Nepal slips two places in World Press Freedom Index

Nepal has slipped two places to 120th position in the World Press Freedom Index-2014 – compared to the lats year – according to the Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday.

Nepal was ranked at the 118th in 2013.

The report stated that the Indian sub-continent is the Asian region with the biggest rise in violence for journalists. "The most disturbing development is the increasingly targeted nature of the violence," it said, adding that the Maoist party activists were more aggressive towards journalists, who criticised their leaders, especially in the run-up to constituent assembly elections in November last year.

A record number of eight journalists and one media worker were killed, in Nepal's immediate neighborhood, in India last year.
"Half of these deaths were premeditated reprisals," it said, adding that the
number was double in 2012 death toll and more than the death toll in Pakistan, long the world’s deadliest country for media personnel. "Criminal organisations, security forces, demonstrators and armed groups all pose a threat to India’s journalists. The violence and the resulting self-censorship are encouraged by the lack of effective investigations by local authorities, who are often quick to abandon them, and inaction on the part of the federal authorities."