A policeperson has issued a threat of attack against news editor Opendra Basnet at the Prakriti FM of Dang, a hilly district in the Midwestern region of Nepal on December 2, 2012.
Talking to Media Monitoring Desk of the Freedom Forum, Station Manager at the Prakriti FM, Sangit Basyal said, "Inspector Puran Neupane threatened Editor Basnet of attack over the news aired about police manhandling news reader Karna Chaudhari."
Meanwhile, the Prakriti FM expressed worry and wonder after Superintendent of Police Shanti Ram Thapa wrote a letter to the FM, seeking justification why the news was aired though the police had not misbehaved with FM journalist Chaudhari. Rather the news dishonoured the police organization, Thapa argued.
Freedom Forum, after screening the statements of both sides, concludes that threatening editor of attack over the news is obviously a violation of press freedom. Similarly, the way of seeking justification by the police shows highhandedness and is against due process because they could move to the regulatory body if had any reservation on news content.
Therefore, it is condemnable that the police, an administration shouldering responsibility to provide security to all, was panicking the public- that too -media by going against rules.
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Freedom Forum
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