19 December 2019, Kathmandu
Discussions have commenced between the Press Council and struggle committee including the Kathmandu chapter of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) that launched agitation against Press Council for biasness and irregularities in newspaper classification.
The chair of FNJ Kathmandu chapter Shantaram Bidari shared that the Council had made an effort for dialogue on Wednesday after agitating journalists padlocked the office of Council’s acting President Kishor Shrestha on 13 December. He said representatives from struggle committee had presented their issues in the first round of the talks.
Council member Chetanath Dhamala and chief officer Jhabindra Bhushal from Press Council and Deepak Pandey, President Bidari and FNJ Lalitpur and Bhaktapur Presidents, Gyan Prasad Poudel and Pushkar Budhathoki respectively on behalf of struggle committee attended the meeting. Both the sides have agreed to put forward their actions in a way that it would not hurt journalism sector and council’s trust.
It is shared today’s executive meeting of the Council will discuss the agenda of forming a committee to investigate the classification of newspapers according to the demand of struggle committee.
