The stage is set for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in India, with 543 seats up for grabs. Scheduled to begin on April 19 and conclude on June 1, the elections will unfold over seven phases, with results slated to be out on June 4. Prime Minister Modi has already kicked off his campaign, aiming for a repeat of his landslide victories in 2014 and 2019.

KATHMANDU, Dec 31: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has assessed 2023 as a challenging year for the promotion of press freedom and freedom of expression. Instances of violations against these freedoms increased this year compared to the previous year (2022).

LUMBINI, April 2: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has demanded the government that it brought the laws in favour of citizen's rights, press freedom and right to information.

KATHMANDU, May 3: While expressing worry that the conflict era cases of crimes against journalists in Nepal remain unsolved, experts have called on the government to abide by its press freedom commitment.

KATHMANDU, May 3: As many as 75 incidents of violation of press freedom were recorded in the last one year.

KATHMANDU, Feb 10: Laxman Datt Pant, chairperson of Media Action Nepal (MAN), has been elected to co-lead a key global network to defend and promote press freedom across the world.

KATHMANDU, Dec 20: Nepali Congress (NC) General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma has underlined the need of sending the message of social transformation through actions.

GANDAKI, Nov 1: Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokharel today said that the provincial government is committed to ensuring press freedom.

KATHMANDU, Feb 17: The 26th general convention of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), the umbrella organization of Nepali journalists, began on Wednesday morning.

KATHMANDU, Dec 31: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges and pushed the media into an uncharted territory. Across the globe, press freedom has been undermined by governments to control the public narrative and cover up their inadequacies. Authorities have clamped down on the media to control information and public debate about the pandemic.

Several of the journalists who have been attacked by police recently are foreign correspondents working for overseas outlets.

LONDON – I had been captive in Afghanistan for about two weeks when the government of my home country, Canada, contacted those attempting to negotiate my release. They told negotiators to get me on the phone the next day, when the United States military would be flying a drone over where they thought I was being held, in order to determine my whereabouts.

KATHMANDU, April 4: A senior leader of the main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), Shekhar Koirala has asked Prime Minister KP Oli to immediately sack his IT consultant Asgar Ali as the latter has courted a serious controversy for his alleged involvement in removing of news content from a Kathmandu-based news website kathmandupress.com.

KATHMANDU, Feb 21: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has sought further improvements in the Media Council Bill and Information Technology (IT) Bill before proceeding with the bills.

NEPALGUNJ, Jan 30: Senior journalist and press freedom campaigner Panna Lal Gupta has passed away at the age 92. He died at the Teaching Hospital Nepalgunj in course of treatment.

KATHMANDU, Nov 27: Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has demanded the government to launch a probe into the death of Bajura-based journalist Tej Bahadur Khadka.

KATHMANDU, Nov 22: Federation of Nepali Journalists will organize a nation-wide demonstration on Sunday to exert pressure on the government and concerned stakeholders to ensure press freedom and protection of journalists.

Democratic governments should recognize attacks on press freedom and use measures to pressure perpetrators to uphold freedom of expression

KATHMANDU, Nov 2: Nearly 500 journalists were killed throughout the world between 2014 and 2018 which accounted for an 18% increase in the number of killings, as compared to the preceding five-year period (2009-2013).

CHITWAN, Oct 26 (RSS): Nepali Congress General Secretary Dr Shashanka Koirala has said the freedom of press means freedom in country. In his address to a reception organized by Nepal Press Union (NPU) Chitwan chapter here today on the occassion of Tihar, the NC General Secretary said the status of press freedom indicates how the country enjoys freedom.

KATHMANDU, Sept 30: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has said the incumbent government was trying to muzzle up the freedom of the press.

Amendments on media council bill

KATHMANDU, Aug 29: The government has registered Media Council Bill 2075 at the National Assembly on Thursday.

KATHMANDU, July 5: Spokesperson of the government and Minister for Information and Communications Gokul Banskota on Friday said that the government has no intention of curtailing the press freedom.

