Kavre, Sept. 29
Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota said on Sunday that the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) should be vigilant on implementation of minimum wages for the journalists as many of them have not yet been able to get it.
The government has done its duty and now the ball is in the court of the FNJ to implement the minimum wage policy in all media houses, he said while speaking at the FNJ Kavre branch’s building inauguration ceremony and greetings exchange programme here.
“Putting forth demands to get something is not sufficient. The government has fulfilled the demands of journalists,” he said. “You keep on repeating the term ‘minimum wages for journalists’ but why don’t you monitor the media houses during the Dashain ? Why don’t you follow up whether the decision is being implemented as per its spirit?” he asked the FNJ.
Minister Baskota said that it was not the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that paid salaries to the journalists. “The government has implemented the minimum wage policy in the Gorkhapatra, Nepal Television, Rastriya Samachar Samiti and Radio Nepal.” He said.
Minister Baskota said that the FNJ should organise sit-in protests at the media houses that do not pay the minimum wages to the journalists, and the government would support such protests.
He said that the government wanted to bring about some positive changes in journalism sector and had expected to receive cooperation from all sectors of the society.
“In an effort to sensationalizse the events, some media houses have transmitted wrong messages and information. Therefore, the journalists must comprehend the reality before writing news pieces and should maintain caution while giving headlines to a piece of news,” he said.
According to the Minister, the work on Journalists Training Institute would move ahead immediately after the Media Policy gets approval from the parliament.
“Let us first get the Media Act passed from the parliament then we will decide where to build the institute,” he said, urging the FNJ not to take to the street against every policy of the government every time the latter tries to bring such policies out.
He also said that it was time to create the structure that was not yet existed, make policy and law, enforce rules of law and create an environment where people can have respect for one another.
“No one can snatch democratic norms and values from us. There is no challenge to democracy and there will not be any,” he said.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 September 2019.
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