Irked by the partial classification of newspapers, a group of publishers, editors and journalists on Friday, forced the Chairman of Press Council Nepal (PCN) Mathvar Singh Basnet off his chair and locked his office protesting against PCN's "unfair and biased" classification of newspapers, reports on Saturday said.
Journalists from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, who had reached the PCN office at Sanchargram Friday afternoon to protest against the PCN's classification, also burnt a copy of the annual classification report.
They charged that the classification was made on the basis of government's influence rather than actual evaluation.
Bishnu Nisthuri, president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), who also participated in the PCN's meeting on Tuesday, had marked the classification biased and influenced by prejudiced mind.
The media men have charged that the PCN has ranked paper that are known as the supporters of the royal regime in grade "A" and the paper that write in favor of democracy in grade "B" neglecting the circulation and popularity of the paper.
Circulation and popularity of newspapers are also the basis for the evaluation. Fifteen publishers and editors have demanded Basnet's resignation for his partial deeds.
According to PCN's report, out of a total of 2,181 registered newspapers, only 557 newspapers have been publishing across the country, and only 455 are included in its classification.
Similarly, the report says 11 dailies and 15 weeklies, one fortnightly and nine monthly newspapers have been listed in grade A. The newspapers are entitled to government ads and benefits based on their
classification.
