Complaints against media and media persons on the rise

Kathmandu, July 16 (RSS): The number of complaints filed at Press Council Nepal against the incidents of violation of journalist code of conduct and media ethics is on the rise as of late.
Complaints of misleading news and character assassination by all kinds of media including print and broadcast media, online news portals have increased. In the Fiscal year 2074/75 a total of 165 complaints were registered related to violation of the journalist code of conduct.
The number was 112 in the fiscal year 2073/74, 101 in 2072/73, 51 in 2071/72, 39 in 2070/71 and 46 in 2069/70.
Apart from the complaints received, the monitoring by the Press Council itself also shows an increase in violation of the code of conduct. The rising number of complaints may be due to awareness over the presence of a grievance handling agency against excesses by the media, says information officer at the Council Deepak Khanal.
The number of complaints being registered at the Council has also increased after a provision was initiated whereby grievances could be registered online. If found guilty, the concerned media and media persons are prohibited from acquiring the accreditation pass distributed by the Department of Information, excluding the media from the Council’s classification, asking it to publish an apology and making the details public for action.
Press Council Nepal is mandated to monitor the implementation of the Journalist Code of Conduct, 2073.
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