Reporters Without Borders backs a new Nepalese-language blog Nepal Info

Reporters Without Borders is supporting a just launched Nepali-language news blog Nepal Info on http://nepalinfo.civiblog.org which it is hoped will help counter tight censorship in the kingdom. The royal government has continued to censor and harass the Nepalese media, despite the lifting of the state of emergency. A number of initiatives and campaigns have been started to try to break out of the deadlock imposed by King Gyanendra since 1st February 2005, the organisation said. In an editorial, the Nepalese journalists running the blog condemn repeated government and Maoist attacks against press freedom. They are calling on all Nepalese, wherever they live, to speak out. "We are trying to disseminate uncensored news without any political bias. We are also supporting peaceful solutions to the crisis, maintaining human rights and press freedom as the first priority," the editorial said. Nepal Info is written entirely in Nepalese (Kantipur font) with headlines of articles translated into English. It intends to post news and commentary on the current situation in Nepal. The blog's journalists are calling on Internet-users to send in comments on the online articles and to send contributions in Nepalese to [email protected].