View source for TOLOnews

{{short description|Afghan news channel}}
{{Infobox television channel
| name              = TOLOnews
| logo              = TOLOnews خبرهای تازه.jpg
| logo_size         =
| logo_caption      =
| logo_alt          =
| image             =
| established       =
| airdate           =
| launch_date       = August 2010
| closed_date       =
| picture_format    =
| network           =
| owner             = [[MOBY Group]]
| parent            =
| motto             =
| country           = [[Afghanistan]]
| language          = [[Dari language|Dari ]] and [[Pashto language|Pashto]]
| area              = Worldwide
| key_people        =
| affiliates        =
| headquarters      = [[Kabul]]
| former_names      =
| replaced          =
| replaced_by       =
| sister_channels   = [[TOLO (TV channel)|TOLO TV]], [[Lemar (TV channel)|Lemar TV]], [[Mass media in Afghanistan#Radio|Arman FM]] and [[Tolo Music (Web)]]
| timeshift_service =
| website           = {{URL|https://www.tolonews.com/}}
| terr_serv_1       =
| terr_chan_1       =
| sat_radio_serv_1  =
| sat_radio_chan_1  =
| online_serv_1     = YouTube
| online_chan_1     = [https://www.youtube.com/tolonews Watch Live]
}}
'''Tolo News''' ([[Dari]] and [[Pashto]]: {{langx|fa|طلوع‌نیوز}}), stylized '''TOLOnews''', is an [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] [[news]] [[television channel|channel]] and [[website]] broadcasting from [[Kabul]]. Owned by the [[Moby Media Group]], it was launched in August 2010 as Afghanistan's first twenty-four hour news channel.
TOLOnews is available on terrestrial television across Afghanistan, as well as internationally via satellite and the internet. Its news bulletins are also published online, and are available in Dari, Pashto, and [[English language|English]]. Its main studio is in Kabul, and its sister channels are [[TOLO (TV channel)|TOLO]] and [[Lemar (TV channel)|Lemar]].
== History ==
TOLOnews was launched in August 2010 as a sister channel to TOLO TV, dedicated solely to local, national, and international news. As of August 2021, its owner is [[Afghan Australians|Afghan Australian]] businessman [[Saad Mohseni]], while Lotfullah Najafizada served as its director of news from 2010 until 2021.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Bilefsky |first=Dan |date=30 August 2021 |title=Can Afghanistan's leading broadcaster survive the Taliban? |language=en |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/world/afghanistan-tolo-taliban.html |url-status=dead |access-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901133144/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/world/afghanistan-tolo-taliban.html |archive-date=1 September 2021}}</ref> For his work on the channel, Najafizada was named a Press Freedom Hero by [[Reporters Without Borders]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lotfullah Najafizada |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/lotfullah-najafizada/ |access-date=23 April 2023 |website=[[Atlantic Council]] |language=en}}</ref>
Following the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|fall of Kabul]] on 15 August 2021 and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, TOLOnews received international attention after a [[Taliban]] spokesman was interviewed on the channel by a female journalist.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 August 2021 |title=Female newscaster interviews Taliban spokesman |language=en |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000007925128/women-afghanistan-taliban-female-newscaster-interview.html |url-status=dead |access-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901135413/https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000007925128/women-afghanistan-taliban-female-newscaster-interview.html?searchResultPosition=1 |archive-date=1 September 2021}}</ref> Mohseni stated he intended to continue broadcasting TOLOnews, and that he would do so from the [[Middle East]] or [[Europe]] if the Taliban were to shut down the channel's operations in Afghanistan.<ref name=":0" />
The Taliban has allowed TOLOnews to continue broadcasting, though not without incidents. In August 2021, a TOLOnews cameraman was beaten by five Taliban soldiers while reporting on the fall of Kabul.<ref name=":0" /> On 16 March 2022, TOLOnews' studio in Kabul was stormed by fifteen Taliban gunman who arrested three employees, including reporter Bahram Aman, chief of news Khapalwak Safi, and the channel's legal advisor Nafi Khaliq. This was believed to have been in response to a story broadcast by TOLOnews about the Taliban's decision to ban the airing of foreign television shows; the Taliban said such comments offended the "religious sentiments" of the country.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 March 2022 |title=Taliban release three Afghan journalists after media crackdown |language=en |work=[[Al Jazeera English|Aljazeera]] |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/18/taliban-release-three-afghan-tv-staffers-detained-over-media-ban |access-date=23 April 2023}}</ref> All three men were subsequently released.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 March 2022 |title=گوینده طلوع‌نیوز از بازداشت طالبان آزاد شد |language=fa |work=[[BBC News Persian]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/afghanistan-60779807 |access-date=23 April 2023}}</ref>
TOLOnews continues to employ female reporters and journalists, under conditions such as the Taliban-approved wearing of hijab, and curtains set up in their studios to separate men and women. According to [[Saad Mohseni]], CEO of the [[Moby Media Group|MOBY Group]], which owns the channel, "From a news perspective, at least, it’s almost the same as it was before. There’s no story that we cannot cover. Perhaps with not as much fanfare as we used to and we sometimes have to be careful in the way we criticise the authorities". On the importance of continuing to employ women, Mohseni noted "I think we are the [[canary in the coalmine]]. When people talk about women getting silenced, as long as they’re on television, we know that they haven’t been fully silenced".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lamb |first=Christina |date=2024-09-21 |title=The Afghan station defying Taliban and giving women a voice |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/the-afghan-station-defying-taliban-and-giving-women-a-voice-r9hc3ddkz |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=[[The Times]] |language=en}}</ref>
==Presenters (current and former)==
[[File:TOLOnews Studio .jpg|thumb|Studio]]
{{Incomplete list|date=January 2024}}
;Dari
*Wahid Ahmadi
*Bahram Aman
*Tahmina Usmani
*Sebghat Sepehr
*Shuja Zaki
*Zarmina Mohammadi
*Yama Siawash († 2020<ref>{{cite web |date=7 November 2022 |title=No Justice in Afghanistan for Slain Journalist 2 Years on |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/07/no-justice-afghanistan-slain-journalist-2-years |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref>)
*Naimat Rawan († 2021<ref>{{cite web |title=Ex-TOLOnews Anchor, MoF Media Official Nemat Rawan Killed |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-171974 |website=TOLOnews}}</ref>)
*Sonia Niazi
;Pashto
*Faridullah Mohammadi
*Beheshta Arghand (until 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ellis-Petersen |first=Hannah |date=2021-09-01 |title=Female TV anchor who interviewed Taliban flees Afghanistan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/02/female-tv-anchor-who-interviewed-taliban-official-ends-up-having-to-flee-afghanistan |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>)
== See also ==
* [[Television in Afghanistan]]
* [[Tolo TV]]
* [[Moby Media Group]]
==References==
<References/>
==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{official website|https://tolonews.com}}
* {{youTube|u=TOLOnewsLive}}
*[https://www.afghanlive.tv/tolo-news-live/ Live Streaming Link]
{{Television stations in Afghanistan}}
[[Category:Television in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Mass media in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Mass media in Kabul]]
[[Category:Pashto-language websites]]
[[Category:2010 establishments in Afghanistan]]
{{Afghanistan-media-stub}}