Journalists condemn new media restrictions in Afghanistan

Meanwhile criticism is growing inside and outside of Afghanistan over new media restrictions announced by government officials this week. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said media outlets could no longer provide live coverage of militant attacks and threatened arrests for those that did. President Karzai says it's not censorship, but an effort to protect national security information and journalists themselves. But press freedom groups, US officials and even the Taliban are condemning the move. In a statement, the group called it a "a flagrant violation" of freedom of speech. To find out more about the local response, FSRN sent our Kabul reporter Mujahid Jawad to talk with Afghan journalists and residents for this edition of Street Beat.

That last voice was Kai Edie, the UN's special representative to Afghanistan, responding with journalists and residents to the government's announcement this week of restrictions on media outlets showing live coverage of militant attacks. FSRN's Mujahid Jawad recorded and produced this segment.