Command and control

In July, the government announced an amendment to Nepal’s Printing and Publication Act, reportedly without the knowledge of the Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung. 

The amendment gives Nepal’s Chief District Officer (CDO) exclusive authority to regulate the registration, operation and renewal of online media, relieving the Department of Information of a responsibility it had since 2016 through the Online Media Operation Directive. 

This gives local bodies unchecked power to register and suspend online news platforms ‘as they deem fit’. This is the latest in a series of decisions to suppress Nepal’s constitutionally guaranteed press freedom. 

Successive governments since 2015 have attempted to enact laws that suppress criticism of officials, disagreement with  government policies and the right to information. Although veiled as an attempt to regulate excesses on social media, the primary targets of the draft Media Council Bill are journalists and journalism. 

The Bill will replace the 1991 Press Council Act, and has been passed by the National Assembly and went to the House of Representatives three years ago, but ultimately lapsed after the term of the lower House ended in 2022. 

It is being debated again in the House of Representatives since last month with provisions like the formation of a Media Council which will be headed by someone recommended by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, which can also arbitrarily sack the person. It can also take journalists to court and suspend their media IDs.

“The government, with zero opposition and increasing lenience from the judiciary, is setting up legal pathways to retaliate against the media for fulfilling its responsibility of check and balance,” says lawyer Om Prakash Aryal.  

These provisions seek to weaken the existing Press Council, and give politicians and the bureaucracy almost absolute power over the press.  

Stakeholders have proposed amendments to the Bill during deliberations with the National Assembly’s Legislative Committee, but only a few of the concerns have been addressed. 

The Nepali Congress had also introduced 24 amendments to the Bill, but has not backed them after joining the UML-led coalition.

Prime Minister K P Oli had appeared to favour a free press when he assumed office during this tenure last year, but recent press exposes about corruption in high places has made him increasingly critical of journalists and social media content. 

He has publicly attacked the media’s “intolerance and unwillingness to report on the good work done by the government” and urged the press not to publish or broadcast news “that harms the country, causes confusion and weakens public morale”.

Even while the Bill is being debated, the government has repeatedly invoked the Electronic Transaction Act to harass journalists or accuse the media of contempt of court. Bizmandu, Nepalkhabar, Drishti Weekly, and Nepali Times sister publication Himalkhabar have all been charged. 

Last week the Supreme Court published the full text of the verdict of the contempt of court against sidhakura.com, which was convicted last year after the outlet published news that included audio files claiming collusion between media operators and Supreme Court justices to dismiss corruption cases, which were determined to be fake following a forensic examination.

In the verdict, the Supreme Court states that while the media is guaranteed the right to print and publish news and audiovisual material, these rights are not absolute but ‘subject to restriction’, per constitutional provision, which is under Article 19 of Nepal’s Constitution. 

But the top court’s interpretation and verbiage sets a precedent that allows for state intimidation towards the press for any content that it deems must be restricted, and subject media institutions to unjustified judicial penalties. 

Despite its history of defending media freedom, the Press Council has become an instrument of government and corporate entities, and is so politicised that it has not gone beyond platitudes. 

The Press Council has blacklisted 29 media outlets, instructed registered online portals pahilopost.com and News of Nepal, as well as unregistered portals to remove content, and shadow-banned other web portals.

Violations of the Press Council’s code of conduct were previously classified as disobedience. Now, the Council has gone as far as to have the Cyber Bureau go after the media.

The Press Council has written to the Bureau to take action against 43 YouTube channels, seven of them for content related to Prime Minister K P Oli. Diyopost was blacklisted for reporting on the Press Council and its former chair Balkrishna Basnet.

While the Press Council has been monitoring journalists, the proposed Media Council attempts to control media companies themselves. This is a double-barrel targetting of journalism.

Nepal is still considered one of the few remaining open societies in Asia, but recent government moves threaten our hard won freedom. Although better than other countries in the region, Nepal still slipped from 74th place in 2024 to 90th place this year on the World Press Freedom Index. 

The US State Department’s 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices briefly outlined Nepal’s press freedom scenario, stating that the government generally respected the right to freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, but added that “the government did not make sufficient efforts to preserve the safety and independence of media”

The report is ironic coming from an administration that has defunded public broadcasting institutions, barred selected institutions access to the White House, and continued to be hostile to media and journalists. In April, the Committee to Protect Journalists, following Trump’s 100th day in office, released a report concluding that press freedom was ‘no longer a given in the United States’. 

As it stands, Prime Minister Oli seems to be taking tips from Indian Prime Minister Modi on suppressing freedom of expression. The government is not just muzzling the press, but also constricting the right to peaceful assembly, dissent and debate. The end-goal seems to be to gag the press ahead of the 2027 elections. 

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