Journalists are barred from entering into the compound of official residence of Prime Minister K P Oli at Baluwatar, Kathmandu for covering the meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on April 29, 2020.
After the Prime Minister's secretariat obstruction from entering into the residence compound, journalists were forced to stay on the road outside the compound for four hours. The office used to allow journalists to access into the residence compound in the past.
According to journalist Srijana Ghimire of Himalaya Television, police security at the gate barred the journalists from entering into the building citing fear of transmission of Coronavirus (Covid-19).
"They barred us outside the gate stating that there would be crowd inside the compound if we were allowed. Around 15 journalists reached there had to wait outside the residence," said Ghimire.
Freedom Forum expresses serious concern to the PM residence administration's behavior towards media person. Obstructing journalists for news coverage (photos and videos) in an event organized inside the premise of the government-owned property is suspicious. Barring the journalist form reporting is against the constitutional right for freedom of the press, right to information of the public and against democratic values. Hence, FF strongly urges the authority to respect press freedom, citizen's access to information.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np