Freedom Forum has been alarmed over the increasing number of death threats on journalists associated with the Kantipur daily over a news story.
The Kantipur daily is a leading newspaper published from different parts of the country, including capital city, Kathmandu.
On May 8, journalist Balram Baniya had published an analytical news story on his byline about government's decision of purchasing LED bulbs to address the load shedding.
In the news, he had argued that the government was planning to purchase bulbs on exorbitant price, and by bypassing the Public Procurement Act.
After the publication of the news, he received numerous threats of attack and of death especially from the social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter.
Posting Baniya's photo on Facebook, a person says, "If anyone finds this person, please finish him off."
After the newspaper published the follow up story carrying the byline of Baniya and his colleague Krishna Acharya later on May 12, both got threats over the Facebook and Twitter.
Freedom Forum vehemently condemns the incident, as it is the sheer violation of press freedom. The death threats being viral on social networking sites have panicked the journalists. FF strongly urges the concerned security authorities to stay informed of the situation to prevent attack on the journalists. Similarly, those labeling hasty threats are urged to respect journalists' right to free reporting. They can file complaint at the media content regulatory body if they have reservation on the news content.
For more information
Freedom Forum
Thapathali, Kathmandu
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np; info@freedomforum.org.np
www.nepalpressfreedom.org.np; www.freedomforum.org.np