VZCZCXRO8213
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #0913/01 1030841
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 130841Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8354
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000913 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF PHUM
SUBJECT: MEDIA LAW UPDATE 
 
REF: A. KABUL 895 
     ¶B. 08 KABUL 2478 
     ¶C. 08 KABUL 1193 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The 2007 media law remains inactive due to 
the government's refusal to publish the law in the official 
legal gazette.  Ambassador Holbrooke, the Charge, Embassy 
officials and journalists' groups have pressed Karzai to move 
the legislation forward.  Karzai has told Holbrooke he would 
promulgate the law once the Supreme Court reviews certain 
articles for constitutionality (ref A).  Minister of 
Information and Culture Khoram, however, continues to 
criticize the law for its supposed Western influence. 
Parliament's Lower House maintains its veto override last 
year should have automatically brought the law into force 
(ref B).  The law's overall strengthening of media freedoms 
is an important step in demonstrating a level playing field 
for all presidential candidates in this summer's election. 
End Summary. 
 
Executive-Legislative Deadlock 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In an April 9 meeting, the Charge urged Karzai to 
promulgate the media law and enact other measures that would 
demonstrate to the political opposition, civil society, and 
international community a real accomplishment toward a free, 
fair, and transparent election.  Karzai's fundamental 
objection to the law is based on division of powers between 
the executive and legislative branches.  Karzai believes 
those government positions specifically listed in Article 64 
(Cabinet ministers, NDS chief, etc.) require parliamentary 
approval, and no others.  He has asked Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Azimi to review a provision in the disputed law, 
requiring the Lower House's confirmation of nominees to head 
Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA).   Charge will meet 
with Azimi on April 15 to urge a speedy review to settle the 
constitutional dispute. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Lower House MPs, led by Speaker Qanooni, maintain 
they have a right to write and pass legislation that would 
add positions, beyond those enumerated in Article 64, which 
would require confirmation by the legislative branch. 
Qanooni has told EmbOffs that parliamentary confirmation of 
the RTA chief will help ensure some independence for 
state-run media from the president's political agenda. 
 
Information Ministry: A Different Agenda 
---------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Information and Culture Minister Khoram opposes the 
law on additional grounds.  He has charged that Western 
governments played an improper role in drafting the 
legislation.  Khoram leans far to the right on cultural 
issues and has long expressed doubts over the role of a free 
press in a democracy.  MPs have called Khoram before 
Parliament on several occasions to explain his ministry's 
refusal to enact the law's provisions.  Earlier this year, 
Khoram claimed the government's copy of the law "was lost or 
never received from Parliament" after the Lower House 
overrode Karzai's veto in September.  Parliamentary staff 
eventually tracked down paperwork showing proper transmittal 
of the document to the Cabinet last month, prompting MPs this 
week to call on Khoram to testify again in the near future. 
 
¶5. (SBU) MP Mir Ahmad Joyenda (Kabul, Hazara), a member of 
the Third Line faction that supports the media law and other 
reformist initiatives, said Khoram is driving Karzai's 
opposition to the bill and is using blatant delaying tactics 
to stall the law's entry into force.  He and Third Line 
leader MP Shukria Barakzai (Kabul, Pashtun) have told PolOff 
they will call for an impeachment vote if Khoram does not 
move to enact the law soon. 
 
Civil Society:  "Mostly Good" Law Guarantees Independence of 
Media 
--------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Article 14 of the new law declares that RTA is 
public media and thus belongs to the Afghan nation and is 
administered by the executive branch.  Article 44 further 
states that a National Radio Television Commission shall 
protect the independence, impartiality, and professional 
reputation of RTA.  Leaders of journalists' networks say the 
law puts a distance between state media and government 
control for political purposes.  Moreover, the law builds on 
the Constitution's guarantees for a free press. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Journalists tell us the law's promulgation would be 
an encouraging development and morale boost for Afghan 
reporters, who face regular security threats from insurgent 
groups.  Saad Mohseni, director of independent Tolo TV's Moby 
 
KABUL 00000913  002 OF 002 
 
 
Media Group, said Karzai was postponing action on the law in 
order to maintain control of state media.  Opposition 
politicians believe the law will help "level the playing 
field" for all presidential candidates by providing more air 
time for all candidates on state media.  Although RTA 
finishes a distant third or fourth in most of Afghanistan's 
major media markets, it often faces no competition in more 
remote regions.  State-run newspapers also pick up many RTA 
stories. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Some journalists and civil society groups worry that 
the government could use the law's Article 45, which 
prohibits publication of "material contrary to the holy 
religion of Islam (or) affects the stability (and) national 
unity of the country," to restrict media freedoms and 
criticism of the government.  During the drafting and 
parliamentary debate phases, however, most reformist MPs and 
civil society groups calculated that the law's overall 
improvements for the media were worth the price of that 
article's language.  MP Joyenda believes Parliament can 
revisit and amend those provisions after the law goes into 
force. 
 
Background on Law's Evolution 
---------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Civil society groups worked closely with Parliament 
throughout 2006-07 to revise the existing media law decree. 
Parliament passed the law in late 2007.  Karzai vetoed it in 
December 2007.  Parliamentary boycotts and walkouts over 
Hazara-Kuchi tensions delayed action for much of spring 2008 
(ref C).  In a surprise move, the Lower House called for a 
quick vote to override Karzai's veto in September 2008. 
Karzai, caught off guard, failed to mobilize enough 
supporters to block the vote (the Palace later claimed that 
Parliament did not have enough MPs present to constitute a 
quorum, though eyewitness accounts generally support the 
Lower House position that it had a quorum.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) Article 100 of the Constitution states that a bill 
passed by the Lower House over the president's veto "shall be 
promulgated once endorsed by the president."  Karzai 
interprets that clause to give him the right to review the 
law before publishing it in the gazette, while most MPs 
believe a veto override renders the president's "endorsement" 
automatic. 
RICCIARDONE