Presidential candidate Zalmai Rassoul on Saturday called on the independent media to take on greater responsibility in promoting public awareness about the elections.
"The role of free media is important in creating awareness," Rassoul said at a conferenc in Kabul on Saturday. "I don't have such request for all media, because Afghanistan's political parties, groups and known personalities own media, including printing, video and audio; my request is for the really free media."
While in Kabul the elections are the talk of the town, the same cannot be said for Afghanistan's many rural communities. Many have expressed fear that lack of awareness about the elections amongst Afghanistan's remote populations could mean a low turnout that would undermine the credibility of the vote.
For Rassoul, the onus to address that disparity, which could cause major issues for who ever is elected to the Presidency in April, falls on the media.
The progress of the media industry in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban has been heralded as one of the big success stories of the U.S.-led invasion and the subsequent development initiatives that were launched in its wake.
However, recently, critics have raised issue with growing cases of violence against journalists and the lack of legal protections afforded to them. With insecurity a problem throughout the country, the safety of journalists heading into the April elections has become a top concern for media advocates.
"The spread of insecurity is at such a high level that even some of our journalists and colleagues are self-censoring, which makes it impossible to convey the things that journalists know," said Sediqullah Tawhidi, the head of Nai Medi Watch.
Meanwhile, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has launched it's own awareness programs. But the reach of the Commission remains more limited than that of the major media outlets, which are able to reach Afghans around the country through TV, radio and online platforms.