Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, owner of the Avenues Television, in the capital city Kathmandu, has reportedly manhandled reporter Nabin Dhungana at the news section of the Television on July 23, 2013.
It is learnt that Television owner Rajkarnikar manhandled reporter Dhungana after he, along with co-workers, demanded their salaries on time, for they have not been paid for 10 months.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident and strongly urges the owner to immediately heed the demands of the working journalists.
Timely remuneration to the working journalists is a big problem in Nepali media. Many journalists are underpaid and unpaid despite full time work. It is quite disappointing and discouraging factor for journalists to continue their profession.
Needless to say, the incident has violated the journalists' right. For free, fair and professional journalism, the media owners too need to respect the Working Journalists' Act.
FF will continue update on this case.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022