mediaharsha

By Harsha Man Maharjan This is the association I came to know through internet, and now this is the organization, of which I have become a member. Hats off to the technology for bridging time and space it made people easily reachable as if people from different countries are only neighbors next to my home. IAMHIST provided me an opportunity to present a paper on Nepali cinema in its 24th conference under the theme, ‘Media History and Cultural Memory’ that took place in Copenhagen. For this it also supported me financially and morally, without which this participation was impossible for me. Reaching Denmark was difficult and tiring, but having a chance to participate in the program and meet likeminded people compelled me to forget about those difficult moments. And now what I remember is only moments of discussion, contemplation and imagination during the conference. The boring and nerve-raking 17 hours waiting I had to experience at Indira Gandi Airport was nothing to what I have learn...

Friends, here is the code of ethics proposed by Ujjwal Acharya( The Radiant Star ). You are free to give suggestions DOs: A blogger should honestly: Be honest and fair on what you write in your blog Write things that you believe to be truth Specify your source of information – credit to offline sources and link to online sources Specify clearly the use of any unconfirmed fact or information Avoid conflict of interest – clearly disclose your position including job, financial interest, affiliation and relationship if they related to the post OR maintain an detailed About Me page Clearly differentiate between advertisements and blog content Disclose clearly if an entry is posted sponsored or as advertisement or after accepting a payment or goods to write it Admit and correct mistakes as soon as possible but only with strikethrough or editorial note Allow comments to engage audience, allow different opinions and clearly state your moderation policy if any Show compassion for human being –...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Janabadi Cinema. Marxist Cinema.Maoist Cinema. What is Janabadi Cinema ? How is it different from other cinemas? Is it Marxist Cinema ? Is it Maoist Cinema ? Answers to these questions are difficult to get. Some people believe there is nothing like Janabadi cinema. What they accept is there are two types of cinema– good and bad cinema. That’s all. But to know about Janabadi cinema, you have to see some of these cinemas. Video Cassette shop owners can assist you. What you need to do is go and ask one of such owners about the cinema and he/she will provide more than ten cinemas which the owner thinks are Janabadi cinema. In this situation some of which you get might not be Janabadi cinema. Usually what you get are Lal Salam, Jannayudha, etc. So, best way to know about Janabadi cinema is to ask the advocates of these cinemas. I know there are two such people Ramesh Bhattarai and Ishwor Chandra Gywali. Bhattarai and Gywali have written few articles on the issue. Here...

The story began on January 2011. Dateline: Zurich, Switzerland. I went there to participate at Winter School Program of ETH on Postgraduate Winter School: Historical Development Experiences in Comparative Perspective (January 23-28, 2011). This program helped me to know more critically about development issues especially foreign aid. Pls see pixs from that program. More than this, I came to know about Gigapedia–a website where we can download books. One of friends I met there, informed me about this. According to him, he and his colleagues at the university downloaded books from this website. Now this website has been changed in to www.library.nu. Please visit this library to download books‒new and old. What i hope is this website helps in democratizing knowledge. Don't you think so ?

These are Nepali cinemas available at market. In them, we don't see early cinema made by government-Aama, Hijo Aaj Bholi and Pariwartan. Neither do we see cinemas made by Royal Nepal Film Corporation. These early cinemas are important sources to do study of Nepal's history but they are difficult to find. To my knowledge, they are available at Film Development Board in cans and we need special machine to watch them. Yes, we can get them at Nepal Television library. We can see them for study purpose. I don't know when these cinemas will be available at market.

By Harsha Man Maharjan On 13 August 2010, Kantipur, Nepali broadsheet daily carried a reporting about cyber law. The reporting made public that Nepal Telecom Authority is planning to block all pornographic sites available in internet. And the authority will ask 41 ISP companies in Nepal to block these sites. The reporting says Electronic Transaction Act, 2063(2008) restricts ISP companies from operating pornographic sites but it has no provision of blocking these kinds of sites. What the reporting referred is article 47 of the act which says this: Publication of illegal materials in electronic form: (1) If any person publishes or displays any material in the electronic media including computer, internet which are prohibited to publish or display by the prevailing law or which may be contrary to the public morality or decent behavior or any types of materials which may spread hate or jealousy against anyone or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of...

here is my article on Film Censor baord, published in Republica last Friday By HARSHA MAN MAHARJAN The Film Censor Board was assailed by Nepali media in February and March 2010. There are two reasons for this. One, the Censor Board demanded cuts in two Nepali films, “Dasgajja” and “Dasdhunga”. It rated another cinema, “Palpalma”, as suitable for above 16. Some critics also asked for doing away with the Board. Earlier, movies like “Aago” and “Ahankar” also faced hassles from the Board. Censor boards: International scenarioCensor boards are universal entities in film industries. They certify cinema after viewing them. The process varies in countries. Some call it censor board, others certification board. Whatever, it is a mechanism of suppressing expression. In the US and UK, film industries have established this mechanism to dodge state interference. In India and Nepal, the state has established it. The boards work as moral police to safeguard the interests of the states.In Britain, the...

