Freedom Forum reminded the Council that the move to shut down media websites is beyond its jurisdiction.
This statement was originally published on nepalpressfreedom.org on 7 April 2023.
Press Council Nepal, a media regulatory body, has written a letter to the Nepal Telecommunicaitons Authority instructing it to shut down 15 online news portals on April 5.
According to the letter, the Council has requested the media shutdown, following a complaint filed by the News Agency Nepal stating that the concerned online news portals copied its contents, which were shared among the agency’s subscribers and published on their website.
The Council’s letter further stated that the concerned online news portals were not found to be registered and listed in the Council and they have violated the journalists’ code of conduct. Thus, the news sites should be blocked in Nepal until the next decision, according to the Council.
The news portals are banikhabar.com, harekinfo.com, sanchartime.com, khabarpapers.com, malayakhabar.com, hamrosutra.com, directsamachar.com, kantipurpati.com, nepalbishesh.com, nepaltajabnahas.com, junelikhabar.com, bihanimedia.com, setobaagh.com, londonnepalnews.com and spacesamachar.com.
Copying and disseminating one’s content without mentioning the source is an unethical and unprofessional practice. It is evidently against the journalists’ code of conduct and FF also urges media houses to abide by the code.
However, the Council’s move to shut down the media is beyond its jurisdiction. The misuse of an ISP against the media is also a wrong practice.
The Council needs to encourage best practices rather than block news media, thereby breaching media freedom. At the same time, media houses must abide by the code.
The Council must not be misused to suppress press freedom.
