Snow wrecks move to UCA

Heavy snow has caused delay and frustration for the move of the project to the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham.

UCA has given its full support, financial initiative and staff help for our program to train young journalists in crisis countries.

Heavy snow and adverse weather conditions in the UK have slowed progress in the last few days and a sense of urgency has emerged that requires swift attention.

On a good note Future Voices Press Club has been granted status as an official NGO in Afghanistan and the future is indeed bright for the young men and women in the country who wish to become journalists.

More news when the snow has cleared.

The Team at FVM

Lost another helicopter?

The answer was yes. It has been another difficult week for the RAF in Afghanistan. Political stirrings in the UK have meant that most of the news savvy public now know of a severe shortage in vital heavy lift military helicopters.

Two weeks ago an RAF Chinook helicopter was brought down by enemy fire in southern Afghanistan. The crew and occupants, soldiers from 2 Rifles, all escaped the wreckage. The airframe and engines had been badly damaged.

The crew and soldiers came under enemy fire and a decision was made to make the helicopter unusable rather than recover it for repairs, a tactical choice. The Chinook was destroyed with plastic explosives in the desert.

The British forces had 10 Chinooks in Afghanistan. This number dropped to 9 and at the end of last week had dropped again to 8.

How does this affect the position of UK forces?

A glaring example can be seen in the Helmand River Valley.  The Taliban controls much of the 'Green Zone' a highly fertile poppy growing area next to the Helmand River. Small military camps known as FOB (Forward Operating Base) Jackson and FOB Inkerman are a mere 7km apart. It is deemed, even in armoured vehicles, to be suicidal to travel this distance on the ground. the only way to reach these bases is by Helicopter. All supplies, food, water, ammunition and medical services have to be flown in and out by Chinook. These are small outposts, home to between 30 and 50 men. 

It can take, for example for a person to get back to Camp Bastion a 10 minute flight away and the HQ of British Forces, on average about 2 days to travel this distance due to the lack of helicopters.

Now that 2 have been lost how will the gap be filled? 

Real news or coded news

Often I turn on the TV, read the newspaper or browse the Internet and get an update on the world around me. I see, hear and read about Afghanistan. About elections that have gone off peacefully and wars that have deaths but no reported casualty figures. Then I learn about the real picture.

Who benefits from censored news? Not consumers, no, but those who wield the power above us. 

Since working in Iraq and assisting those who have striven in great danger to themselves to bring us real news. I have found that the only news I can trust is from those in the thick of the action on a day to day basis or the foolhardy freelance journalists who report without sanction.

One fine example of such reporting is that of Michael Yon. Yon is a former US Army Green Beret. Yon tells the story as he sees it. He often offends those who try amid political wrangling to bury bad news. He is supported by every unit in the field he is embedded with from all nations serving in Afghanistan.

Yon has a style of reporting that buries nothing, highlights weaknesses, portrays real human passion and often human sacrifice. And all this is laid out online as a free magazine to all and any who want to read it.

Yon has his work paid for by those who want to hear the real and un-coded news in a country that is very much at war. A country where voters in some provinces barely got in to treble figures. Military actions that have gone un-recorded or buried by headlines elsewhere. 

Why do so few of these people exist? Progress made in Afghanistan is merit-able. Nobody by way of reporting wishes to rock the boat. Anybody who has worked within the country or indeed with the member nations of ISAF or who knows real Afghans would ever put at risk the progress. Journalists, however, must report in styles that allow real news to be heard. 

Politicians seem to forget that support for our troops has grown since they have been engaged in heavy fighting, it has not shrunk. 

Read the Michael Yon online magazine.

Now compare it with the news you read, watch or listen to each day.

Interesting Conversations

It has been an interesting day. Not least for the fact that a lengthy conversation with the MD of a notable government contractor in Afghanistan has led to possible sponsorship for travel to and from Afghanistan but also the chance of additional revenue income for the project.

Secondly I have been inundated with requests to help out on the project after a worker at the UN in Kabul noticed our program on the Kabul Guide website. Offers from former a Reuters Bureau Chief, an Australian media training manager currently in Vietnam, the Killid Group Media NGO and many others.

I am glad that such interest can be aroused by what is a very simple, yet effective solution to encourage young people to start having a say in the world they are living in.

I have also found four very good final paper topics including the pro's and con's of Six Sigma and ISO performance benchmarking  in the development of media companies in transitional countries.

More soon......

The Afghan Elections

Future Voice Program has launched itself with the publication of its first news images on the front page of Demotix.

http://www.demotix.com/content/future-voice

Demotix-Future Voice is the window for all Future Voice users to the Global Press.

Our Afghan reporters have made good progress in the last two weeks.

Next week will see the introduction of all reporters to the regional Provincial Reconstruction Teams from USAID and DFID (UK). This will enlarge the reporting capacity of the organisation greatly.

Other news stems from the registration of The Future Voice Press Club - a local NGO in Kabul.

The Club offers a safe and secure hostel, business facilities including the Internet and workshops and welfare services for Future Voice Journalists as well as a membership service to allow Afghan journalists from any organisation to use the accommodation, restaurant, business services at a nominal charge.

The Club also runs a basic HEFAC course and introduces reporters to potential stories and acts as a relaxed environment for media networking.

A great two week period for Future Voice, with thanks to Wahidullah and the rest of the team in Kabul.

The website for The Kabul Post is online

It has been a while coming, but we have the basics working, now we can start loading the daily feed in English. We still need more Dari translators and some willing local journalists to get further out in to the countryside to get more images and reports.

The Kabul post is the Future Voice of Afghanistan, is independent, non-political and seeking support.

It is going well and support in Afghanistan is growing.

www.thekabulpost.com