Lights, camera, action -- TV channel for women prepares to go on air in Afghanistan

Record ID: 876486

  • Title: Lights, camera, action -- TV channel for women prepares to go on air in Afghanistan
  • Date: 18th May 2017
  • Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT - MAY 8, 2017) (REUTERS) WOMEN WALKING TOWARDS A BUILDING WHICH HOUSES THE NEW ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV") STATION VARIOUS OF MAKEUP ARTIST PREPARING ZAN TV PRESENTERS PRESENTERS WALKING ONTO SET AND SITTING DOWN TO RECORD MORNING SHOW PRODUCER ASSISTING AFGHAN FEMALE TELEVISION PRESENTER FOR ZAN TV, SHAMELA RASOOLI, WITH MICROPHONE CAMERAMAN STANDING BEHIND CAMERA RECORDING OF MORNING SHOW IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) 22-YEAR-OLD AFGHAN FEMALE TELEVISION PRESENTER FOR ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV"), SHAMELA RASOOLI, SAYING: "We may face challenges as this television is dedicated to women and we are living in a male-dominated society where there is less attention given to women and their rights. So this television channel has been created so that we can fight for the rights of women and raise their voices for everyone (to hear) and see that women also have the ability to work in society." PRESENTERS SPEAKING ON SET DURING RECORDING OF MORNING SHOW RASOOLI SMILING ON SET RECORDING OF MORNING SHOW IN PROGRESS PRODUCERS WORKING IN GALLERY AS MORNING SHOW IS RECORDED ZAN TV LOGO ANIMATION ON SCREEN VARIOUS OF 20-YEAR-OLD AFGHAN FEMALE TELEVISION PRODUCER FOR ZAN TV, KHATIRA AHMADI, SPEAKING INTO MICROPHONE (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) 20-YEAR-OLD AFGHAN FEMALE TELEVISION PRODUCER FOR ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV"), KHATIRA AHMADI, SAYING: "Since I started working in media, I have faced some problems and received many threats. Even my family members oppose my job and my relatives, such as my uncles and cousins, say that it is not right for a girl to work at a TV station, but I ignore their words and cope with the problems so that I can achieve my goals." VARIOUS OF FEMALE EMPLOYEES OF ZAN TV SITTING AROUND TABLE FOR MEETING LOGO ON BACK OF EMPLOYEE'S LAPTOP READING (Dari): "WOMEN" PRODUCER ASSISTING PRESENTER OR ZAN TV'S MUSIC PROGRAM, KRISHMA NAZ, WITH MICROPHONE NAZ'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) PRESENTER OF MUSIC SHOW PROGRAM AT ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV"), KRISHMA NAZ, SAYING: "My family is happy about me working here, but there are many families who don't let their girls work outside, so I advise those families to let their girls work outside because liberty is every human's right." VARIOUS OF RECORDING OF MUSIC PROGRAM IN PROGRESS THE HEAD OF ZAN TV, HAMID SAMAR SITTING DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR AND HEAD OF ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV"), HAMID SAMAR, SAYING: "Sometimes, you know, you need to actually make the opportunity for the women that they should come and they should work and they should prove themselves.” AFGHAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR AND HEAD OF ZAN TV ("WOMEN'S TV"), HAMID SAMAR, SAYING: "Okay, we thought the programs should be different, especially for the woman and those programs which will be like very useful for the society and for the country. We have - like (on the) morning show - we have the programs, we have the politics, we have the health programs, we have education, we have economics and also politics... like entertainment as well. We have different kinds of programs." HAMID SITTING WITH FEMALE EMPLOYEES OF ZAN TV DURING MEETING VARIOUS OF MEETING KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT - MAY 10, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMEN WALKING WITH BURQAS IN DOWNTOWN KABUL
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2017 11:30
  • Keywords: equality gender women Zan TV
  • Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
  • City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Television
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016HI4THJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: This weekend, a new TV channel is due to hit the airwaves in Afghanistan.
    It's a channel dedicated to women and aimed at filling a gap in the country's media industry which, like many spheres of Afghani society, is dominated by men.
    Make-up artists prepare the female presenters for the Zan TV, or "Women's TV", morning show as women producers attach microphones to them and go on stand-by to record the programme.
    Women presenters and newsreaders feature regularly on many Afghan channels, but there is still strong cultural pressure against women who appear on television. A station with women, for women is a novelty.
    The staff say they've had to cope with disapproving family members and even brush aside threats in order to pursue their careers in the media. They hope to encourage female viewers to live and work as they want to.
    "This television channel has been created so that we can fight for the rights of women and raise their voices for everyone (to hear) and see that women also have the ability to work in society," said presenter Shamela Rasooli, 22.
    Zan TV runs on a shoestring using low-cost digital technology and operating out of a basic studio in Kabul. It relies heavily on a team of 54 mainly young women, many of them students. Youth and enthusiasm make up for the lack of experience.
    Around 16 male technicians work behind the scenes in areas like graphics, camera operation and editing. On-the-job training is in progress as they train up their female colleagues in skills for running a TV station.
    The channel will have to compete with around 40 TV stations, all eager to capture viewers, once it starts broadcasting. There is no guarantee of success but still, Zan TV's debut is in itself a milestone for war-ravaged Afghanistan, considering until the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, women were forced to wear head-to-toe burkas if they went out of the house at all and girls weren't allowed to go to school.
    Media entrepreneur Hamid Samar, the founder of Zan TV, is banking on the potentially large female audience in big cities like Kabul who are hungry for news and discussion that reflect their own interests and experiences.
    The idea for the channel was hatched when he was filtering job applicants for another TV station. The station was in conservative Nangarhar province in the east of the country, but about 80 women applied for the position of presenter of a morning show.
    "Sometimes, you know, you need to actually make the opportunity for the women that they should come and they should work and they should prove themselves," he said.
    The new channel will have a host of programmes ranging from news to religion to entertainment, and plans to go on air from 6 am until midnight every day.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register