Update:editors agree to call off protest, at Sify.com
Editors of Weeklies are being interrogated by the District Administration Office for publishing blank opinion pages in protest of the media censorship. Kabir Rana, of Deshantar, and Rajendra Baidhya, of Bimarsha, went to District Administration Office on Feb 23 while three others, Gopal Budhathoki of Sanghu, Nawaraj Timilsina of Prakash and Shashidhar Bhandari of Hank will be interrogated on Feb 24.
The story is published in newspapers including The Kathmandu Post. But the thing that I felt proud of as a journalist is their faces while showing the blank opinion pages for which they were summoned. They are smiling, not afraid at all. The photo was published in The Kathmandu Post but I couldn’t get it at their site. So I am posting here the photo of them walking towards the DAO before interrogation – they are all smiling.
I have no comments if their move was right or wrong. But what I clearly knew, while studying the history of journalism around the world is that journalism has always been a target of authority, even in democratic environment, and journalists are harassed but they never fear that. And, Nepali journalists are not different.
