Mosazai.

The communists were toppled in 1992 and a Taliban regime took control shortly after, introducing a theocratic state.

In 2001, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Afghanistan, overthrowing its government.

“They also moved very quickly to restore … the writing and drafting of media law,” said Mosazai.

In seven short years of media independence, there have been big gains in democracy and women’s rights, said Mosazai.

“All of these things have become part of the public discussion because of the media,” he said.

Still, problems persist.

An unusual trend in Afghanistan, to follow the U.S. invasion, is the rise in newspapers that don’t actually exist, said Mosazai. People are given aid money from non-governmental organizations to start newspapers. Some, however, use the money for other purposes like grocery shopping according to Mosazai, calling them Foodpapers.

It’s not much a surprise, in a country with an average literacy rate of about 28 per cent.

“The literacy rate for women is even worse,” said Mosazai, adding that the rate hovers around 12 per cent. “Women have been kicked on the sidelines for a really, really long time.”