Nothing against the “letter and spirit” This directive for journalists was published in Gorkhapatra, the government-owned daily, on February 3: “Invoking Sub Clause 1 of Clause 15 of His Majesty’s Print and Publication Act 2048 and considering the nation and national interest, His Majesty’s Government has banned for six months any interview, article, news, notice,…
Before the arrival of democracy in 1990, no independent newspapers were published in Nepal. State media praised government policies and refused to carry critical comment or analysis. A few privately owned tabloids vaguely affiliated with political parties were tolerated, largely because their news coverage was sensationalist and often sleazy. Radio and television were entirely government run.
APRIL 26, 2005 Posted: May 4, 2005 Dwarika Uprety, Roadmap DETAINED The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the arrest of Dwarika Uprety, publisher of the weekly Roadma. Plainclothes security officers detained Uprety while he was walking to work this morning in the Putalisadak district of Kathmandu, according to the Kantipur news Web site.
New York, April 26, 2005 —The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s arrest of Dwarika Uprety, publisher of the weekly Roadmap. Plainclothes security officers detained Uprety while he was walking to work this morning in the Putalisadak district of Kathmandu, according to the Kantipur news Web site. The editor of Roadmap, Kamal Koirala, said in…
APRIL 18, 2005 Posted: April 19, 2005 Surya Thapa, Budhabar HARASSED Government officials summoned Budhabar weekly editor Surya Thapa to question him about a cartoon and article published in his magazine. Officials at the District Administration Office in Kathmandu asked Thapa to clarify the intent of a cartoon published on March 30, which compared then-recent…
Kathmandu, Nepal, April 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the government of Nepal to end the harassment and imprisonment of journalists and to repeal restrictions imposed on private media in the wake of King Gyanendra’s February 1 emergency proclamation. During a press conference in Kathmandu at the end of a weeklong fact-finding…
APRIL 11, 2005 Posted: April 13, 2005 Robin Poudel, Tanahu Aawaj IMPRISONED Police in the Tanahu district in western Nepal announced they would hold a local journalist for a three-month detention. The journalist, editor Robin Poudel of Tanahu Aawaj weekly newspaper, was arrested on Friday April 8 while covering a demonstration in Damauli that had…
MARCH 2005 Posted: April 11, 2005 BBC World Service CENSORED The government began blocking news transmissions from the BBC World Service on its state-run Radio Nepal FM 103 station in the capital of Kathmandu, despite having signed an agreement to air news programs in their entirety the previous November.