I hope that media can be important tools for media literacy. But there is a problem. These media give less priority on issues of media. No doubt their interest is on press freedom. But they show interest in publishing praises. They give space if we write articles with the title like fourth estate. But when we criticize them, they would rather kill the article than to publish it. It shows they are intolerable to criticism. These days CK Lal, an intellect is writing column on media in Nepali Times. This is good. Till today he has written column on Indra Lohani, TV journalism, government-owned media etc. I would be happy when Nepali Times shows courage to publish critical comments about oneself.

HARSHA MAN MAHARJAN Here is my aricle on alternative book fair published today in Republica The book exhibition of not-for-profit publishers, Alternative Book Fair, ended on Dec 14. Himal Association organized the fair from Dec 10 at Sabhagriha, Kathmandu. Fourteen NGOs participated in the fair. However, they were dissatisfied with the flow of visitors. What went wrong? The organizer and the organizations that participated in it have been forced to think about it. Martin Chautari, the organization I am associated with, also participated in this fair. The ideas I am presenting in this article is the result of my interaction with friends and my observation of five days at the fair. Martin Chautari has been participating in this fair since the first edition, which was organized in 2005.DEFINITION: INTERPRETATIONA friend of mine entered Sabhagriha when he saw a banner of Alternative Book Fair at the front gates. He had assumed that Sajha Prakashan had once again organized a book fair like ...

By Harsha Man Maharjan 2009 is ending very soon. And I am getting mails from Alternative media: Open Democracy, The Center for Media and Democracy, FAIR etc for donation. This is no news. It happens every December. Donation is an alternative economic source of mass media. Usually advertisement is main economic source of media. In his article What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream Noam Chomsky says that mainstream media sells its audiences to advertisers. Michael Albert has written an article titled What Makes Alternative Media Alternative? Here he has focused on alternatives finance apart from others characteristics. Open Democracy, The Center for Media and Democracy, and FAIR are alternative media so they are using alternative source of economy. FAIR watches media biases and censorship. Center for Media and Democracy counters PR and Propaganda in media. In Nepal we can’t say which media is alternative and which is mainstream. For example what is different between so-called community r...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Friends here is the original version of my article published in The kathmandu Post yesterday (5 December 2009) “We have not any school or college for journalism. There is a great lack of books on Journalism in our language though we have published many articles on this subject in different newspapers and magazines”. This is what journalist Shyam Prasad Sharma said about Journalism Education in Nepal. He was speaking in a program organized by International Federation of Journalist in 1962 at Budapest. Journalism Education began in the US in 1890s. One of the countries in Asian region to begin this education is China. JE started in China in 1920s with the help of US scholars. In India it began in late 1930s. After about four decades of this, JE started in Nepal. It was Ratna Rajya Campus which began JE in 1976. It was under Tribhuwan University (TU). This university was established in 1959. So after 17 years of TU’s establishment, RR Campus offered JE course in Ne...

Harsha Man Maharjan 1. Campion College 2. College of Journalism and Mass Communication 3. Kantipur City College 4. Kathmandu University 5. Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) 6. Nepal Press Institute (NPI) 7. Purbanchal University 8. Shepherd College of Media Technology 9. Worldview International Foundation / Nepal (WIF) These are the programs of Journalism Education in Nepal listed in the census of World Journalism Education Council. What a joke: there is no mention of Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus. We know RR Campus is the first to start Journalism education in Nepal in 1976. I can’t believe that WJEC miss it. The website of WJEC says these are the criteria they enlisted the programs: 1. Published lists and academic articles about journalism education in different regions of the world; 2. Lists of programs provided by the regional association partners drawing on their member lists, conference registrations, and regional studies of journalism education; and 3. Published articl...

Watching quotes in journalism is uninteresting job for me. I think this requires patience. And P.Kharel is doing this for Media Adhyan journal 5, a journal published by Martin Chautari. He presented his findings in an interaction program organized by Martin Chautari on 22 October 2009. Kharel found that there is inconsistency in using “” and ‘’. Many of them lack style book. If some have they are not following. What striked a lot during the program is the information there should be direct only if what sources say are important. And anonymous sources should be exception not rule.

