A community school in Jhapa district has issued a letter seeking clarification over news from a reporter Parth Mandal on July 4. Jhapa district lies in Province 1 of Nepal.
Reporter to www.thahakhabar.com, an online news portal, Mandal shared with Freedom Forum that earlier he had reported about the school administration's unfair selection of the companies through a tender notice on July 2. Following this, the school's principal Raju Budathoki wrote a letter seeking clarification over the news and published it on his facebook page.
Reporter Mandal further added that after publication of the news the local authority investigated the case where the school administration was found guilty.
Freedom Forum is concerned over the incident because it has publicly harassed the journlaist who reported the irregularities in the school. Rather than discrediting media and journalists for writing news, the concerned school could complain at Press Council Nepal in case of dissatisfaction over the news content. School are not the places to dictate journalists on reporting. Journalists have the right to report any issue of public importance. So, the harassment violates press freedom. The school should therefore respect free press and journalists' rights.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np