BIRATNAGAR, OCTOBER 19

With 32 days remaining for the federal and provincial elections, experts and mediapersons here discussed the role of media in making the upcoming elections free and fair.

The workshop on fair media coverage, the sixth in a series, was organised yesterday by Media Action Nepal and supported by Canada Fund for Local Initiatives. It covered topics such as professional standards and code of conduct for journalists, media's approach to human rights, countering hate speech, and promoting inclusive media content.

Global media expert and Chairperson of Media Action Nepal Laxman Datt Pant, Chief Officer of Press Council Jhabindra Bhusal, media trainer Yam Bahadur Dura, and Vice-chairperson of Media Action Nepal Priyanka Jha facilitated the workshop attended by 25 journalists from Sunsari, Jhapa and Morang.

Highlighting ethical journalism, Pant stressed the need to disseminate credible information and facts in a timely manner, verifying information from news sources, and giving adequate space to different candidates representing different political parties in the fray. If media or journalists carry out a polling during the elections, the right methodologies must be applied and they should be clearly defined, he said.

Similarly, Bhusal stated that there arises a situation wherein news sources must be protected by not disclosing their identity for their safety and security.

However, journalists should not use this freedom to disseminate baseless and false information, he said.

Stating that the role of media is also to stick to human rights provisions, media expert Yam Bahadur Dura urged journalists to differentiate between fundamental rights and human rights. His presentation focused on the special features of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Likewise, Jha focused on gendered disinformation and its intent to silence and embarrass people who are already at risk such as women and marginalised communities.

Out of the total participants, 15 were female journalists and 10 were male. Two journalists from Province 1 will receive a fellowship based on their commitment and performance in election reporting.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 20, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.