HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Pandey warns against foreign investment in media

By A Staff Reporters

KATHMANDU, Apr. 6: Minister for Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey has said that the media should be responsible to the individual, society and to the country.
"It must not be used for vested interests and personal prejudices," Pandey said at a national symposium on 'Press Freedom and Transparency' organised by Editors' Society, Nepal. Frederic Ebert Steftung (FES) sponsored the programme.While press freedom is related to sensitivity, transparency is linked to responsibility, he said, stressing the need for transparency in the media organisations.

He stated that the Constitution of the Kingdom has guaranteed press freedom, and the media has been enjoying optimum use. Thus, to dwell on this issue would be a loss of time, said Minister Pandey. The issue now is how to run the media sector due to some obscure activities found in the media.

Talking about foreign investments in the media, Pandey said it has come through the back door. No one should come through the back door, but the society and government never thought about restricting such investment, he said. Timely monitoring and restriction on foreign investment is essential, otherwise it may invite negative repercussions, said Pandey.Not only the press, transparency in information dissemination and internal transparency of a media organisation are equally essential, said Pandey.

He expressed happiness that the Nepalese media now was fully capable of disseminating accurate and credible information to the people. We no more have to rely on the foreign media to know our domestic matters, he added."Concealing facts and information has been a tradition in our society. There is no need of concealing facts if there is transparency," said Govinda Biyogi, president of Editors' Society.

We have been opposing foreign investment in the media since the restoration of democracy in 1990. Foreign investments in the media in a small country like Nepal cannot lead to a free media. He called for a media commune to prohibit foreign investments in the media either in print or in the electronic media.

He said that the government was working to implement the suggestions given by the commission, involving the representatives of the media. Transparent accounting is essential for a paper. There must be investment and profit transparency within the organisation, said P. Kharel of the FES. He also said that the code of the conduct in the media helps in transparency. If the present code of conduct is restrictive for transparency in the media, it must be rethought, he added.

Press freedom has been fully guaranteed by the Constitution. The question is utilising it, said Pawan Kumar Thapa, General Secretary of Editors' Society. He said that the media community was misusing the provisions of press freedom.

Welcoming the participatns secretary of the society, Pushpa Pradhan of Editors' Society stressed on financial transparency of the media organisations in Nepal. He said although the constitution has guaranteed the freedom of the press, the media sector is rampant with financial opacity.

A paper on the theme "Press Freedom and Media Transparency" was presented by Suresh Acharya, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalist. It was read out by Kedar Koirala on Acharya's behalf. Journalists Ila Sharma and Dr. Upendra Gautam commented on various aspects of the paper. A remark on the paper was expressed also by Kulchandra Wagle, president of Nepal Press Union.

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