‘Advertisement bill curtails press freedom, violates open market policy’

Kathmandu, March 30

Critics say the Advertisement (Regulation) Bill which was recently endorsed by the National Assembly and forwarded to the House of Representatives for approval will curtail freedom of expression if it is enacted into law.

They say the bill’s provisions are against the spirit of open market economy and open competition as they allow the government to control information in the name of regulating advertisement through the advertisement board.

The NA has passed a bill that stipulates that the Advertisement Board will check the contents of advertisements and public service announcement. It also says that the board will distribute government advertisements to media houses proportionally.

The bill also states that publishers and owners of media outlets — both print and electronic — should be held responsible for the contents of advertisement.

Critics say the bill will allow media outlets close to the Advertisement Board to get government advertisements and announcements related to public interests in the name of proportional distribution of government advertisements.

As per the bill’s provision, government agencies can place advertisements in media outlets only after the Advertisement Board okays them.

Though the bill was discussed in the relevant panel before the NA passed it, the bill contained some controversial provisions, which the NA did not rectify. It is yet to be seen whether the HoR makes an effort to remove controversial provisions or passes the same contents okayed by the NA.

Taranath Dahal, executive director of Freedom Forum, an NGO working in the field of right to information, said the bill was brought to govern the process of advertisement, but it wrongly incorporated provisions that would give the government the unfair advantage of control over the media.

Dahal said the bill was brought basically to maintain the beauty of cities by controlling hoarding boards, to regulate clean feed policy in advertisements and to ensure proportional distribution of advertisement, but there was no need to bring this bill as these issues had already been addressed by other laws.

Dahal said instead of focusing on some key aspects, the bill tried to control media outlets through advertisements.

“As far as advertisement issues are concerned, we have a separate consumer law that also governs the process of advertisement and there are tax laws to deal with taxes on the earnings gained through advertisement. Municipal laws also govern the process of hoarding boards and other similar things. Provisions of penal code are enough to punish those who violate advertisement rules,” Dahal argued. He also said that if any error was seen in an advertisement, the editor of the media would also be prosecuted under the new bill. “How can an editor be expected to check errors in advertisements. How is that possible?” He wondered.

He said the bill proposed that clean feed policy would be implemented, but enactment of the bill might not guarantee that as the bill stipulates that such a policy would apply from the date the government issued public notification through the gazette.

Economist Posh Raj Pandey said there should be proper criteria for distributing advertisements to media outlets. “This bill can be used to serve the government’s interest as government advertisements won’t be given to those media houses that do not support it,” he said, adding that the regulations the Advertisement Board would frame later should ensure free market policies. “We are yet to see how the board will strike a balance. Will it give government adverts to all media outlets proportionally or will it take into account the reach or the subscription of media outlets?” He wondered.

NA lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari said one purpose of the bill was to distribute government advertisements proportionally, but media should have their independent revenue source and they should not be grateful to the government for receiving its advertisements. He also said the Advertisement Board may favour some media and discriminate against others.

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