Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) traditionally invited representatives from all types of media outlets to its annual anniversary celebrations. This year, however, the bank celebrated its anniversary by barring representatives from private media and inviting only state-owned media.
The central bank organized its 71st anniversary ceremony on Monday, April 27. This is a recurring annual event.
While journalists from both state-owned and private media were invited every year in the past, this marks the first time that private media journalists have been prohibited from attending.
We asked Guru Prasad Paudel, the spokesperson and executive director of NRB, why this decision was made.
Confirming that only state media was invited to the ceremony this year, he said, "According to the information I have received, only state-owned media outlets were indeed invited."
When subsequently asked why other media outlets were not invited, he replied, "I have no information regarding that."
The federal government recently restricted the publication and broadcasting of government advertisements in private media. Directives have been issued to federal ministries, provincial governments, and local levels to publish or broadcast government advertisements and notices only through state media such as Gorkhapatra, Radio Nepal, and Nepal Television.
Following this directive, government advertisements have been appearing only in Gorkhapatra over the past few days. The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has been protesting this move.
Questions have now arisen as to whether the central bank is attempting to follow the federal government's lead by excluding private media from its events. However, spokesperson Paudel did not comment on this.
At this year's anniversary event, where private media was barred, office-bearers of the NRB Employees Union staged a protest by displaying black banners.
The protesters said that employees have not been promoted in the stipulated time even though nearly a year has passed since Dr Biswo Poudel was appointed as the governor of NRB.
