Yet again, Freedom Forum has been concerned over an incident of press freedom violation occurred in the capital city on 23, 2011.
A reporter Rohit Bhandari, and cameraperson Jayaraj Thapliya with the Mountain Television were manhandled by the responsible employees of the Social Welfare Council in course of making news about the agitation of the employees and corruption in the Council.
According to reporter Bhandari, Council Director Madan Rimal and Deputy Director Bhagawati Sangraula not only tried to seize the camera but also took them inside a room and manhandled, saying, "Who bribed you to make news about this office?" Mr Bhandari added that they were visualizing the agitation of the employee and trying to seek information about the corruption.
Such involvement of government officials in the suppression of media freedom is quite condemnable. Manhandling journalists is detrimental to press freedom because it incites self-censorship.
So, the Freedom Forum urges the concerned government officials to be serious towards journalists' right to make news on the issues of public concern. Also, they must respect people's right to information.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022