Funded by the VolkswagenStiftung, a project was successfully launched at the end of 2022 at the Research Centre for Development Communication – Communication for Social Change (EC4SC) of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig, enabling six persecuted scholars from Afghanistan to continue their studies and research in Germany. Some participants of the project have held professorships in Afghanistan in the past and most of them also worked as journalists. They thus combine perspectives from media studies, communication studies, political science, sociology and practical journalism.

A central question of the main project is to what extent, in the transformation of media systems in fragile states like Afghanistan, the liberalisation and commercialisation of media systems can be in the interest of state-building at all. After all, the externally initiated “power to the market” strategy in the media sector of fragile states usually produces a multitude of media titles, but rarely qualitative media diversity. A decisive role seems to be played by the fact that the media landscape is usually characterised by oligarchic tendencies due to unstable domestic political conditions. Against this background, the journalism usually develops is characterised by polarisation and tabloidisation. Through the involvement of journalists and communication scholars from Afghanistan on the one hand, and through its many years of activity in participatory communication research, its application in many different contexts and its comprehensive networking on the other, the EC4SC offers the appropriate institutional framework to get to the bottom of these questions in this project.

The aim of the Documentary film project is to make a visible and significant contribution to the discourse on 20 years of engagement in Afghanistan and, in the best case, to trigger a development towards the urgently needed paradigm shift in development cooperation. This requires a public presentation and communication of the issues involved that goes beyond the academic reappraisal. This is to be achieved through a low-threshold summary of the findings in the form of a film. The film combines scientific research results with personal stories of the actors involved. Based on rational and emotional arguments, general characteristics, trends and developments of media in fragile states will be discussed in an exemplary way. The participating scientists and journalists from Afghanistan will have their say, as will politicians, journalists and activists from Germany. It is to be expected that important topics, aspects and arguments will come to light that have so far remained unnoticed or underrepresented in the discourse. In this respect, the film project is not only a high-profile summary of the intricate relationship between media and transformation, but also an important corrective to the discourse.

In our efforts to foster meaningful discussions and reflections on this compelling topic, we plan to showcase the film in various formats and at different locations. Our goal is to engage with a diverse audience, including activists, journalists, students, and politicians, to provoke thoughtful dialogues.

Furthermore, we are pleased to share that we intend to broadcast the film on prominent German-language channels such as Arte and ZDF. By partnering with these channels, we hope to reach a wider audience and contribute to the discourse on media and transformation at both national and international levels.