mediaharsha

By Harsha Man Maharjan There is a saying: winners write history. Do you believe this? I am trying to link this notion with history channel, a tv channel. It broadcasts programs related to different aspects of history. This is one of my favorite channels. Among its program I like Biography. This program even got chance to be the top ten programs in India few years ago. Its old footage attracts me. How charmingly these programs use steel photos to tell people’s stories. I can only praise the channel for this. Few weeks ago my belief in the channel shattered. On that day it presented a program on four world famous royal massacres. I forgot details of two of them. Remaining two was about the Tsar family of the USSR and the family of King Birendra. I could hardly believe what the program told about the royal massacre of Nepal. It blamed then prince Dipendra for the massacre. We all know this was the official version, only few Nepali believed. My hope at that time was to get information on g...

By Harsha Man Maharjan People blame Nepal Army for its weak public relations. This scenario is changing these days. People of Pili, Kalikot are thankful to the army for building a road. It seems that these people will never forget the army’s contribution. The road will make their life easy. There is no doubt. Here my concern is on another thing. These days my exam is going on and I am immersed in it. I had hardly time for other activities. Yet I managed time to watch a talk program of Kantipur TV, Bahas during my exam. On April 21, 2007 I was surprised to see a documentary on the bravery of the Nepal Army, I place of Bahas. I was a wee bit late and missed the beginning part. I didn’t know the reason of this. Even earlier some times other programs took Bahas’s place. The documentary was about the army’s ability to construct road. All people were praising the army’s deed. Rukmanga Kattuwal was doing the same. While watching the program, I thought that it might be the footage of Kantipur...

Friends My exam is going on. I might not post for few weeks. harsha

THe Himalayan Times' Craze for the word 'Stop Press' By Harsha Man Maharjan Being a student of Journalism and mass communication I know what the words stop press mean. THese days a English braodsheet daily, The Himalayan Times is using this words in its front page giving scores of games in World Cup Criket. Is this word to be put in the page? I don't think so. So I search in internet to know more aboutit. Here is what I found its meaning 'late news that is inserted into the newspaper at the last minute'. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stop+press. By using this word THT is trying to show that it is doing the job which is out of the dateline. Yet, million dollar question is: Is it needed to write the word there ? Many readers blame THT for focussing only on factual information. It never did investigative reporting, except the breaking news of Charles Shobraj. It never dare to challenge any side. This is a typical example of 'objective journalism.' I am ...

By Harsha Man Mahrajan Once my friend told me that business community is mainly responsible for the present mismanagement in Nepal. And media are silent on this issue. Yes it is this community which supported royal regime, and all political parties depend on them as economic source. Their money is never made transparent. So my friend liked Manoj Bhandarkar’s film Page Three for showing the negative impact of advertisers in media. On 19 March 2007 The Kathmandu Post daily published an news about hotelier Hari Shrestha being abducted and beaten by the Maoists for supporting king. On the same day Nepali day Kantipur wrote that the Maoists did this for he denied to provide donation of 20,00,000.00 Nepali rupee. The news also informed the Maoist forced him to do written commitment to provide Rs 1,00,000,00.00 and provide 10 rooms for CPN(Maoist) free of cost and not to inform about this to police. The news was placed on the first page with a photo of Shrestha with his bruised face. Both ne...

By Harsha Man Maharjan A saying goes better late than never but better never late. We are making late in establishing a broadcasting authority. Now we are in chaos. At last Information and Communication Ministry has decided to stop registering applications of new FM radio stations in Kathmandu. Nepal Samacharpatra informed this on 11 March 2007. This is good news. We still lack an authentic institution to evaluate the applications. After April revolution of 2006, the ministry opened the process of providing license. And now it has provided licenses to 177 radio stations. Can you believe 37 of them are in Kathmandu? Can they survive? It seems that ministry has to do nothing with their survival. In lack of this authority Kantipur publication has got license to air 5 more FM radios in Birgunj, Nepalgunj, Bharatpur, Pokhara and Butwal. In Nepal National Communication Policy 2049 v.s opened broadcasting sector to private sector. It did not propose the authority to manage and evaluate applic...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Is there the campaign of Media Literacy in Nepal? Do you heard about this in Nepal? Media literacy tells citizens about the socio-political and economic aspects of media products. It makes citizens aware of media construction of reality and makes them aware of both good and bad aspects of mass media. Nepali government never paid interest in this kind of campaign. Academic education of Journalism and Mass Media began in 2033 v.s. In the late years of 1980s king Mahendra was experimenting with his so-called one party democracy. No need to doubt that that time the government kept citizens from real facts by bombarding them by government propaganda. Mainstream media were in the control of the government. There was no chance of beginning media literacy in Nepal at that time. Non Government organizations were not powerful at that time. Government sector has not started this campaign even today. There is only an example from Ngo side. Asmita publication organized media...

