Zarin TV was founded with a simple but ambitious mission: to create a platform where Afghan stories could be told authentically, independently, and without fear.

The organisation focuses on community news, education, entertainment, and women’s issues, while highlighting perspectives often overlooked by mainstream media. The team works with journalists and contributors across multiple countries to provide reporting and storytelling that reflects the realities of life in Afghanistan.

“Our mission was to provide community news and entertainment, mainly education and opening up the pathways to, like, shedding light on women’s issues,” said Mariam Harris, Director of Development and Partnerships at Zarin TV.

But after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, independent journalism became increasingly dangerous. Reporters risked exposing themselves and their families simply by doing their jobs.

That challenge led Zarin TV to adopt HeyGen. Using AI avatars, the organisation found a way to protect journalists’ identities while continuing to share stories that otherwise might never reach the public.

Managing safety risks for independent journalists

For Zarin TV, the challenge was never simply producing content. It was producing content safely. When journalists report on stories that criticise the government or highlight sensitive issues, the consequences can be severe.

“If we use our real journalists and the real people who do this work, their families get harassed back home,” Mariam explained.

In some cases, families could face intimidation, harassment, or arrest because of a journalist’s reporting. As a result, many stories went untold. Journalists had to weigh the importance of sharing information against the potential risks to themselves and their loved ones.

“We really had to hide the identity,” Mariam said.

At the same time, Zarin TV wanted to expand coverage of issues that were rarely discussed publicly, including women’s rights, human rights, education and everyday life inside Afghanistan.

The team needed a way to keep journalists safe while preserving the trust and connection that comes from video storytelling.

Using AI avatars to protect identities and share more stories

Mariam first discovered HeyGen through members of her production team, who immediately recognised its potential.

The team began using HeyGen’s stock avatars to create multilingual news broadcasts, concealing reporters' identities behind realistic AI presenters.

“We created these agents and built characters based on their persona,” Mariam said.

Rather than showing real journalists on screen, Zarin TV could now present stories through AI-generated anchors that matched the language, audience and style of each broadcast.

The organisation experimented with producing content in seven languages so the team could carefully select avatars that feel culturally appropriate for each audience.

The realism of the avatars also helped audiences engage with the content naturally.

“A lot of people didn’t even realise it was AI,” she said.

By combining journalist-created scripts with AI presenters, Zarin TV gained a scalable way to publish sensitive stories without exposing contributors to unnecessary risk.

Expanding access to news across languages and borders

Before adopting AI avatars, producing multilingual content was much more difficult and time-consuming. Now, Zarin TV can adapt stories for different audiences while maintaining consistency across broadcasts.

The team’s journalists develop the reporting and scripts, while producers choose the most suitable avatar and language for each story.

This approach allows Zarin TV to reach audiences well beyond Afghanistan while helping global viewers understand the realities of life inside the country.

The platform currently attracts nearly two million visitors to its website each month, and it continues to build audiences across social channels. The organisation also sees future opportunities to expand beyond traditional news programming.

AI avatars make those possibilities achievable while preserving the anonymity that is still essential for many contributors.

Giving journalists the freedom to share stories safely

For Zarin TV, the greatest value of HeyGen isn’t efficiency or production speed. It’s protection.

The platform enables journalists to report on sensitive issues, discuss difficult realities, and amplify underrepresented voices without exposing themselves or their families to unnecessary risk.

“HeyGen has given us more freedom,” Mariam said.

She added that the platform’s most important contribution is “the anonymity that we can provide our journalists”.

If AI avatars were no longer available, Zarin TV would likely have to rely on audio-only reporting, obscured identities, or significantly reduced video production. Instead, the organisation can continue creating engaging, human-centred content that audiences connect with.

For a mission-driven media organisation operating under uniquely difficult circumstances, that capability is transformative.

By combining independent journalism with AI avatars, Zarin TV is creating a safer way to tell stories, protect reporters, and ensure that voices from Afghanistan continue to be heard around the world.