While the Working Journalists Act-2051 BS is yet to be implemented 13 years after its enactment, the government has moved to make changes to it by registering an amendment bill in the interim parliament on Tuesday. The bill proposes making the issuance of appointment letters mandatory before placing anybody on the job, besides requiring the hiring process to be conducted through advertisement and open competition based on clear job criteria. It also empowers journalists to form trade unions. The employer will have to notify the Press Registrar of any appointment and seek its permission along with the details of the contract prior to hiring somebody on contract “for a job of special nature”. The Press Registrar will act as the settler of the disputes arising in the media houses concerning working journalists and other employees, the terms and conditions of employment, and pay and perks.

The amendment, which is likely to be passed, assumes special significance in view of the fact that many media organisations in the country — both the print and electronic — do not give appointment letters and employ people without any clear terms and conditions. As a result, many journalists and employees continue to work in an atmosphere of job insecurity. Besides, news reports have surfaced of employees in some of the media organisations not receiving their salaries for months on end. This state of affairs must end. On the other hand, there are provisions for taking various kinds of action against non-performers or breakers of official discipline. Which is right. But it needs to be ensured that application is not arbitrary and follows the due process, meting out punishment that matches the severity of offence. Newspapers or broadcasters have been heard complaining that all this has resulted from their financial difficulties. Some of the owners of small media businesses, for instance, those publishing weekly newspapers, are understood to be against the enforcement of the Working Journalists’ Act on the plea that they cannot afford the cost of abiding by it.

But such excuses are not justified. People who cannot pay their employees should not be publishing newspapers and magazines or operating broadcasting stations. Unfortunately, government after government has failed to enforce the law for so long for lack of the necessary regulations. It is also alleged that this was because many small-time media operators put pressure on successive governments. This government, which is the result of the mandate of Jana Andolan II, is expected to make sure that this will not happen again. It is but natural that the journalists should have the right to form unions like any other class of workers. But given the level of politicisation in the country, government, corporations and private offices have a multiplicity of unions, with affiliation to different political parties. This is likely to create confusion and conflict among the employees and pose unnecessary problems to the management, too. Effort should therefore be made to form one union in one organisation to conduct collective bargaining on issues of vital employee interests.