Lotfullah Najafizada
Photo: Jason Andrew for the Atlantic

Lotfullah Najafizada is an Afghan journalist and the Founder and CEO of Amu TV, a Washington, DC-based international news channel for Afghanistan, broadcasting via satellite and digital platforms to Afghan audiences at home and abroad.

Najafizada brings nearly 20 years of experience in journalism, including more than a decade as Director of TOLOnews TV (2009–2021), Afghanistan’s largest news network. During his tenure, he hosted Afghanistan’s only televised presidential debate in 2019 and interviewed numerous global leaders.

In 2024, he received the joint UK-Canada Press Freedom Award at the UN General Assembly in New York on behalf of his fellow Afghan journalists. He was named Journalist of the Year by One Young World in 2022 and awarded the Press Freedom Hero Medal by Reporters Without Borders in 2016.

He is a former fellow with leading institutions including the Institute of Politics, University of Chicago, the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, and the World Press Institute. He holds a BSc in Economics. He is married to Farida Darvish, and the two of them have three children: Shahryar, Gawharshad, and Ariana.