Media Defence

advanced three places in Reporters Without Borders (RSF)'s 2026 World Press Freedom Index, published earlier this month, not because conditions improved, but because those in other countries worsened more dramatically.

Nepal now sits at 87th, and although still the highest in South Asia, its press freedom classification dropped from "problematic" to "difficult" this year. For journalists on the ground, that shift reflects what happened in 2025: proposed laws that would have imposed prison sentences of up to five years for online speech, a government ban on 26 social media platforms, 76 people killed in the protests that followed, and a political upheaval that brought down the government.

For our 2025 Impact Report we spoke with Santosh Sigdel, ED of our partner Digital Rights Nepal, about responding to these events in real time: the litigation, the legislation, and the coordinated disinformation campaigns that ran alongside the protests.

📖 Read the full interview: https://www.mediadefence.org/news/partners-in-volatile-press-environmentsin-conversation-with-digital-rights-nepal/

🔎 Explore our interactive 2025 Impact Report: https://media-defence.shorthandstories.com/2025-impact-report/index.html

Supporting Partners in Volatile Press Environments: In Conversation with Digital Rights Nepal - Media Defence In this interview for our 2025 Impact Report, our partner Digital Rights Nepal reflects on defending press freedom and democratic integrity.