Status of Press Freedom in Nepal after Janaandolan II

“The legal environment in Nepal for the press has improved significantly since the April 2006 uprising, and several restrictive measures were repealed shortly after Parliament was restored. The interim constitution provides for press freedom and specifically prohibits censorship, although these rules can be suspended during an emergency. Authorities are barred from closing or cancelling the registrations of media outlets due to content.”- Freedom House
>Our Score on Freedom
Overall Freedom
Freedom House measures Freedom in Nepal as “Partly Free”. Nepal has scored 4 on both Political Rights and Civil Liberties, while 1 representing the highest level of freedom and 7 representing the lowest level of freedom. (2010)

Press Freedom
Freedom House measures Freedom of the Press in Nepal as “Partly Free” with total score of 57, while 0 means the best and 100 means the worst. (2009)
Freedom House evaluates…
The law guarantees freedom of the press, and Nepalese media were active and provided diverse views in 2008, but a number of threats to media freedom remain.
While the 2007 Freedom of Information Act (FIA) has generally been met with enthusiasm by press freedom groups, there were several reports in 2008 of journalists being denied access to government information.
The FNJ reported 342 press freedom violations in 2008, and noted a rise in the number of attacks on journalists that went unpunished. Supporters of political parties regularly threatened or attacked critical journalists.
The International Press Institute reported 63 instances of press violations in the two months prior to CA elections. Journalists were denied transportation permits to cover certain election events, and security officials reportedly threatened local media groups for reporting on election-related violence. In several cases, activists with the Young Communist League (YCL), which is affiliated with then Communist Party of Nepal–Maoist (CPN-M), threatened or attacked journalists for publishing negative stories about their party. In one case, CPN-M supporters in Kaski kidnapped a journalist following critical coverage. Other political parties and the Armed Police Force were also responsible for violence and intimidation during the campaign.
The southern Terai region remained a hostile environment for journalists.

(The first part of the presentation by Sagarmatha College BA 2nd year students at a seminar held on 14 August).