In the last 15 days, the Press Council Nepal has taken action against 31 YouTube and other social media sites for disseminating content that violates the journalistic code of conduct. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Council said that action has been taken against media outlets that are registered/listed as media or not, but in the style of news, they spread conflict, character assassination and one-sided accusations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Council said that action has been taken against media outlets that are registered/listed or not, but which spread conflict, character assassination and one-sided accusations in the style of news. The council has instructed these 3 media listed under media to remove and edit the parts that are considered against the code of conduct, suspend the content and submit an explanation within 24 hours and remove the obscene content immediately.
HelloTV, TV Nepal Facebook page, PNP Media and Nagarakpatra YouTube channel have been affected by this action. It is mentioned in the statement that the Council has taken action against the means of transmitting misleading, unlimited, obscene content with headlines containing violence, terror, baseless, rumours, exaggerated thumbnails.
Similarly, the council has informed that 28 YouTube channels that are not related to the media but transmit obscene content in the style of the media have been sent to the Nepal Police (Cyber Bureau) for immediate removal of such content and for further investigation and action.
In the last fiscal year, the council took action against 43 such media.
“Recently, the Press Council Nepal has been monitoring the content through social networks, especially YouTube channels, which are affiliated with any media and not.”
In a statement issued by the Council’s Joint Administrative and Information Officer, Ram Sharan Bohra, “Some channels have been found to be infringing on personal privacy, giving place to hate speech and airing one-sided accusations or statements without confirming them.”
The attention of the Press Council Nepal has been drawn to the dissemination of content that promotes conflict, the use of abusive language, the dissemination of violence and terror, and the dissemination of content with the aim of unnaturally increasing the viewership without factual confirmation.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the council, Balkrishna Basnet, has said that action has been taken according to separate standards for the regulation of YouTube. ‘You cannot give baseless, one-sided, misleading and biased content through any means of digital platform. For some time now, we have started correcting, editing and taking other actions as needed for the false content disseminated through such means.’
He said, ‘We have issued different standards to regulate and take action on YouTube. We should all focus on making good use of the network and not abusing it and promoting the communication sector. It is also necessary for the creative use of journalism.’
He said, ‘We have issued different standards to regulate and take action on YouTube. We should all focus on making good use of the network and not abusing it and promoting the communication sector. It is also necessary for the creative use of journalism.’
