FNJ asks Communication Minister to review govt.’s recent decision on advertisement policy

A team of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) met with Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dr Bikram Timilsina on Monday and demanded withdrawal of the government decision granting monopoly rights over government advertisement to government media.

The FNJ delegation led by its Chairperson Nirmala Sharma drew the Minister’s attention towards the directive issued by the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on April 1. The directive had mandated the publication and broadcasting of government notices and advertisements only in government media.

On the occasion, Minister Dr Timilsina made it clear that the amount of government advertisement was grossly misused; working journalists were not benefitted; and brokers were taking advantage of the previous scheme that prompted the government to issue such directive.

The Minister, however, informed that he was always for working journalists and vowed meeting genuine demands of the media community. The FNJ team requested the Minister to reconsider the directive and maintain transparency in advertisement.