KATHMANDU, July 15: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has objected to the provisions in the Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) bill registered at the National Assembly of the federal parliament on July 11.
The umbrella organization of the working journalists in the country has taken exception to the bill provisions proposing to keep public service broadcasting under the government's control and ownership against the universal assumption and fundamental principle of PSB that the government itself does not operate public media in a democracy.
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Issuing a press release statement, the Federation has called for the government to take strides only after ensuring overhaul reforms in the bill which was tabled at the parliament without consultation with and consensus of stakeholders.
The FNJ has also accused the government of ignoring the draft bill presented as an input from the federation.
The FNJ had handed over a draft bill of Nepal Public Service Broadcasting to the government through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on June 28. The government has in many occasions expressed its commitment to transform the state-owned broadcasters – Radio Nepal and Nepal Television into a public service broadcaster. The idea of PSB is to liberate the public broadcasters from political and commercial interests.
