Reporters Nisha Gurung and Saroj Poudel were misbehaved while reporting in Hetauda, Makwanpur on July 27. Makwanpur lies in Bagmati Province of Nepal.
Reporter Nisha Gurung is associated with Hetauda Sandesh daily and reporter Saroj Poudel is associated with TEAM Television.
Reporter Gurung shared with Freedom Forum that they were at Province Dairy Development Board to report on the procurement process and quality of the cow mat to be provided as a grant to the local farmers. While the reporters' duo tried to talk to the director of the board Dr. Sulochana Shrestha, she refused to answer and said that she would rather talk to the media owner about it.
She also abused the reporters saying, "if you need money and advertisement, go and take it".
After the incident, the reporters returned back without reporting. Further reporter Gurung worried that she was scared of the consequences and thus did not want to disclose the incident in public. Freedom Forum condemns the assault to the reporters working frontline amid risk of the Coronavirus infection. Reporters have right to question the concerned authority and report on the issues of public concern. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to respect the journalists, their right to free reporting and cooperate those in future ensuring free access to information.
For more information
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np