Nepal Media Society, along with its print, radio and TV publisher and broadcaster members, has objected to the recent survey report on the trustworthiness of media prepared by the Press Council.

The society has demanded that the council retract the report and apologise, said Subha Shanker Kandel, chair of the umbrella organisation of mainstream media outlets.

This report is replete with false information and smells of malintention, said Kandel. That is why it should be retracted immediately and the Press Council needs to apologise for spreading false information about Nepali media, he added. He said the society has concluded that the so-called report published during the coronavirus pandemic is unscientific and ludicrous.

The society said that the report and the survey completely disregard research norms and attack the principle of rule of law and independent journalism. That the council conducted the said survey, prepared a report and submitted it to itself is beyond a joke, it said.

The society said that more than 20,000 media outlets are currently in operation in the country and they have millions of consumers at home and abroad. Surveying just 173 people and publishing results is an attempt to undermine Nepali media, said the statement.

It has also demanded that the Media Council Bill, which has already been approved by the Upper House, be passed soon with amendment so that it displaces organisations such as the Press Council. The society said that the council did not even seek permission from the media outlets surveyed, and went about the process the way it wanted to.

It has urged all mediapersons to become aware that the Federation of Nepali Journalists has turned into a subordinate body of the council, and called on the Press Council to stop pre-mediated attacks on mainstream media outlets. The society condemns the council’s report and calls on it to rectify its errors in the future, says the statement.