AMARC URGES SUPPORT FOR BELEAGUERED RADIO STATIONS IFEX - Toronto,Ontario,Canada <http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68484/>
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has launched a global campaign to support independent radio stations in Nepal, where authorities have barred broadcasters from airing news and public affairs programmes. AMARC is urging community radio stations and press freedom advocates around the world to write letters to the Nepalese government calling for the ban to be lifted, and to express solidarity with colleagues in Nepal (see: http://tinyurl.com/9bw3r). The ban, imposed by King Gyanendra following a coup in February 2005, leaves state-run radio as the only source of news and information in the strife-riven country. The campaign comes on the heels of an international press freedom mission to Nepal in July, where 12 organisations - including eight IFEX members - expressed grave concern that press freedom and freedom of expression has significantly deteriorated since February, despite the lifting of a state of emergency in April. In a joint statement, the groups said that in banning and inhibiting news, the authorities are "depriving the population of free access to information, threatening the financial viability of media [and] causing large-scale unemployment and declining incomes for media practitioners, particularly amongst the district media and FM and community radio stations." (see: http://www.wan-press.org/article7724.html) FM radio stations have played an important role in Nepal's rural areas over the past decade, providing much-needed information to citizens, many of whom are illiterate and living in remote areas. One of the largest radio stations in Nepal - Nepal FM - is currently being threatened with closure for allegedly violating the ban on radio news. Authorities claim the station aired news of the king's birthday on 7 July 2005 and featured news content on a daily programme which focuses on social issues, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). If the government orders Nepal FM closed, it would defy a Supreme Court ruling in June which said that shutting down licenced broadcasters would violate the Constitution. In protest against the ban, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) is gathering signatures for a petition that will be presented to the UN General Assembly in September, while the Save Independent Radio Movement is organising street protests and a court action against the government's restrictions on free speech. IFJ plans to hold a Global Day of Action on 30 August. Visit these links: - AMARC Nepal: http://nepal.asiapacific.amarc.org/site.php - IFJ Report on Nepal: http://www.ifj.org/gifs/Nepal%20coups%20kings%20and%20censorship.pdf - Nepal: A Country Silenced: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/nepal_05/nepal_05_main.html - Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=nepal - IPI Watch List: http://www.freemedia.at/r_wl_nepal.htm - UN Nepal Information Platform: http://www.un.org.np/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h47nqca/M=362335.6886444.7839734.2575449/D=groups/S=1705796846:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1123776214/A=2894362/R=0/SIG=138c78jl6/*http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/arts_culture/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=GRP&RTP=http://groups.yahoo.com/";>What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
