By
Harsha Man Maharjan
The use of hyperlinks in news media in Nepal is rare — used by few media organizations — and this tells us many tales of Nepali Journalism. This negligence is quite contrary to the concern raised by scholars in journalism and media studies that hyperlink is one of important characteristics of online journalism.
While ruminating on the making of digital transitions of Nepali newspapers for few years, I became interested in these questions: Why do Nepali online media ignore hyperlink often? What does this tell us about Nepali journalism? The concern broached on social media that while picking up big or exclusive stories from others news media, media companies need to give credit to the original media, encouraged me to think on it more.
For some hyperlink might appear to be a technical aspect or just a new add- on in print or a line under a word or words. However, hyperlinks are main feature of online media as this can differentiate online from print, if news media use it diligently and cautiously. Hyperlinks are links, which point to internal or external web pages when somebody clicks. In news, journalists could use them in different ways such as by embedding them in texts or putting them elsewhere.
Cases
If we have a cursory look at the websites of prominent online news media, we can find that very few media companies are using this feature. Here are two cases.
First, when I checked them on 2 February 2019, I came across few news stories related to the break of hunger strike by Dr. Govinda KC. Online media like Onlinekhabar, Setopati, Baharkhari , Annapurnapost , Thehimalyantimes, Nagariknews, and Myrepublica did not use this feature in their news stories, whereas the online of Kantipurdaily and The Kathmandu Post used hyperlinks to their old news. The way these media presented these links are different. The Kathmandu Post used four hyperlinks: a link embedded in text and three others suggested as “read”, Kantipurdaily had a link as ‘read’. However, this case does not help us to generalize the use of hypertext in Nepali journalism as sometimes even other media use hyperlinks. This case does show that Nepali online media do not use hyperlink regularly. This becomes interesting if we remember that online journalism started in Nepal in 1995.
Second, on 3 February 2019, Onlinekhabar summarized and then published news at 7:22 am from daily newspapers, Kantipur, Naya Patrika, Nagarik and Annapurna Post as “Aajako Patrapatrika” news. It presented the name of newspapers in bold. If we check the timeline, we can guess why Onlinekhabar did not provided links: It took news from newspapers not online newspapers and put the information online before these newspapers make available on their websites. For example in case of Kantipur’s news, Onlinekhabar was a minute ahead in posting the information from the news. Nevertheless, hyperlinks are better option than bold type. Onlinekhabar could provide hyperlinks to the online newspapers as some newspapers demanded and BBC follows. This also applies to other online media, which take news from newspapers in the morning.
Tales
Not using hyperlinks tells us mainly three things about Nepali journalism.
One, Nepali online news media are missing opportunity to help users to know more about the issues. If they use hyperlinks, users get more information by digging into links. This is also important because online is global media and people having no background information of the issues can access news. Online is a medium accessible anytime and anywhere to anybody who has access to the internet.
Two, they are ignoring the feature which helps them to be more accountable.
When readers became informed and have access to documents and news sources, they can make journalists and news media organizations accountable. For example, when journalists provide links to the sources or documents on which they base their news stories, the interested users could check for themselves. Providing links also makes journalists and their journalism more credible.
Being accountability also means to give credit to colleagues and competitors. The case two of news from newspapers shows this. Just mentioning the names of newspapers is not enough. This does not end here. As raised in social media, when news media organizations follow big or exclusive stories already carried by other organizations, hyperlinks could be helpful. This only makes audience informed, but also creates professional environment in news media industry. Similarly, providing hyperlinks also reduce the chances of plagiarism especially news pieces related to tech issues for which journalists often collect information from international sources.
Three, near absence of the use of hyperlink also shows that news media have print-oriented mentality. However, it does not mean that journalists do not know about hyperlink. One reason for this is the small team many online media have, and pressure to churn out more news. Putting hyperlinks requires more time, well-managed archive and clear understanding of when to provide links and when not to. News media organizations had to have will and zeal to invest more for content and human resources. The case of Kantipur Publications shows this. If we check web archive, we find that though Kantipur Publications gave priority to digital gradually from 2014–2015, the use of hyperlinks increased from 2018, when Kantipur Media Group started to push for digital transformation of its publications.
To sum up, though Nepal has the history of about 25 years of online journalism, many of these news media do not use hyperlinks and even those, which do; they do not use it regularly. This tells us that these organizations are giving less priority to digital-oriented journalism, which could empower audiences and make the organizations more accountable, betraying their print-oriented mentality. So Nepali news media should not only use hyperlink regularly but also make the policies about its use so that audiences do not feel distracted by such links.
Also available at bit.ly/2EkXoXF
