New ordinance rouses the Nepalese media

The new media law increases fines for publishing banned material and renews the ban on FM radio news programs, putting an already strained industry in peril

By Vincent Lim
AsiaMedia Contributing Writer

Thursday, October 27, 2005

The holidays in Nepal are a personal time in which people can escape from the cruel realities of the world and reflect upon less worldly thoughts.

So when Nepal's King Gyanendra issued a new media ordinance on the eve of Dashain, the largest and longest festival in the country, he angered many Nepalese journalists. The King, they say, is not only encroaching upon their professional lives, but also their personal lives.

"It's not only the question of the hike in penalty amount, but the manner of the whole thing," says Yubaraj Ghimire, former editor of the Nepalese newspaper Kantipur and current editor of the Samay weekly magazine, in an e-mail. "The government issued the ordinance just on the eve of the Dashain holidays -- a major festival in Nepal."

In addition to the timing of the new ordinance, its increases of certain fines are significant. The ordinance increases the penalty for publishing defamatory items ten-fold, from Rs. 10, 000  to 100, 000 (approx. US$1, 505). The ordinance also raises the fines for publishing, translating and importing banned items ten-fold, from Rs. 50, 000 to Rs. 500,000 (approx. US $7, 526).

Ghimire sees the increase in the amount of the fines as another blow to the independent media in Nepal, which is already suffering financially. Following the Feb. 1 royal takeover, the government stopped placing advertisements with media outlets that refused to support the royal move, shutting them off from a valuable source of revenue.

He adds that almost any kind of government fine is significant in a country like Nepal because of its low per capita income. Nepal is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. An estimated 40 percent of its population lives in poverty. In 2004, Nepal's per capita income was only US$1,500, according to the U.S. World Factbook.

The ban hurts FM radio stations, as well. Following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Rainbow FM, which granted FM radio stations the right to temporarily resume airing new programs, it appeared that the government would no longer be able to impose its laws on radio stations. The new ordinance, however, renews the ban struck down in the Rainbow FM case, prohibiting the Supreme Court from hearing cases about the ban of radio news programs.

Still, the ordinance has not thwarted Kantipur FM's plans to challenge the government in the Nepal's Supreme Court after the station had its transmission equipment seized by authorities.

Ghimire, once arrested on charges of treason for running a signed article in Kantipur by a Maoist ideologue that called upon the Nepalese army to revolt against King Gyanendra, considers the ordinance a landmark law that violates numerous human rights -- among them the right to free expression.

"It's objectionable because it directly annuls the freedom listed as fundamental rights [in Nepal's constitution],"Ghimire writes.

Not everyone, however, agrees that the new ordinance will have the sweeping effects Ghimire fears. S.S. Basnet, a professor at the Media Point Institute of Professional Journalism in Kathmandu, is unsure whether the ordinance will alter the landscape of Nepalese media. He understands the controversy surrounding the King and his media policies, but says he will wait before passing judgment on the ordinance.

"(With regards to) the impact of the ordinance, we have to wait and see how it will be implemented," Basnet says on the phone from Kantipur.

When Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) recently released its fourth annual press freedom index, Nepal ranked among the top ten worst countries in the world in terms of its support for press freedom. It is questionable whether the ordinance will worsen the already dire press freedom crisis in Nepal -- or push the country's ranking in the press freedom index even lower in next year's index.

The English text of the ordinance is available online as a pdf, via the International Press Institute.

Date Posted: 10/27/2005

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