PRESS COUNCIL NEPAL (PCN) REPORT

Decisions and Actions 2008/2009

1. The Council is the only legal body to monitor the violation of the Code of Conduct for journalists. Recently, it excluded a newspaper from its Classification – a basis for receiving public service advertisements – for malpractice. It also recommended that the editor’s press accreditation card be suspended. In another instance, the PCN recommended suspension of PSAs to a newspaper for a year for disobeying the Council’s order stop publishing vulgar material.
 
2. PCN annually classifies newspapers into four categories every year. This is the basis for receiving PSAs from the government. Based on the classification, there are 83 daily newspapers, six bi-weekly newspapers, 338 weekly newspapers, 68 fortnightlies and 19 literary magazines in Nepal. This takes the total number of newspapers to 527.
 
The classification excluded 141 publications that were found to have copied and pasted content from other sources (113), those published using laser and screen print and 18 that had submitted false information to the PCN.
 
3. In 2009, PCN published its Annual Report, four bulletins (Samhita-Code) and one book on the Right to Privacy.
 
 4. At the recommendation of the PCN, the government had decided to create a Rs10 million trust fund for the welfare of senior journalists – those who have been in the profession for over 30 years.
 
5. Nepal had 10 TV and 244 radio stations in 2009. The government has allocated Rs80 million for supporting the broadcast media, which was also an issue taken up by the Council. The government has also waived the license renewal fees of radio and TV stations and the royalties payable to the state.
 
6. The PCN’s Media Development Fund has provided interest subsidies worth Rs. 1.26 million on bank loans taken by entrepreneurs to establish printing press and media companies in the districts. The MDF provided a grant of Rs1 million to the Federation of Nepali Journalists for establishing Communication Centers in the districts.
 
7. The council also awards journalists for professionalism in different areas and has conducted various programs on popularizing the code of conduct in the country. It also provides support to journalists in need of assistance for medical treatment. It provided Rs100,000 as such support to different journalists in 2009.