SAMSN strategy meeting concludes

Source: Bhutan News Service
Kathmandu, September 06: Member of the South Asian Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), the forum of South Asian media organisations affiliated to International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) concluded their regional strategy meeting Saturday in Kathmandu.

The three-day meeting ended up with adopting a charter and action plan to improve the situation of press freedom in the region alongside ensuring democratic media environment. The media rights activists also expressed commitments to strengthen the trade unions of the journalists across South Asia.

I. P. Adhikari, president of the Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) Bhutan represented Bhutan in the regional meeting that takes place every two years.

Adhikari alerted the regional forum of the anti-media legal instruments in Bhutan and call for action from IFJ and its affiliates to improve the media situation where government intervention has not ended in media houses.

The meeting expressed concern over the circulation Bhutan InfoCom and Media Authority made to radio stations in Thimphu last month, increasing number of attacks on journalists in Jammu & Kashmir state of India, increasing number of violence against media in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

An exclusive statement was adopted against attacks on journalists in Kashmir calling on the actors to protect the rights of the journalists.