Freedom Forum has come to know that Press Council Nepal blacklisted an English language daily, The Himalayan Times, and its online edition www.thehimalayantimes.com for the news reports published on the daily. Earlier on May 27, the Council had sought clarification from the newspaper after a complaint was filed regarding news on a trekking company- Himalayan Adventures and the associated climber. The newspaper argued despite its fact-based news reporting, the Council sought series of justifications and finally blacklisted it reasoning it wrote a one-sided reporting. Freedom Forum is concerned over the Council’s action against the media. The Council has right to monitor the contents and seek clarification over published contents but blacklisting the media for news report is against the media’s right to press freedom. " Press Council Nepal is not a judicial body to act this way. It needs to act as an ombudsman and make monitoring process of news content transparent," asserted Taranath Dahal, Executive Chief at FF, Taranath Dahal.
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
