Revision of Mass Communications policy stressed

Narayan Prasad Ghimire / Kathmandu, Dec 15: Various persons working in the sector of mass communications and media have expressed concern over different issues in the National Mass Communications Policy 2016.

During a stakeholders’ discussion on the National Mass Communications Policy organized by Freedom Forum in the capital city on Thursday, senior radio journalist Raghu Mainali said the policy was guided by negative restrictions. “The policy is full of contradictions- on the one hand, it signals full press freedom, while it says even the transport department can operate radio. What’s the logic behind fixing 18 years’ license for radio? Why the provinces are given rights to allocate radio frequency, he wondered.

Media expert Dr Ram Krishna Timalsina said time has come for all to mull the implementation of the policy. He cautioned that foreign investment in Nepali media at a time when the country is yet to be stable can’t be a welcome move.

Information Officer at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tikaram Pokharel suggested the Freedom Forum’s team of comparative analysis of the policy to reveal both positive and negative sides of the all media related policies. He complained that the present policy has failed to link itself with the citizen. The policy is mute on social accountability of media, he argued.

Similarly, senior advocate Ram Krishna Nirala said it editorial independence was impossible when the same person is publisher and reporter in a print media.

Advocate Rudra Sharma said the policy speaks very little on social media.

Mass communications teachers at university Lekhnath Pandey and Prakash Acharya said many community radio were badly misused by political leaders. This policy does not speak much about multifaceted issues of mass communications, they claimed.

Chairman of Independent Film Makers’ Society, Anup Subedi, expressed wonder: “Is film a separate arena or one of the mass communications medium. If it is a mass communications medium, why is film censored in Nepal. ”

On the occasion, Coordinator of mass communications high level committee and chairman of Administrative Court Kashiraj Dahal, admitted that how a policy could be a complete document while the national charter itself draws diverse reactions. However, the mass communications policy has made signals for wider communications fraternity. The policy has come in point-wise rather than descriptive manner, he made it clear.

Presenting the paper on study of National Mass Communications Policy, FF Chief Executive Taranath Dahal and advocate Santosh Sigdel argued that the policy despite having several good feature has failed to be a comprehensive document, there by attracting criticism on various points as of frequency distribution, licence, role of State-owned media, efforts to suppress internet-based media and so on.

As the investment in media is not transparent, Nepali journalists have suffered a lot, said Vice-Chairperson of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Anita Bindu, wondering to know how the policy has addressed it.

At a time when the stakeholders showed concern over various points, Joint Secretary Ram Chandra Dhakal said all- people, system and law- should be empowered for effective implementation of any policy.

However, he said the Ministry would receive the feedback positively and incorporate them accordingly. “As the policy is a dynamic document, it can be revised as per the need, he added, saying, “I think this policy is not adequate to regulate social media.”

According to him, it is as global problem how social media can be regulated. RSS