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🇳🇵 Nepal /Culture & Society

The suppression of free speech

From Kathmandu Post · (4m ago) English Critical tone

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • A reporter for Kantipur Daily was harassed by municipal police while documenting evicted landless squatters, with police demanding footage deletion and citing 'orders from above.'
  • Journalists covering the demolition of a squatter settlement faced similar targeting, highlighting a pattern of intimidation against the press.
  • The Nepali Army has issued warnings against 'misleading content,' and the government is using ordinances and controlling state advertisements to weaken independent media and consolidate power.

The Kathmandu Post reports on a disturbing trend of escalating suppression of free speech and press freedom in Nepal. The recent harassment of Daya Dudraj, a reporter for its sister publication Kantipur Daily, while documenting the plight of evicted squatters, exemplifies the current administration's hostile stance towards independent reporting. The police's demand to delete footage and their justification of 'orders from above' signal a deliberate effort to control information and silence critical voices.

Orders from above.

— Municipal Police PersonnelThe justification given to a reporter for demanding the deletion of recorded footage.

This incident is not isolated. TV journalists Sikha Shrestha and Shyam Shrestha also faced police targeting while covering demolitions. These ordeals, coupled with the Nepali Army's stern warning against 'misleading content' and its threat of legal action, paint a grim picture of an environment where investigative journalism is increasingly under threat. The army's call for reliance solely on official press releases attempts to create a sanitized information ecosystem, stifling the essential freedom to question and potentially turning the media into a mere echo chamber for government narratives.

The encounter reached a pinnacle of absurdity when a police officer compared the possession of a press identification card to the possession of a firearm, asking if the presence of a gun meant it should be fired indiscriminately.

— AuthorIllustrating the unreasonable and hostile attitude of authorities towards journalists.

The Post views this suppression of information as part of a broader strategy of governance through shadows and secrets. Prime Minister Balendra Shah's avoidance of the press and the government's increased reliance on ordinances to bypass parliamentary debate weaken democratic checks and balances. Furthermore, a calculated economic assault on independent media is underway, with a government circular mandating that all public advertisements be funnelled exclusively through state-owned outlets. This move deprives private media of vital revenue, effectively starving the voices that hold the government accountable.

These two recent ordeals faced by journalists serve as a manifesto of this new era of suppression.

— AuthorCharacterizing the incidents as representative of a broader crackdown on the press.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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