By Harsha Man Maharjan On 2 March 2007 Ministry of Information and Communication arranged a meeting with media experts on the future structure of state media in Nepal. www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=13742 Government has formed a High-level Taskforce on Restructuring and Autonomy of Government Media on December 2006. The team includes Badri Bahadur Karki (Coordinator), Kunda Dixit, Dhurba Hari Adhikari, Nirmala Sharma, Tej Prakash Pundit, Ram Sharan Karki, Madan Kumar Sharma, Jaya Sankar Mahato etc. It has a mandate to make a report o the issue in two months. There is no doubt that government is going to extend its time. It is also calling politicians about the issue. Actually these people are important. Only their will works. Acts of Gorkhapatra Prakashan, Rastriya Samachar Samiti have compelled government to make their share available to their workers and general people. As I wrote in my previous posting governments have never shown their courage to do so. Even media policies...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Here media politics has nothing to do with political parties. What I say media politics is the politics of main media organizations in Nepal. My focus is to know which media issues they give emphasis and which they neglect. I am sharing my experience of going through news cutting we have in Martin Chautari Media Documentation Centre ( http://www.martinchautri.org.np/ ) We have news cutting on different media issues. I tried to figure out the volume of articles and news according to subjects: State Media, Working Journalists., Foreign Direct Investment in Media and Media Monopoly. Cuttings on the welfare of working journalists were the lest among the four. This is the subject on which journalists related organizations conducted seminars in five star hotels. How journalists could voice their grievances in their own media. They even can not publish their grievances and problem in others’ newspapers. We know that media sector flourished in Nepal after 1990. But the c...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Zade said this in her blog on Feb 19 2007: Happy PraJaTanTra DiWas!! Nothing really. Its just a great day, the sun’s shining ah but again everyone’s after the King’s “Baktabya”. But well, let me not talk of things I have no expertise on..So Happy Prajatantra Diwas Everyone! And For bloggers, I wish this Freedom of Expression Last for ever and ever!! And my day began with this day..So enjoy!! http://zade.wordpress.com/ I don't know how to answer her. I want to write more about Falgun 7. So here is my experience and idea about Falgun 7. I have celebrated many Falgun 7 as Democracy days. Nepal celebrated 57th Democracy day on 19 February 2007. During my school days I used to praise King Tribhuwan for fleeing Delhi, sacrificing his happiness and supporting the Anti-Rana movement. I saw nothing wrong to declare him the father of Democray or Rastrapita or Father of the country. blah.blah. I got this impression from text books on history I read in my school. My holi...

BY Harsha Man Maharjan 1 February 2005 brought crisis in Nepali media. For new media especially blogs and websites it was an opportunity. It is in fact an irony. They flourished when the king smother Nepali media and declare the state of emergency in the country. He ordered Nepali media not to do anything against the letter and sprit of his proclamation. Military personals performed actions of editors in newspapers, radio etc. In this adverse and undemocratic condition big media houses: Kantipur Publication, Nepal Samacharpatra, Rajdhani, The Himalayan Times etc kowtowed before Military orders. They opted to appease the king than the public. Only few magazines and weeklies opposed the king’s order in different ways. The media that fully rebelled at that time were few websites: www.insn.org ; www.radiofreenepal.blogspot.com ; www.blog.com.np; etc. Not only people in abroad but also people having online access in Nepal knew about the country from these media. Khoj Patrakarita Kendra (Cen...

Harsha Man Maharjan In Nepali context, journalism in vernacular languages mean journalism in Newari, Tharu, Maithali and other languages, except Nepali and English. They have similar problems. They lack audiences. Their market is small. Hence their journalism is no mainstream journalism. Main theme that cover them is Bhasa Anurag (Passion of Language). I encountered the word Bhasa Anurag in Kamal Prakash Malla’s book on literacy criticism in Nepal Bhasa, Nali Swana. He used this word to describe the first stage of literacy criticism that only celebrates earlier Nepal Bhasa writers. At this stage criticizing the writers was impossible. Critics were more emotional. I think that journalism in vernacular languages in Nepal, too are glorifying their past, and using less ink on criticizing their weaknesses. Today the circulation of the Nepali daily Kantipur is more than 2 lakh. There are many readers in Nepai language. It happens only after long time. It happens only at the cost of vernacula...

