Media Alliance Nepal formed to make media industry impartial and accountable

Published On: September 23, 2020 05:30 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: Media Alliance Nepal has been formed with an objective of making Nepal’s media industry impartial, neutral and accountable to the public.

At a function in Kathmandu on Wednesday, an ad hoc committee under the leadership of Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar was formed. Karnikar is the Chairman of Avenues Television.

Mahendra Sherchan of Rajdhani Daily and Raju Kandel of Mountain Television have been picked as the organization’s vice-chairmen. Laxman Humangai (CEO of Image Channel) is the general secretary, and Ujjwal Sharma (CEO of Impression Publication) is a treasurer of the Alliance.

Dr Bijaya Poudel (Janata Television), Rishi Dhamala (Prime Television), Rajendra Shakya (AP 1 Television) and Samridhi Gyawali (Nepal Republic Media) are the members in the ad-hoc committee.

Likewise, Binod Raj Gyawali, Managing Director/Chairman of Nepal Republic Media, and Chairman of Annapurna Media Network Rameshwar Thapa are advisors of the Alliance.

The newly-established institution seeks to find solutions to address challenges in Nepali media, according to a declaration released on Wednesday.

As per the declaration, the alliance will take initiatives on media-related policies and laws, make Nepali media more accountable to the public, work to protect rights of journalists, employees and staff in the media houses, and protect media owners’ investment.

The Alliance also wants the government to recognize Nepali media industry as a service industry. The Alliance hopes to scrap or amend outdated media-related laws. “The organization will draft a policy to self-regulate the media,” read the declaration.

As per the declaration, individuals, organizations or institutions that don’t clear payments for long in one media organization and start financial transactions with another media organization, the Alliance will take initiation to blacklist them.

“The alliance will take collective effort toward resolving problems of media owners, but it will not interfere into internal affairs of a particular media organization,” read the declaration.