Govt formulating policies to regulate cyber activities

 Kathmandu, Dec. 5

Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) Dr. Baikuntha Aryal said that the government was serious about creating a policy and legal framework to regulate the cyber activities and control crimes.

"The draft of the cyber policy is ready and the ministry welcomes all creative suggestions in order to create a multi-stakeholder ownership on the document," he said while speaking at a workshop on the 'role of media in minimising gender-based violence' jointly organised by the Press Council Nepal (PCN), Sancharika Samuha and UNESCO in the Capital on Sunday.

Expressing concerns about the defaming news and information in YouTube and online news portals, he suggested that the agencies like the PCN and journalists' forums must be proactive about creating awareness and enhancing the capacity of media persons.

Speaking about the stereotyping of women in the media, Dr. Aryal stated that the ministry was ready to assist in minimising media content that stereotyped or derogated women and other group of people.

However, too much social media activism without the proper understanding of the implications of the policy and its dimensions has disturbed the due process of law.

The policy to establish office of Facebook in Nepal was right, but it was criticised by everyone out there, he said.

According to him, the culture of sending all women related issues to the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen should be changed and each ministry and agency should be concerned about the issue.

Presenting a paper at the programme journalists Babita Basnet and Akhanda Bhandari stressed on the greater sensitisation of editors and reporters. "There is a need to increase the number of women reporters as well as the women sources," said Bhandari.

Basnet said that the Electronic Transaction Act should be a transitional legal instrument and in the long run, the country needed a cyber act.

Chairman of the PCN Balkrishna Basnet said that the council was concerned to the respectful coverage of women and senior citizen. "We have prepared a Senior Citizen Friendly Media Guidelines. It will help the media use respectful language for the senior citizen," he said.

President of Sancharika Samuha, Nitu Pandit, stated that news room must be inclusive to create a gender-sensitive content.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 December 2021.