“We have a duty to help our Afghan colleagues and their families,” said Raffaele Lorusso. “Journalists and European and Western media,” he continued, “can’t remain indifferent” to the peril they face since the Taliban takeover in August.
Lorusso, who is general secretary of the National Federation of Italian Journalists (FNSI), is one of numerous journalists and other media workers around the world, from Italy to India, who have stepped up to support their colleagues in Afghanistan.
Madina Morwat was among scores of Afghan journalists who lost their jobs when dozens of television and radio stations suspended programming after the Taliban captured Kabul last month.
But the 23-year old reporter quickly resumed her career after taking a job at Tolo News, part of Afghanistan’s largest media company Moby Group and a channel that has come to symbolise the rise of liberal media in Afghanistan since the Taliban were first ousted from power following the US-led invasion in 2001. “Many embassies asked if I wanted to leave Afghanistan, but I am committed to work for women and my country,” she said.
