POKHARA: Gandaki Province Minister for Law, Communications and Province Assembly Affairs, Bindu Kumar Thapa, has said the media’s role is vital for making the campaign for human rights meaningful.
Inaugurating a three-day training entitled ‘human rights-friendly journalism’ here today, he insisted on the need of using human rights-friendly words and languages in the news reports.
The human rights issue is a highly sensitive and serious matter for journalism, Thapa said, advising people concerned to be especially aware on the collection, dissemination and presentation of news about the human rights. As he argued, lack of theoretical knowledge on human rights would bar the impartial dissemination of the news about the topic.
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member Lily Thapa said the objective of the program was to find ways for promoting human rights and gender-friendly journalism. She took time to urge media people to respect the right to privacy while preparing and disseminating news reports.
Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Gandaki province general secretary Govinda Subedi demanded the withdrawal of the Media Bill- 2077 BS introduced by the government as the document was capable of squeezing the right to press freedom guaranteed by the constitution. He warned that the FNJ would resort to protest if the document was not taken back promptly.
Shedding a light on the objectives of the program, NHRC Spokesperson Dr Tikaram Pokhrel said the protection of human rights seemed not possible without media contribution.
All fundamental rights of the people including the right to freedom and right to information are human rights and the training would revolve around the same issues connecting them to journalism, he said.
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