Communication Registrar Office under Province 3 govt holds interaction on challenges, opportunities of online media in Nepal

Published On: December 20, 2019 05:00 PM NPT By: Kunga Hyolmo

Photo: Republica

KATHMANDU, Dec 20: Communication Registrar Office under the Province 3 government on Friday held an interaction in the capital on challenges and opportunities of online media in Nepal.

Addressing the event, Minister of Internal Affairs and Law of Province 3 Salikram Jamarkattel said that the provincial government has been able to achieve remarkable progress in terms of mass media management by formulating the Communication Media Management Act-2075 BS and Regulations-2076 BS.

"In accordance with these laws, the provincial council of ministers has appointed journalist Rewati Sapkota as the first communication registrar of the province in order to manage various mass communication media in Province 3," he said.

Jamarkattel also shared that he had to go through a number of bureaucratic and administrative hurdles for months in course of passing the media-related laws from the provincial government. He blamed the bureaucracy for creating unnecessary hurdles in making decisions at the provincial level.

"The lackluster performance of bureaucracy has invited confusions in the decision-making process at the provincial level in the new federal set-up. It needs to be changed," he said.

Delivering his remarks, communication registrar Sapkota said online media is expanding its footprint in Nepal in recent years.

"As the news websites have been mushrooming with limited resources in comparison to the traditional mainstream media. Consequently, many news sites have appeared as non-serious or whimsical. In this context, they need to be well-regulated. I think this is a big challenge," he said. Sapkota said that online journalism can play a significant role in terms of realizing the goal of making Nepal fully digitized.

To encourage the working journalists in Province 3, the Communication Registrar Office is mulling on establishing a welfare fund for media personnel, he added.

During the event, journalists Umesh Shrestha and Prabesh Subedi made their separate presentations on challenges, current trends and technical aspects of online media in Nepal.