Journalists at https://mayorsap.com/ received threats to remove news critical to the Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan city on February 8. The incident took place in Bagmati Province of Nepal.
The story published on the online media in Editor R.C. Mishra's byline on March 15 was about the alleged connection of Mayor Renu Dahal with operation of illegal crusher industries in Bharatpur. Following its publication, staffs of the Mayor's secretariat including her press advisor asked the journalists to either delete the news from the portal or edit the news removing Mayor's name.
Editor Mishra said that he and his team were also mistreated when they had gone to the municipality office to meet the Mayor for reporting on ongoing development projects. Chariman of the media Pradip Khadka also shared with Freedom Forum that the officers also followed journalists to other reporting sites and threatened them to delete the news or face consequences.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident as it is a sheer violation of press freedom. The metropolitan office is urged to approach Press Council Nepal for any concern over news published on the portal.
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