National and international media experts have said that the press freedom in Nepal has worsened after the royal takeover of February 1, 2005.

Presenting a paper at the National Conference organised by Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) in the capital on Friday, senior journalist Ram Krishna Regmi said the government’s intentions has been to close down all independent media bodies through economic blockade.

He said the one-door advertisement policy of the government has forced hundreds of newspapers outside the Kathmandu Valley to closure. “This will be applied to all those private media houses which at present have been benefiting from the government policies,” he said.

Regmi added that the government is inclined towards creating financial crisis and make media outlets unable to survive, Regmi added.

Director of Media Services International (MSI) Hem Bahadur Bista said that journalists in Nepal have been working in a dangerous situation as the conflict rages on in the country. “Journalists don’t even have good shoes or clothes to wear when they have to travel to remote parts of the country to collect information,” he said.

Speaking at the conference Jesper Hojberg, director of International Media Support said that international mission would give particular attention to the district journalists as they are the most affected and promised to provide continuous support and solidarity to press movement.

Editor of Deshantar weekly Kabir Rana said weekly newspapers were the most affected by the present government’s policies. “It is very hard for weeklies to survive these days,” he said.

President of FNJ Bishnu Nisthuri said the federation was committed to fight against the repressive policy of government.

Similarly, Sunanda Deshapriya, Asia representative of International News Safety Institute highlighted various safety measures that journalists have to bear in mind while reporting in conflict areas. He emphasized on awareness and training programs to the journalists about safety measures.

Marcelo Solervicens of AMARC, Jacqueline Park from IFJ, Mark Bench from World Press Freedom Committee and Shailesh Kataria from Article 19 and senior journalists Yuvraj Ghimire, Kunda Dixit and Prateek Pradhan also expressed their views in the program.

The conference was attended by all the members of international media mission, which is currently in Nepal.

The mission will wrap up its Nepal visit on Saturday.