SEPTEMBER 01, 2008 Journalists working at different media outlets staged protests in front of president’s office in the capital after they were not allowed to cover the swearing-in ceremony of newly-inducted ministers on August 31, Sunday.The journalists resorted to demonstration in front of the gate of president’s office terming this incident the government’s disrespect to the press and violation of the right to information enshrined in the interim constitution.
Over 60-journalists, including those from the state-owned newspaper, television and radio boycotted the function and stood outside the gate despite repeated requests from government ministers and officials.
The journalists blamed that the state was ignoring the journalists and undermining their role.
According to the RSS report, the president’s office has expressed regrets over the discomfort caused to the journalists in the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-appointed deputy prime minister and ministers.
The president’s office also stated that such incident would not occur again in future and formed a team to study into the causes of the incident immediately.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident of barring journalists from covering the national news and welcomes the commitment of corrective measures in this regard. The incident shows government’s narrow vision to journalists and it is the straight violation of journalists’ right to flow information and people’s right to know, Freedom Forum concludes.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022