SYDNEY, June 26: Australia’s national broadcaster and two biggest newspaper publishers called on the government on Wednesday to protect press freedom, declaring media laws outdated, inconsistent and used by the powerful to keep embarrassing information secret.

AMSTERDAM – It has been more than eight months since Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and critic of his home country’s government who had been living in self-exile, was tortured, killed, and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. As the Saudis bent over backward to obscure the truth about Khashoggi’s fate, Turkey launched an investigation. As expected, not much has come of it.

KATHMANDU, June 22: A section of civil society staged a demonstration in Kathmandu on Saturday.

KATHMANDU, June 21: Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota has made it clear the government has no policy to pose challenges to democracy and the free press.

Comedian and architect Pranesh Gautam’s arrest for his satirical review of the movie “Bir Bikram 2” got mixed reactions from the public. While some believed that Gautam had overstepped the line, many thought it was an outright violation of his freedom of speech. Our constitution guarantees free expression but where does one draw the line?

KATHMANDU, May 25: At a time when journalists and media stakeholders are protesting various provisions in the Media Council Bill now registered in parliament , the press freedom advocacy organization Freedom Forum has suggested amendments to 20 provisions in 15 sections of the bill.

BIRATNAGAR, May 18: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has accused the government of failing to come up with a single work of substantive value in favor of the people.

KATHMANDU, May 13: The Sajha Bibeksheel Party has suggested the government to hold deep discussion with bodies concerned in response to the questions raised over the proposed Media Council Bill.

KATHMANDU, May 13: As the government drafts bills, one after another, curtailing press freedom, experts have advised the media watchdog organizations to challenge the bills in court.

KATHMANDU, May 12: Nepali Congress has said that the proposed media law is ‘coup’ against press freedom.

KATHMANDU, May 3: The World Press Freedom Day has been celebrated across the globe on May 3 since 1993. Member nations of the United Nations have started marking the day once the UN General Assembly proclaimed it in 1993.

KATHMANDU, May 1: The Federation of Nepali Journalists, an umbrella organisation of working journalists in the country, hosted a solidarity rally for press freedom and freedom of expression to mark the 26th International Press Freedom day here this morning.

KATHMANDU, March 8: New proposed laws relating to social media use in Nepal are intended to stifle dissent and silence critical voices, say global and regional human rights groups.

KATHMANDU, Jan 31: Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota likes to give out the impression of a political leader who truly cares about journalism. Baskota, himself a journalist who turned politician, keeps harping on the need to improve the working condition of working journalists.

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: A report titled the Status of Media Freedom in Nepal, which was unveiled in the capital on Sunday, has demanded amendments to the provisions in the new Criminal Code that curtail media freedom.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

CHITWAN, Oct 12: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has said although the new constitution had come into force, the rights guaranteed by it were yet to be fully implemented.

NC to stand against govt's efforts to restrict press freedom

KATHMANDU, Sept 16: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has announced fresh programs aimed at exerting pressure on the government to consider amendments to the legal provisions in the new Civil Code and Criminal Code. The newly introduced codes, intended to reform the country's legal system, govern the conduct of everybody, rich and poor alike, replacing the 55-year-old Civil Code.

HANOI/UNITED NATIONS, Sept 14: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday the jailing of two Reuters journalists had nothing to do with freedom of expression and that they can appeal against their seven-year sentences, prompting a sharp rebuke from the United States.

KATHMANDU, Sept 2:  Various political leaders have pledged to lobby and make initiations for amending the laws that restrict press freedom.

KATHMANDU, Aug 22: Amid criticism from various quarters that the newly enacted Muluki Codes contain regressive provisions against press freedom, the government has come up with yet another piece of  legislation with stricter provisions on  collection and publication of information on   individuals, including public office bearers.

MYANMAR, Aug 21: The judge in the trial of two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar on accusations of obtaining secret state documents said on Monday he will deliver his verdict on Aug. 27, in a case seen as a test of press freedom in the fledgling democracy.