Kathmandu, January 1
The Federation of Nepali Journalists, the umbrella organisation of Nepali journalists, has said attacks on press freedom in Nepal are going digital in Nepal.
In a statement on Saturday, the organisation’s General Secretary Roshan Puri says the Nepali journalism sector is facing new forms of challenges along with the advent and popularity of technology.
“This year saw the incidents of unauthorised access to the content management systems of online media, organised unfollow campaigns against certain media, threats on social media and hacking,” Puri says.
But, overall, 2022 fared better than the previous year in terms of press freedom, the FNJ observes. Whereas there were 62 cases of press freedom violations in 2021, affecting 190 journalists and four media, the FNJ reported 53 cases of violations, affecting 151 journalists and six media houses in 2022.
Here is the breakdown of the incidents of violations:
| SN | Incident | Number | Journalists affected (Men) | Journalists affected (Women) | Media affected |
| 1 | Arrest and detention | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 2 | Obstruction | 7 | 8 | – | 4 |
| 3 | Threat and abuse | 22 | 33 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Attack | 7 | 10 | – | 1 |
| 5 | Professional insecurity | 11 | 78 | 15 | – |
| 6 | Policy restrictions | 1 | – | – | – |
| 7 | Gender-based violence | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| 8 | Displacement | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Total | 53 | 133 | 18 | 6 |
