Looking for Trouble

Hard times for journalists in Nepal

A Nepali journalist emailed this morning, saying that these are hard times for news media in Nepal. Deepak Adhikari, a reporter with the Kantipur Daily, said, “The editors and publishers of the publication where I work have been threatened by an unidentified group.” He directed me to an article he just published with Media Helping Media, and organization that “ has been set up to provide training resources and a voice for those involved in the media in transition states, post-conflict countries and areas where freedom of expression and media freedom is under threat.”

In his article Deepak said, “Publishers and editors of Kantipur Publications in Nepal have been told to stop reporting on the circumstances surrounding the murder last week of Nepali media entrepreneur Jamim Shah.

“Shah was assassinated on Sunday 7 February in the capital Kathmandu.

“Kailash Sirohiya, the publisher and Managing Director of Kantipur Publications, Nepal’s largest media conglomerate, says he received a threatening email in which he was warned that he must stop the coverage of Jamim Shah’s murder or face the consequences.

“Sudheer Sharma, the editor of Kantipur Daily, Nepal’s largest circulation newspaper and Ahilesh Upadhyay, the editor of The Kathmandu Post, received phone calls in their offices in which a male caller with an Indian accent threatened to take action against them and their publications.

“The threats have caused concern for journalists working in the country where violence against the media is on the rise. As a result, there is now an atmosphere of fear in many of the country’s newsrooms.”

No one is accusing anyone, at this point, but journalists and journalists’ organizations are urging the government to fully investigate this and other attacks on journalists.

Following the killing of Jamim Shah, the Committee to Protect Journalists on Feb. 10 joined with its colleague in the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) to demand an end to what it described as “the impunity surrounding attacks on journalists in Nepal.”

The committee’s statement said, “The FNJ made the demands today in Kathmandu during a protest rally that came two days after the shooting death of Jamim Shah, the chairman of the Nepalese television station and satellite network Space Time Network.
“Local and international media reports say Shah, a successful entrepreneur with many media and other business interests was killed Sunday evening by two masked gunmen on motorbikes in Kathmandu’s Lazimpat district…

At the time, Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, said, “The government has yet to make good on its assurances that it made when it came to power that killers of journalists will not receive political protection.”

Nepal ranks eighth on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, with at least five journalists’ murders currently unsolved.

The CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to “promote press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.”

From March to August, 2008, Deepak worked at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on an Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship, a cultural and professional exchange program for journalists. Here are some links for Deepak:

Deepak’s Diary

His LinkedIn profile

His Twitter