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About
CMR
Centre for Media Rights
Introduction
Freedom of thought and expression is
a basic human right. This is reflected in the Nepal’s democratic
constitution of 1991, which grants the right to freedom of speech
and press. It is in tune with the spirit of the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, "Everyone
has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media
and regardless of frontiers."
The Centre for Media Rights is a professional
body established to protect and promote this fundamental right
of the people to thought and expression. It believes that the
basic right to freedom can be safeguarded by equal and simultaneous
development of a responsible media. The centre has been established
with twin objectives of protecting the democratic and constitutional
freedom of the media on free flow of information and helping the
media to act in an objective and responsible manner.
Lack of communication in the society,
especially among the masses, gives rise to social and political
conflicts resulting in violence. One of the reasons for the violent
conflict in Nepal is the lack of media outreach to the rural and
remote areas, lack of media credibility in spite of its infrastructural
development in the urban areas and the media’s ineffectiveness
in creating an atmosphere of harmony and amity in the multi-ethnic
and multi-cultural society of Nepal.
The Centre for Media Rights aims at
creating a peaceful society in Nepal through the healthy growth
of communication by promoting understanding among different communities
and reducing the points of conflicts. Its activities and programmes
have been designed to secure a free but responsible media for
the ultimate achievement of a peaceful and equitable society in
Nepal.
Objectives
The Centre for Media Rights has set before it the following objectives:
1. To promote and protect people's
right to information.
2. To promote free, independent and responsible media.
3. To help create a media environment that enhances peaceful,
prosperous
and equitable society.
4. To conduct study and research on the situation of media rights,
media-awareness and media responsibility.
5. To strengthen the role of media for peace and conflict resolution.
Activities
The activities of the centre have
been planned under three categories (briefly called 3-S) of study,
support and service.
Under the first category there will be a variety of studies, research,
surveys and reviews. The second kind of activities will involve
support to the media through counseling, training and workshop
discussions. The third set of activities will relate to the establishment
of a website for journalists, a feature service, production of
materials and the functions of a clearinghouse.
The specific activities can be described as follows:
1. Groundwork for the promotion of
media freedom
a. To organize meetings of organizations engaged in media freedom
b. To conduct situation analysis of media freedom
c. To sponsor review and documentation of constitutional provisions
and other pertinent literature pertaining to media freedom
2. Institutional evaluation for promotion
of media freedom
To institute regular reviews of governmental
and non-governmental organizations on their attitudes and performances
relating to media freedom.
3 Media awareness status
a. To conduct awareness surveys pertaining to rights and responsibilities
among journalists, concerned parties in conflict and select relevant
communities.
b. To monitor cases of violation of media rights and responsibilities
c. To constantly review and evaluate literature pertaining to
violation of media rights and responsibilities
4 Media rights reforms.
To organize general and professional conferences on media rights
reforms, to find out practical solutions and to undertake follow-up
measures to the conference recommendations.
5 Production of handbooks and materials
on media rights and responsibilities
6. Training programmes
a. To develop training programmes and curricula on media rights
and responsibilities
b. To conduct training programmes on media rights and responsibilities
7 Media Monitoring
• To develop a system for documentation of relevant news
and features.
• To monitor violations of media rights and responsibilities.
8 Resource website for journalists
• To provide a database in local language for journalists
who have difficulty in accessing resources in other languages.
• To provide information on media laws, regulations, ethics
etc.
• To provide information for objective and responsible reporting
on current topics
• To help journalists to use information technology and
IT-assisted information
• To run an online feature service
9. Feature service
• To run a feature service to create awareness about media
rights and responsibilities in the media community,
• To help create media awareness among readers, listeners
and viewers of electronic media
10. Regional dialogues on media rights
To organize from time to time dialogues on media rights at the
international and regional levels.
Institutional framework
The Centre for Media Rights is an independent
and non-profit agency sponsored by Media Services International.
Contact address
Centre for Media Rights
Media Services International
Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 4671241, 6222256
Fax.
Email:
msi(at)mail.com.np
URL: www.msinepal.com
Editor
Tel: 5522461, Mobile: 9851064777
Email: vinaya(at)wlink.com.np
url: www.kasajoo.com
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