Journalism is recognized as the fourth organ of a state. It has a cardinal role to play for the overall development of a country and its citizens. The fundamental rights of each and every citizen of a nation should be ensured which include right to life, liberty and security; right to education, right to freedom of thought, right to freedom of opinion and expression, right to work, right to conscience and religion. The rights that are fundamental to the citizen of the world are called human rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) has identified human rights as fundamental to the achievement of peace and progress. Media, the most important asset of human civilization and development, should be responsible for the protection of human rights. If the media don’t bring the events of human rights violation in the right time, there won’t be any agency to protect the right of the people. In a sense, it seems that human rights wouldn’t be implemented if there were no media advocating it.
The year 2006 saw an unprecedented protest of innocent people for their right and freedom in the name of Jana Andolan(II).Though the protest lasted for only nineteen days, the seed of the protest was already sowed in the name of a decade long Maoist insurgency. During this dark decade of violence, Nepali people suffered heavily which can't be expressed in words. There are a number of cases of human rights violation in Nepal. Both parties (government and rebels) became responsible for such violations. According to INSEC Reports (2006) there were 66411 cases of abduction and 4938 cases of murder from rebel side whereas the government killed 8341 people. State and Maoist killed 350 children in connection with 'people's war'. Many people throughout the country have suffered massive human rights abuses arising from the long-standing conflict. Various laws have been formed to protect the rights of the people. Nepal has signed and ratified international agreements. But the implementation of these laws and agreements are very weak. Human rights are limited only in document but not in practice. Sometimes, the government does not want to publish the incident of violation of human rights where the government itself is involved.
The media should play a vital role to safeguard human rights. Furthermore it has to be responsible as a watchdog to inspect the cases of the abuse of the power and politics, especially in conflict situation. Accurate media reporting on human rights issue is crucial to counter abuse. Without a critical mass on the issues of the human rights violation, human rights cannot get the right position in our society. There are support mechanisms at hand for human rights and media communities to raise awareness and pressure. Human rights issues raised by the daily print media create pressure for human rights violators. But many times media don’t bring the event in to surface or gives biased information. Many cases of human rights violation didn't get place in the newspaper in the past. The publishing houses, which are affiliated to government, are reluctant to publish the news of this kind. Here is a great surprise, as if all the newspaper are responsible for the protection of human rights then how fruitful it is to hide the human rights violations made by the government. If the newspaper like Gorkhapatra has to be a free newspaper then it should bring the facts news and views concerning human rights violation. It wouldn’t be a wrong idea if we suggested Government to bring Gorkhapatra under the parliament.
However, we are not in the position to blame the newspapers only. There are several cases where the government put censorship to publish news freely, especially during the time of emergency. The king and his fellowmen compelled newspaper to restrict in publishing the news concerning human right violation. Hundreds of reporters were found abducted, tortured and restricted from collecting the news. Not only rebels but also security forces killed reporters and seized media houses. The freedom of press is confined only on the golden pages of acts and declarations. The royal regime treated journalists and press in an uncivilized and imprudent way. Independent Nepalese media became victim of such a treatment of the royal regime directly. Nepalese journalists have done wonderful jobs by using their professional skills in the difficult situation and by being involved in the federation of Nepalese Journalist's to fight for press freedom. They have been successful in protecting their profession through their continuous struggle for press freedom and thus safeguarding people right to information.
After the establishment of real democracy in Nepal, there are some lights of rosy hopes on the face of innocent Nepali citizens. But, their hope will not be fulfilled until and unless press takes some significant steps to protect potential human rights violation. Most of the human rights violation cases are found in rural areas where most of the people are illiterate and under privileged in terms of political, social and cultural awareness. They themselves don’t know what are their rights. Press should be able to make them realize their rights so that they can feel how they are deprived of their facilities. For this, press can give priorities to these news and views, which really advocate these marginalized people. Besides filling the pages of the newspaper with glamorous pictures and articles such news and views should be given first priority. Reporters should get adequate training to collect the news, which are related to human rights violations. Journalism should be fostered in its true principle. Newspaper should be politically unbiased in the case of human rights protection. Some newspapers, which have political inclination with some political parties, are playing the role of villains by hiding the ground reality. Such kind of inclination practice should be rooted out from the entire field of journalism. The federation of Nepalese Journalists should implement its unanimous rules and regulation in order to develop the field of journalism in Nepal.
Finally, human rights and press freedom are intractably interlinked. The aim of these two facets of democracy will not be complete in the absence of one. These two facets should work hand in hand in proper co-ordination. For the freedom of the press there should be the protection of human rights and vice-versa. Nonetheless, the daily print media should take the primary step, as they are the only means, which have access to all citizens. For the wholehearted practice of democracy press has a significant role to play without which none of the organs of the state could have eyes to see the activities done by the advocates of the democracy.
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