KATHMANDU:  Various persons working in the sector of mass communications and media have expressed concerns over different issues in the National Mass Communications Policy, 2016. During a stakeholders’ discussion on the National Mass Communications Policy organised by the Freedom Forum in the Capital city on Thursday, senior radio journalist Raghu Mainali said the policy was guided by negative restrictions. “The policy is full of contradictions. What is the logic behind fixing 18 years’ time for a radio licence? Why the provinces are given rights to allocate the radio frequency', he wondered. Media expert Dr Ram Krishna Timalsina said it was high time that all mulled the implementation of policy. Information Officer at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tikaram Pokharel suggested the Freedom Forum’s team of comparative analysis of the policy to reveal both positive and negative sides of the all media-related policies. He complained that the present policy had failed to link itself with citizens. The policy was mute on social accountability of media, he argued. Similarly, senior advocate Ram Krishna Nirala said the editorial independence was impossible when the same person was publisher and reporter in a print media. Advocate Rudra Sharma said the policy spoke very little on social media. Mass communications teachers at the Tribhuvan University, Lekhanath Pandey and Prakash Acharya, said many community radios were badly misused by political leaders. This policy further did not speak much about multifaceted issues of mass communications, they claimed. On the occasion, Coordinator of Mass Communications High Level Committee and Chairman of Administrative Court, Kashiraj Dahal, admitted that a policy could not be a complete document while the national charter itself had been drawing diverse reactions. However, the mass communications policy has made signals for wider communications fraternity, he claimed. Presenting a paper on study of National Mass Communications Policy, FF Chief Executive Taranath Dahal and advocate Santosh Sigdel argued that the policy, despite having several good features, had failed to be a comprehensive document, thereby attracting criticism on various points. As the investment in media was not transparent, Nepali journalists had suffered a lot, said Vice-Chairperson of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Anita Bindu.