Govt all set to bring new acts: Communications Minister

KATHMANDU, Feb 27 - Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Friday said that the government has worked up all preliminary plans to implement the Right to Information Act and Working Journalists Act to be effective from the beginning of Nepali New Year.
Speaking at a programme organised by Working Women Journalists in Kathmandu, the Communications Minister, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the government needs constructive support from journalists and media houses to effectively implement these acts.
Coincidentally, Mahara's avowal to implement these two acts has come on the same day Federation of Nepalese journalists (FNJ) announced fourth phase of protests demanding the implementation of the 13-point agreement signed with the government on Dec. 28 last year.
At a time when there has been a widespread criticism on the country's worsening press freedom, Minister Mahara defended that incidents of attack on journalists by political parties have gone down significantly though the incidents associated with the rise of social tensions in the Tarai region have shot up. "The attack on journalists meted out for non-political reasons should not be given political colour", he added.
However, he did not say anything regarding the fourth phase of protest launched by the FNJ today itself.
FNJ President of Dharmendra Jha criticised that the government's reluctance to punish the culprits involved in the murder and abduction of journalists has given rise to the culture impunity. "The government has completely disregarded the 13-point agreement it had signed with us (FNJ), journalists are increasingly under attack, and criminals are walking scot-free. We have no option but to announce our fourth phase of protest," he said.
Kunda Dixit, editor of The Nepali Times, expressed that the political forces has a tendency to use media as a tool to gain power and suppress it once they reach to their destination. "To everyone's disappointment, the media that played a key role to bring about this democratic change, is itself under attack today", he said. "More journalists are killed, threatened, and abducted during these days than during those wartime period. Journalists in Nepal have become news themselves."
Sangita Lama, President of Working Women Journalists said that the workshop will discuss the challenges facing the working women journalists in Nepal.
The programme was participated by journalists, professors and human rights activists from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan and across Nepal.
source : www.ekantipur.com