By Harsha Man Maharjan We talk big. We have big problems in Nepali media. We know there is cartel among media owners. These owners want to evade trade union in their organizations. What are the remedies? We can’t change these maladies in a day . But small things we can do. This is what I came to know from the program organized by Martin Chautari and Alliance of Social Dialogue (ASD) on 20 August 2009. What are characteristics of reporters, sub-editors, editors etc ? What is news and newsvalue ? There were the questions I needed to tackle at the exam after I joined Journalism and mass communication. I know these are the basic of journalism. Yet working young journalists told that desk never consult them during editing. No doubt reporters go to the field and they know the subject best. But people at desk feel uncomfortable to consult reporters. It is against the basic of journalism. Some young journalists informed that people in desk never give feedback to them. “How can we learn?” they ...

By Harsha Man Maharjan During direct rule of then king Gyanendra, I had heard that film Development Board is preparing a manuscript of film history of Nepal. On 16 August 2009 I met Chetan Karki. He was the author of that manuscript. And the manuscript is still with him. FDB showed no interest on the manuscript. It is about the role of monarchy for development of cinema in Nepal. This issue is always debatable. Now it is fact that then king Mahendra had special interest in arts and creative activities. And he definitely did contribution for development of cinema in Nepal. There is another factor too. D.B.Pariyar made cinema in time of Mahendra’s father Tribhuwan. Few historian thinks that royalist film historians begin Nepali film history from Aama not Satya Harischandra only to praise then king Mahendra. But nobody can deny that Satya Hrischandr was made in India and Aama is the first Nepali cinema made in Nepal. And then king Mahendra wanted to use cinema as propaganda tool. And he d...

Last week I visited Kamana Prakashan to study early issues of Kamana magazine. These are the photos of slogan written on the wall of flats: Do its journalists follow these slogan?

The following recommendations are based on the assessment carried out by the members of the International Mission. 5.1 Press freedom violations and safety 1. Police should investigate thoroughly all threats of violence against journalists and media workers, and the public should be made aware of investigations and prosecutions to discourage attacks, and ensure an end to impunity. The International Mission will closely watch progress in the investigations of the pending cases on the attacks on Birendra Sah, Prakash Singh Thakuri, Prakash Shrestha, J.P. Joshi and Uma Singh. The Mission urges all international agencies and governments to raise the issue of state responsibility during their interactions with the government of Nepal. 2. Press freedom monitoring networks should be strengthened across the country and specifically in areas outside of Kathmandu. In this regard, the monitoring system of the FNJ should be maintained and strengthened, including reporting nationally and internation...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Today is the age of 24 hrs news channel. We are viewing news of children kidnapping. So are we watching about the lynching of innocent alleged kidnappers. Why are these incidents increasing? Does it have anything to do with media-boom? I think it has something to do with media too. Not all. I am not saying media is totally responsible of it. They are disseminating news about the killings, kidnappings and looting. This reporting inadvertently creates of the image of insecure Nepal in people’s mind. People are feeling insecure. One thing is sure. Media is doing nothing to decrease the rate of lynching. They are not proactive on the issue. Here I am not resurrecting mass society theory. But we know we are in transitional phase and there is a kind of lawlessness.

By Harsha Man Maharjan Once again we got chance to see an old drama. There is no difference in its plot. Yes, its actors are different. But drama’s ending is same as previous one. Yesterday government reshuffled people bossing government –owned media institutions: Nepal Television, Rastriya Samacharsamiti, Gorkhapatra Corporationa and Film Development Board. The cabinet meeting appointed Kundan Aryal as Executive Chair of Nepal Television, Amar Giri as Chair of Film Development Board, Bal Krishna Chapagain as chair of Rastriya Sambad Samiti, and Vijaya Chalise as Executive Chair & Shambu Shrestha as General Manager of Gorkhapatra Corporation. Last time Ministry of Information and Communication was under CPN (Maoist)’s hand. Now it is the turn of CPN(UML). It is filling these posts with those near to its ideology. Many of them are from Press Chautari. As a student of mass communication and journalism, I have been doing studies on government-owned media in Nepal. I want to find ways ...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Watching Leni’s documentary Triumph of the Will reminded me of Nepalese newsreels and documentaries made before Nepal Television came into existence. In 1970s panchayat government created Royal Nepal Film Corporation to make films. It made few films and thousands of newsreels. These newsreels were mainly about visit, birth, marriage etc of royal family members. Mobile teams had to screen these newsreels in different places far from Kathmandu during royal visits. I have seen none of these newsreels. They are languishing in two rooms of Film Development Board. And it is difficult to see them. But I can say they are technically poor. Nepal lacked trained human resource at that time and there might also be scarcity of technical instruments. Yes, in this context we can’t make technically sound documentaries as Leni did. She had support of Nazi party. All necessary human resources and technical instruments were available at her call. Recently I watched Leni’s Triumph ...