Freedom Forum said that the removal of the online version of a newspaper article, which tackled the upcoming convention of Nepal's ruling party, is a violation of press freedom.
This statement was originally published on freedomforum.org.np on 10 December 2021.
Freedom Forum is alarmed over the deletion of an article critical of the government from a State-owned newspaper’s online version on December 7. The newspaper, Gorkhapatra Daily, is run from the federal capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.
The article, entitled “Expectations from Nepali Congress’s general convention” (in Nepali language), was written by Ghanashyam Bhatta and published on both the print and online versions of the Gorkhapatra national daily on the same day.
A few hours after its publication, the article was removed from the online news portal, www.gorkhapatraonline.com.
On this, the author Bhatta reportedly posted a status on his Facebook account stating that, “the article has been deleted due to political pressure, Poor democracy!”
His article was about the upcoming general convention of the ruling political party Nepali Congress and its leadership.
The incident amounts to an authoritarian move by the government and political leaders. The removal of the article from the news site is a sheer violation of press freedom and a serious insult to the writer. Criticising politics, government and the leadership is an exercise of freedom of speech, so deleting the opinion piece from the media is an anti-press activity. The government is urged to build tolerance and protect press freedom, to work towards a sustainable democracy.
