OTJA seeks action against those disseminating content against journalism principles

The Online TV Journalists Association (OTJA) has called on the Press Council Nepal to immediately take action against those disseminating wrong content not in consonance with the principles of journalism through YouTube.

OTJA president Jeevan Bhandari, handing over a memorandum to Press Council Nepal's Acting Chair Gopal Budhathoki on Thursday, called for action against those corrupting the medium.

The memorandum, among other things, calls for taking legal action against the wrongdoers, as most of those disseminating video content through various media, including YouTube, were found to be doing so against the spirit of journalism. It also called for protecting those who were disseminating good content following the journalism norms.

Noting that there were anomalies in the online TV media before this also and more such aberrations have been seen in the name of 'prank' in the recent days, OTJA, through the memorandum, drawn the attention of the PCN to such wrongful practices.

OTJA said highly objectionable, indecent, immoral, and inappropriate content that is against the general principles of journalism is being disseminated through some YouTube channels. It has urged the Press Council to initiate action against those media coming under the ambit of journalism in accordance with the Media Laws and against those beyond the scope of journalism as per other relevant laws.

After receiving the memorandum, PCN acting chairman Budhathoki said the discrepancies in YouTube have crossed the limit and now the process for taking action against such media would be intensified.

According to him, PCN's first condition would be to enforce the journalism code of conduct on all media and it would have no sympathy to those disobeying the code of ethics.

Budhathoki has shared that they have urged the online TV operators to be registered in the Council. He added that those denying to be registered will not be recognized by the Council.

The PCN Chair said that the Council was ready to work together for the purification and strengthening of the online TVs.

OTJA was registered last year aimed at managing and minimizing the irregularities seen in the online TVs.

The organization chair Bhandari shared that the first assembly of the online TV operators decided to prepare the directive and code of conducts following the existing laws to the online TV operators and journalists.

He added that those who abide by the laws will only get the membership of the organization. There was no accurate data and details of the online TVs in the country.