Responsible press will further strengthen democratic republic: President

Kathmandu: President Ramchandra Paudel has said the responsible press will further strengthen the democratic republic.

The Head of the State expressed his belief that the Nepali press will additionally contribute towards addressing the aspirations of Nepali citizens expressed through various movements and struggles for good governance, development, progress and economic prosperity.

During his address to a programme organised at the President’s Office today by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to hand over journalism awards, the President said the Nepali press had played a remarkable role in each political, social and cultural transformation in the nation.

“Our Constitution has guaranteed the right to press freedom and freedom of expression. It is the responsibility of the State to create an atmosphere favourable for exercising the free press as per the spirit and sentiments of the Constitution. It is the duty of the responsible press to educate the citizens with the dissemination of fact -based news content. I believe that the Nepali press will also remain vigilant and aware towards that end,” the President said.

Describing journalism as a powerful and effective means of transformation and nation-building, the Head of State was of the view that democracy is the necessary condition for practising and thriving of independent, impartial and balanced journalism.

“Establishment of democracy is unachievable in the absence of free and impartial journalism.” Stating that a condition forcing journalists to be unsafe just for the journalism profession be ended, the President urged all stakeholders concerned to pay attention towards the creation of an atmosphere enabling journalists to report and disseminate the news contents in a secure and risk-free environment.

The President further stressed that both the government and the private sector should act in a coordinated way for the interests of working journalists and the financial sustainability of media house.

The risk of citizens getting misled has increased with the expansion of the IT sector, the dissemination of baseless and fake information through social sites, he said, adding that this is a challenge for mass communications at the present time. He also hoped that Nepali media will be able to address this challenge.

On the occasion, the Head of the State honoured Chandra Kishor Jha and Namrata Sharma with the ‘Senior Journalist Award’ and Bhola Paswan, Umesh Shrestha and Rupa Gahatraj with the ‘National Journalism Award’.

RSS