Tolo kept broadcasting, but like the rest of the country’s TV and radio stations, it now faces a tough and uncertain future under the Taliban, whose return has sent fear coursing through the media.
The Islamist militant group killed and threatened journalists throughout its 20-year insurgency.
During their 1996-2001 regime, TV and most entertainment were banned, and there was no media to speak of.
The Taliban takeover “put us in a very, very difficult situation… to continue our work or not,” Lotfullah Najafizada, the director of Tolo News, told AFP in a phone interview.
“As a 24/7 news operation, we didn’t even have one hour to take a break and rethink.”
Tolo stayed on because it had a duty to cover the news, he said, and also because it would have been an “almost impossible” task to negotiate a resumption with the Taliban had the network shut down.
The Taliban leadership has asked Afghan media to operate as usual.
One official even sat down for an interview with a woman host on Tolo News, keen to convince people that the Taliban will be softer this time around.
But many Afghans, including in the media, are not convinced.
“We’re scared, I’ll be honest with you, we are nervous,” Saad Mohseni, CEO of Tolo’s parent company Moby Group, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) from Dubai.
“Everyone is having sleepless nights, but what the viewer is experiencing is not that different.”
The Taliban victory has plunged Afghanistan’s independent media into crisis.
Around 100 privately owned outlets have suspended operations, according to watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Pajhwok news agency said many shut down because of the financial crunch caused by the Taliban takeover.
It has also forced many women out of the industry.
RSF said only 76 women journalists are still…