'Govt will never infringe on press freedom'

By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, May 4: Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Govinda Prasad Sharma (Koirala) has said that the government is committed to preserving freedom of expression and will neither introduce nor enact any laws aimed at stifling press freedom.

“The present government strongly believes in the freedom of the press and does not seek to restrict it,” Sharma said on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday. “The media should be made accountable, not controlled.”

Minister Sharma made these remarks at the roundtable discussion organised by Media Action Nepal (MAN) in association with the Nepal Chapter of the World Communicators’ Council (WCC) and the Online TV Journalists Association.

Speaking at the event, the Minister also expressed the government’s willingness to sit and discuss media laws with the relevant stakeholders and urged everyone to come together to review the laws, both existing and in pipeline, in line with the constitutional mandate. 

“But the problem is that the parliament has not been able to function due to the ongoing obstruction by the opposition,” Sharma said. “This has affected the government’s ability to work as desired.”

Sharma also worried that the digital age had raised safety challenges for both journalists and news sources and stressed the need to take steps to address these challenges.

He also said that he would work to logically conclude Nepal’s transitional justice in line with Nepal’s international obligations and Supreme Court’s orders and precedents.

This year, the World Press Freedom Day was marked with the theme ‘Journalism under digital siege.’ 

Participants in Tuesday’s discussion, which included Engineer 

Gogan Bahadur Hamal, director general of the Department of Information and Broadcasting; Jhabidra Bhusal, chief officer of Press Council Nepal; Dr. Kundan Aryal, associate professor at the Central Department of Journalism in Tribhuvan University and officials from other media and 

digital rights organisations, also spoke on the topic.Press Council’s Bhusal shared that our laws and policies had been unable 

to keep pace with the advancements in technology and reminded everyone that freedom of expression was not absolute and more needed to be done to combat misuse of new media. 

Meanwhile, Hamal reiterated Minister Sharma’s point and said that the government was ready to work with all to strengthen press freedom.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also extended his best wishes on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day. Tweeting a picture of a pen, Prime Minister Deuba greeted everyone on the day observed to support media and advocate on behalf of the press.