Nepal

Assailants stormed the premises of Nepal Republic Media, a media company in the capital, Kathmandu, on December 20, 2012, attacking journalists and vandalizing the offices, according to news reports. Police arrested several of the attackers, who have identified themselves as members and supporters of the rightwing Shiv Sena Nepal party.

Almost half of the 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2012 were targeted and murdered for their work, research by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. The vast majority covered politics. Many also reported on war, human rights, and crime. In almost half of these cases, political groups are the suspected source of fire. There has been no justice in a single one of these deaths.

As Nepal's constituent assembly failed to meet Sunday's deadline for the passage of a new constitution, a new report released this week on the risks to Nepal's media should remind political parties that peace and stability are not prerequisites to media freedom but rather that a strong, independent press operating without fear is a requirement for a healthy civil society.

New York, May 23, 2012--Authorities in Nepal must protect journalists seeking to report on developments in the volatile run-up to Sunday's deadline for a new constitution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Dozens of journalists were reportedly attacked by ethnic activists during a three-day general strike that began Sunday, according to news reports.

China didn't make the cut for our 10 most censored countries. While the Chinese Communist Party's censorship apparatus is notorious, journalists and Internet users work hard to overcome the restrictions. Nations like Eritrea and North Korea lack that dynamism.

CPJ's María Salazar-Ferro names the 12 countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. Where are leaders failing to uphold the law? Where are conditions getting better? And where is free expression in danger? (4:46)

Read CPJ's 2012 Impunity Index. And visit our Global Campaign Against Impunity and see how you can help.

CPJ’s 2012 Impunity Index spotlights countries
where journalists are slain and killers go free

April 6, 2012

Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
Prime Minister of Nepal
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
Singhadurbar

By facsimile: + 977 1 4211 086

Dear Prime Minister:

The International Fact Finding and Advocacy Media Mission to Nepal that met with you in February has finished its review of specific provisions from the country's draft constitution that the Constituent Assembly will finalize by May 28. As one of the groups on the mission, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to encourage the assembly to incorporate the group's recommended changes before the constitution is finalized. The review and recommendations pertain to freedom of expression, the right to information, and freedom of the press.

In a 2011 analysis on Nepal, CPJ noted that political in-fighting has encouraged anti-media attacks, and that a failure to address violence against journalists both before and after the 2006 peace accord has established a deeply entrenched culture of impunity in the country. On the mission, we were encouraged by our interactions with representatives of Nepal's vibrant press, and by your own express wish to ensure that the constitution holds the strongest possible protections for journalists' rights.

We also welcome the explicit guarantees of media freedom already included in Article 4 of the draft constitution. However, in its current form, the draft allows potential legal restrictions on the mass media, including censorship of expressions deemed to be treasonous, according to the mission's review of the draft. CPJ believes these grounds are vague and open to abuse, and we support the mission's recommendation that the constitution be amended to ban all kinds of censorship. "International law regards any form of prior censorship with the greatest suspicion," the mission's review noted (original emphasis).

We urge you, along with party leaders and members of the Constituent Assembly, to comply with the mission's suggestions for revising these provisions, and thereby strengthen the guarantee of media freedom in accordance with international standards. We further support the mission's recommendations on freedom of expression and the right to information and believe that adopting all of these changes will create a more transparent environment for the media as well as for Nepal's fledgling democracy.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

New York, April 4, 2012--Police in eastern Nepal must fully investigate Tuesday night's murder of a TV and newspaper reporter and determine whether the motive was related to his journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

On the evening of March 1, 2010, Arun Singhaniya, owner of Janakpur Today newspaper and Janakpur Today Radio, stepped out of a prayer service during a holy celebration in Janakpur, Nepal's second largest city. A gunman on a motorcycle shot and killed the news proprietor, making him the second person affiliated with the Janakpur Today news group to be murdered within a year.