On World Press Freedom Day (May 3) Secretary of Law at the Sudurpaschim Province Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, Liladhar Subedi wrote a post on his social media- “Best wishes to the journalists and media houses who write news for money on Press Freedom Day.”
On this post, Secretary Subedi also shared an online portal Ebigul.com’s post about news related to his vengeance on Director (Officer, Tenth Level) of the Education Division under the Ministry of Social Development Ganesh Bahadur Singh who was transferred to the Provincial Public Service Commission following his comments on a news. Subedi has specially quoted journalist Shivaraj Bhatta and two media houses Ebigulnews.com and Annapurna Post national daily on his post.
Journalist Bhatta is associated with both the media outlets. Sharing about the incident with Freedom Forum’s province representative Min Bam, Bhatta said that Secretary Singh should either prove his allegation against him or he should be punished as per law.
On May 4, Journalist Bhatta along with fellow journalists submitted a protest note to the province’s Acting Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Thapa demanding action against the Secretary for his statement on social media. According to Bam, Acting Chief Minister showed serious concern on the incident and has expressed his commitment to initiate investigation on the case soon.
The post of secretary came after news about misconduct of Secretary Singh in the ministry and his social media posts was published in Annapurna post daily on April 26.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident. There is a proper mechanism to file complaints about published news at the Press Council Nepal. However, the secretary's act of posting abusive content on social media undermines the credibility of the media. This is a gross violation of press freedom.
For more,
Freedom Forum