Nepal Police recently asked five editors of online news portals to reveal their sources, ordered to track their phones, and check the call history. This is clearly an overstepping of the Metropolitan Police force and blatant attack on press freedom.
It is a known fact that press is one of the pillars of a vibrant democracy and if the news published by the five news outlets is not satisfactory then it’s the duty of the Press Council Nepal and Ministry of Communications to deal with it. It is not the duty of Nepal Police to dictate news outlets to reveal the sources. This shows the attitude of Nepal Police towards Nepali Press and it is unfortunate.
Nepal Police should be reminded that in a democracy there are checks and balances and a free, vibrant press is needed to uphold the values of democracy. And yet we cannot deny that fake news and sensationalist articles flood the media space in Nepal, but it is definitely not the duty of Nepal Police to rectify the problem. On the other hand, Press Council and media unions of Nepal have failed to contain fake and sensationalism news. We need regulations from the latter. The former can do what it has been doing: maintaining peace and order in the country.
