Bhutanese Media

The RGOB has alleged/accused the media of highlighting too much on the negative aspects of the government and turning a blind eye to the good deeds. Bhutanese media and the government have been always loggerheads with each other.

With the presence of only two MPs (members of parliament) from the opposition party, media and the national council (NC) have been accused by the government and the people as acting as the opposition party.

Our constitution provides ‘freedom of press’ but the government feels it’s exerting too much of freedom. They even said, media is doing all this for commercial purposes. The media has the right to call ‘a spade a spade’. It’s the duty of the media to point out whenever there’s a corruption or laws being broken or when the government is making a wrong decision.

Why can’t the government accept media for what it does? Why can’t the government take things positively and improve? Media is, they say, an independent body but the financing comes from the government. Will this be affecting the performance of the media? Is the government intimidating the media too much? If media reports/writes bad articles on the government, will the government stop financing? These are the questions that can dwell in one’s mind but have no answer to them…