Freedom Forum's attention has been drawn towards an incident of press freedom violation occurred in Biratnagar, an eastern city in the southern plain of Nepal on June 10, 2013.
Brahma Dev Yadav, reporter to the Popular FM of Inaruwa and Kaushal Niraula, reporter to the Tarai Television and Radio Makalu was assaulted while reporting about a clash between the police and agitating indigenous people at Biratnagar Sub-Metropolis.
Talking to Freedom Forum, reporter Niraula said, "An employee at Biratnagar Sub-Metropolis attacked me from behind saying 'your write negative news'."
Similarly, Yadav was assaulted by police while reporting about the protest same time, he added.
The incident shows how hostile the responsible persons including police are toward media and discouraging to free reporting. Such cases are responsible for growing threat and self-censorship among the journalist, and the self-censorship is against professional journalism.
Freedom Forum therefore strongly urges concerned authorities to grill the attackers and take action accordingly.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022