Press Council Nepal observed its 53rd Anniversary dated 23 September 2022 at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sheetal Niwas with a special ceremony. Addressing the ceremony, Right Honorable President Bidhya Devi Bhandari stated that the spread of false and misleading information through new means of communication is a challenge. She expressed her pleasure on the Council’s provision of mandatory orientation to the new online media prior to their operation to address the global challenge of making the online media more dignified and effective and remarked it as an important start.
President Bhandari recalled that the Press Council has been established for the development of clean, independent and responsible journalism by maintaining the professional conduct and expressed confidence that the organization will continue to play a role for that.
She appreciated that the Council, the Guardian body of journalists and media, has been awarding journalists who follow the journalist’s code of conduct and punishing those who violate it. In order to institutionalize and strengthen the federal democratic republic guaranteed by the constitution, President Bhandari stressed that all parts of the state should seriously follow the constitutional provisions. Since the local level election has already been completed and periodic election of Federal and Provincial level is going to be held, President Bhandari expressed her belief that the journalism sector as a civil community will play an effective role in conducting the Federal and Province Assembly election in peaceful, fair and free environment on 20th November
In the ceremony, the Minister of Communications and Information, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, reminded that the local government, which is the foundation of democracy, has already been formed and said that journalists are expected to contribute more in the elections to be held on November 20th. He mentioned that it is easy to climb the stage and talk about duties and rights, but it is difficult to adapt them into practice. Hence, he drew attention for the implementation. He pointed out that the necessity to analyze the purpose behind the establishment of the Press Council and access the progress towards the purpose and its capability in facing the current problems. Minister Karki said that the society expects more from the Council and urged young journalists to be a source of inspiration.
