KATHMANDU, JULY 12

The government is looking for a legal basis to implement clean feed policy, said Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yubaraj Khatiwada.

Minister Khatiwada said so while receiving a memo submitted by three advertising agencies of the country.

The minister said the Advertisement Regulation Bill would be formulated soon to implement the clean feed policy.

“National and international media should run stories adhering to the ethics of journalism,” said the minister.

The memo demanded immediate enforcement of the clean feed policy on foreign TV channels. The government has been preparing to implement the policy from October 24, this year whereas the advertising agencies have demanded implementation of the policy right from the beginning of the new fiscal year 2020/21.

The advertising agencies are of the view that implementation of the policy will help create new jobs and expand the domestic advertising market.

Nepal Media Society, Advertising Association of Nepal, Broadcasting Association of Nepal and Community Radio Promotion Association jointly presented the memo to Minister Khatiwada.

The policy was formulated long before but it was endorsed by the Council of Ministers only on 23 July 2016. However, the government has failed to implement the policy for various reasons.

Lately, a positive environment has been created to bring it into effect, according to the advertising agencies.

They argue that there should be no further delay in its implementation. They argue that by imposing clean feed policy on foreign TV channels, the government will help to decrease trade deficit.

Once the policy is implemented all foreign TV channels will be free of advertisements.

Accepting the memo Minister Khatiwada said that it had given impetus to the government to implement the policy at the earliest. He asserted that it was not only an economic agenda but also a cultural one. The minister said the government had the objective of promoting Nepali advertisements targeted for Nepali audience.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 13, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.