Up to 180 media outlets out of 475 have been closed in Afghanistan in the past seven months following the takeover by the Taliban in August last year.
Afghanistan's National House of Journalists in its latest survey has said Afghan media outlets have been affected the most after the Taliban takeover.
As a result, only 290 media outlets are active in the country. A survey released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) indicates that about 43 percent of Afghan media outlets have shut down their operations, leaving almost 60 percent of journalists unemployed.
Head of Afghanistan's National House of Journalists Sayed Yaseen Mateen said that reason behind the mass closure of media was economic woes and migration of professional media workers in the country.
Apart from the economic woes and stoppage of foreign support of the media in Afghanistan, the lack of access to information cited by Afghan journalists is said to be another big issue for media in the country.
But the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has denied the claim adding that the closure of media outlets in Afghanistan is mostly due to the stoppage funds by their donors.
