FORUM (Spotlight Weekly)

FM Radio And Broadcasting Laws In Nepal

By YUBA RAJ PANDEY

The media is one of the sectors that have seen rapid growth after the promulgation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1990. There was not a single broadsheet daily newspaper published from the private sector before 1990. Within 12 years, such newspapers have come to dominate more than 50 percent of the market. The circulation of broadsheet daily newspapers is estimated to have increased to about 300,000 copies a day.

The progress of the electronic media is all the more remarkable. Private investment in the electronic media is a new phenomenon. The government has allowed Nepal Television to sell its time to private channels. The number of licenses issued to cable operators has reached 194. Fifteen companies have received license to provide Internet and e-mail services. Similarly 25 organizations have received licenses to operate FM radio stations and 16 of them have started operations. Channel Nepal has begun satellite transmissions from Bangkok, becoming the first Nepali TV channel to do so. Nepal Television has also started satellite broadcasts. The first year of the third millennium has carried Nepal into the age of satellite television.

FM radio has become very popular in cities, especially in Kathmandu valley and surrounding areas. Nepal entered the era of FM radio only towards the end of the second millennium. Community radio has established its importance outside Kathmandu valley, in such places as Madanpokhara (Palpa) and Manigram–Butwal (Rupandehi). FM radio stations, including community radio, are not permitted to operate their own news programs. They transmit Radio Nepal’s news programs. However, FM radio stations have started reading stories from broadsheet newspapers, thus operating their news programs in an indirect way. Many people in the capital have become used to starting their day after listening to news reports on FM stations.

Certain FM stations like Radio Sagarmatha are broadcasting a variety of informative and interactive programs related to communication, industry and commerce, education and politics. The fact that most people prefer to tune into FM stations rather than the government-run station for their news perhaps speaks of the success FM radio has attained.

The National Broadcasting Act 2049 and National Broadcasting Regulations 2052 provide the legal framework for the regulation of broadcasting in Nepal. Broadcasting without license in prohibited by Article 4 of the National Broadcasting Act. Article 13 of the act has the provision to allow national broadcasting agencies to provide time to foreign broadcasting agencies or communication media.

According to Article 3 of the Industrial Business Act 2049 and the notice of His Majesty’s Government issued according to Article 14 of the act, publication, production and broadcasting of television programs, establishment of radio stations and broadcasting, production of advertisement materials and the work of advertising agencies, photography, cinema or motion picture and press, among other things, are categorized as service industries. The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2049 has identified cinema in Nepali and national languages as a business in which foreign investment is not permitted. However, the act does not recognize broadcasting and publication as an industry. But as Article 13 of National Broadcasting Act speaks about selling time to foreign media and broadcasting agencies and does not speak about allowing foreigners to establish broadcasting agencies, it can also be argued that the act allows foreigners only to purchase time from national broadcasting agencies and not to directly establish their own broadcasting agencies within the country. However, the act is yet to be interpreted as such.

As private investment in broadcasting is a new thing in Nepal, many rules and policies related to the sector need to be interpreted. One such issue is related to the right of private FM stations to broadcast news. Recently, the Supreme Court issued some policy directives to the government in the course of a case filed against the government. Article 12 (2) (1) of the constitution allows the imposition of reasonable restrictions on any act that may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the kingdom, or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among various castes, tribes or communities, or on any act of rendition, defamation, contempt of court or incitement to an office; or any act which may be country to decent public behavior or morality. However, the National Broadcasting Act does not appear to be very specific in setting principles that must be obeyed by private broadcasters, including FM radio.

Similarly, provisions related to the process of licensing private radio and television channels also not sufficiently specific, leaving adequate room to the discretion of decision-makers. As a result, applications may be rejected or accepted, not on logical grounds, merely according to the wishes and preferences of decision-makers. Some applicants may receive licenses quickly whereas others might have to wait even years. Therefore, the country needs to improve its broadcasting policies to remove uncertainties and ambiguities experienced both by investors and the government.

Such improvements must simplify the licensing procedure by listing specific criteria, leaving little scope for arbitrariness on the part of decision-makers. Similarly, the broadcasting agencies should be given the right to broadcast their own news. But they must follow clear and specific guidelines and the government must be empowered to punish broadcasters that violate them. Furthermore, these guidelines must define limits for both the government and the broadcasters.