Take steps to protect the media from the crisis, says editors

KATHMANDU: Stakeholders underlined the need for proper media management.

On Friday, during the Press Council of Nepal’s Editor’s Dialogue on the impact of social media, especially YouTube, on the media, stakeholders underlined the importance of managing the media in an orderly manner.

They emphasized that the media is experiencing a financial crisis and that it should be safeguarded from it.

Speaking at the event, Laxman Humagain, Chair of the Advertising Board, stated that the media is in a financial dilemma because it is providing free content, and that the media should only provide paid content.

He said that in some places in the world even the media operated by the state are paid, and the media operated commercially by the private sector should not be free.

He also stated that the board has stopped spending money on social media advertising. He stated that the funds would not be released unless legislation was passed.

Journalist Kishore Nepal stated that even when the government passes legislation to restrict the media, they are powerless to oppose.

He claimed that the mafia had taken over all of the country’s mechanisms, and that journalism should speak out against it.

Journalist Prateek Pradhan believes that those who desire to do journalism on the new platform YouTube should be addressed.

He suggested that the government look about running journalism through marketing in a healthy way. He insisted that the media be monetized.

Similarly, Badri Sigdel, the former president of Nepal Press Union, said that all new and old media should be allowed to flourish.

He mentioned that social media is a new media and emphasized that it should be organized and regulated.

He said that no one should control any media. He also said that no one should ban the media.