Nepal media protest over attack

by Sanjay Jha | December 22, 2008 at 11:52 pm

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Media persons working in different news organisations all over Nepal have begun a nation-wide protest starting Tuesday against the attack on the media houses and the journalists in the name of Maoist workers.

Mediapersons took part in a rally organised by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists in Kathmandu to protest the Sunday attack on Himalmedia by the Maoists. Around a dozen media persons were injured after the police charged baton on the rally.

Dozens of former rebels attacked staff and vandalised offices at Himal Media, one of the country's biggest newspaper publishing houses, over the weekend.

The protesters said the Nepali Times and other magazines carried articles critical of the communist party.

Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda has denied any role in the attack.

He told Nepal media the attack was by "immoral agents" who had "infiltrated" the Maoists.

The UN and US have both criticised the violence, in which journalists were assaulted.

The Media community strongly condemned the attack by Maoist workers on Himalmedia, and had launched a protest programme beginning with blank editorials in all member newspapers, television and radio news programs on Tuesday.

The Media Society and Editors' Alliance group the publishers and owners of most of Nepal's major national newspapers and magazines, tv stations and radio and a meeting on Monday took serious note of the escalation of violent attacks on media.

The raid on Himalmedia on Sunday, in which 12 people were injured, was the latest in a series of attacks and threats against newspapers, TV stations and radio all over the country in the past.