Kathmandu, Feb 20: Nepal Press Union (NPU) has demanded the government withdraw the 'Social Media Bill, 2081'.
The national conference of the NPU
province and chapter presidents held on February 17-19, hosted by the Union
Central Committee, put forward the demand issuing a 12-point declaration.
The declaration issued after
wrapping up the conference has mentioned that NPU has serious reservation on
some provisions specified in the bill.
The Press Union has called for the
government to consult with the stakeholders on the provisions concerning the
freedom of the press and opinion. In order to ensure the freedom, the media
trade union demanded the withdrawal of the bill.
The 12-point declaration was
released after holding intensive discussions on the organisational activities
of NPU, issues of working journalists and journalism, professional security of journalists,
freedom of press and expression, technology-enabled challenges to the media
sector and media laws.
General Secretary Dilip Poudel
presented the organizational report and senior vice-president and disciplinary
department coordinator Prem KC presented the report of the disciplinary
committee.
The union has also announced to
fully implement the action plan to be prepared by the central committee based
on the recommendations of the conference.
Drawing the attention of the
government and media houses to the issues related to the Working Journalists
Act, implementation of minimum wages, regular payment of wages, professional,
physical, economic and social security of journalists, it has also announced
that all the structures of the union would carry out a pressure campaign as per
the need.
The Union has also drawn its
attention to the laws and guidelines framed by various levels of government in
a way to curb the right to freedom of press and expression.
The NPU has strongly demanded all
three-tier governments to formulate policies, rules, acts, laws and regulations
related to communication to ensure the rights guaranteed by the
Constitution.
"Print, television and radio
are on the verge of shutdown as the problems seen in the country's economy have
affected the advertising market", reads the declaration.
The conference of province and
chapter presidents calls for increasing ad amount by including online media in
public welfare advertisements by streamlining the proportional advertisement
distribution system when the trend of opening online media has become
widespread, it is noted.
All chapter and province committees
have pledged to implement programmes including capacity development, vocational
training in journalism, programmes to support journalists in trouble,
insurance, social security, incentives and writing fellowships to make
effective the 'Press Union with Journalists' campaign announced by the central
committee.
"The statute amendment process
will be initiated to make the Press Union Statute 2048 (Sixth Amendment-2079)
timely and practical. The Union is going to organize 'Lomanthang International
Media Summit' in the month of Chaitra (March-April) to enable environment to
follow international media practice in Nepal.
The NPU has urged the Federation of
Nepali Journalists (FNJ) to immediately initiate a process of retaining
membership of journalists who have been excluded from its membership. (RSS)