Baskota pledges to regulate press

Chitwan, May 14

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Gokul Baskota today pledged to stop the press from being anarchic.

Inaugurating Fibre-to-Home service of Nepal Telecom in Sauraha, Chitwan, Minister Baskota accused the media of being illiberal and chaotic.  He claimed that the draft bill on media tabled in the Parliament was in the spirit of the constitution. “The draft bill is not against the constitution,” he said.

Baskota charged that the agitation of journalists against the draft bill was premeditated. “The press has to be free, but it should not unleash terror,” he said, adding, “Democracy cannot survive without press freedom.”

He held that the tendency to write anything and everything without evidence had to end. He, however, said that he was ready to rectify the draft bill if it had any error.

Noting that the government had brought out the draft bill by incorporating practices of democratic countries and Nepal’s specific context, Baskota argued that journalists writing fact-based news would not have to fear.

Baskota said the government was planning to enact media laws to control journalists who challenge the state’s justice system and expose others but without proof. “The government will not be deviated by the biased views held against it “, he stated.

Minister Baskota said the government had forwarded the campaign of digital Nepal and it was contributing to the country’s progress and prosperity. He claimed that the pace of development would take off as the government had formulated polices and laws required in the first year.