By Harsha Man Maharjan These days I am in a dilemma. I have a question? Why does some body open a library? In Rana period we know Ranas incarcerated few Nepalese for opening a library. We have named it ‘Library Parba’. Today some libraries are barring readers from using their books. Could you believe this? But it is a reality. It is happening in Kathmandu. Visit Nepal Bharat Sanskritik Kendra Library Indian library in RNAC, New Road you will find this. It happened on a day few years ago. I used to visit the library whenever I had time. On the day, the guard there bars me from using books. After I kept my bag he requested me to show my student card. I searched my card inside my bag. I showed him my card. Yet he did not allow using books there. He informed me that my card had no valid date. At that time I was waiting the result my BA III year’s result. So I could have a valid card unless I doctored it or get forged card. I put my problem to officials there. They were ...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Madhesh is in fire. A wildfire. Many think it is an inevitable incident. They think the state has always neglected Madheshis grievances. Others think it a design to bifurcate Nepal into principalities. I too believe Madheshis were living with grievances and they have rights to vent their grievances. My interest in this issue, made me read Bhaskar Gautam’s unpublished article, Sahabhagita abam Pratinidhimulak Sahabhagita and Madhesh (Participation, Representational participation and Madhesh). In this article he has written on the issues of citizenship, language issue and so-called Nepali nationality. From it I learn a lot about the issue. History shows 30 years of Panchayat system never left its doctrine of one language and one dress. This way it never heeded people with other cultures. There was no hope for Madheshis in these years. Even 12 years of Democratic exercise did nothing to balm their wounds. Madhesh always remained as an internal colony of Nepal. 23 La...

By Harsha Man Maharjan This idea grabbed my attention at Martin Chautari media discussion series on 26 October 2006. James Sharrock of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Ujjwal Achrya of United We Blog(UWB) were pundits on the topic: Nepali Blogging Around February 1 and Now, there. Sharrock’s has to present an essay at SOAS. His presentation depends on this essay. Ujjwal shared his experience of blogging. What grabbed my attention during the program was K.P. Dhungana, a bloger’s wishes. What if king Gyanendra blog to convince Nepali people that Nepal needs constitutional Monarch ? or Prachanda does blogging to share what happened inside Baluwatar during peace talks ? The idea sounds good. Blog is an online dairy. It transforms into journalism if it has journalistic qualities: reporting, quotes as UWB, MeroSansar etc. In Nepal blogging flourished after Feb 1, 2005. There were some blogs before Feb 1. They were personal daries containing personal matters only. February 1...

By Harsha Man Maharjan The issue of reforming state media is in air. Media related organizations like Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Press Chautari etc demanded this after April revolution 2006. FNJ recommended the government to make the Gorkhaptra Sasthan (GP) a public print media, not a private one. About Radio Nepal (RN) and Nepal Television (NTV), it recommends passing a charter by the Parliament for these media like Britain did for BBC radio and tv. This will bring Radio Nepal and NTV under the parliament instead of the Prime Minister and Minister of Information as it is now. The High Level Media Recommendation Commission 2006 (HLMRC) has recommended the government to privative the GP, make Radio Nepal and NTV public broadcasting services loyal to people . About National New Agency (RSS) it recommends to be loyal to people. 7 September 2006 statement of the International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Nepal says all political parties show their suppo...

By Harsha Man Maharjan. Mainstream Nepali media survive from advertisements. These media never dare to criticize their advertisers. In Nepal instant noodle ads rule the ad market. And we see no information about the negative effect of these instant noodles there. Recently Present government placed instant noodles in the category of luxury goods and introduced tax on them. Noodle industries criticized the government action and stop their production. Heath experts and consumer rights activists know that these noodles are unhealthy. People suffer with malnutrition when they take the noodles regularly. This information seldom comes in mainstream media. Opposite to it, once The Himalayan Times and Annapuran Post even devoted its two full pages to eulogize these noodles. It must be Public Relations material. There might be other newspapers and media doing the same which I missed. Yesterday (3 August, 2006) I was surprised to watch a comedy teleserial on the Kantipur TV, Laina Bhutukai Pa...

By Harsha Man Maharjan The Gorkhapatra, granny of Nepali print journalism always served people in power. It was true for Rana regime. No exception for Panchayat or twelve years of constitutional monary. During agitation for the restoration of democracy in 2062 and 2063, it criticized seven party alliances, movement for press freedom of Federation of Nepalese Journalist. Its tone changed after the king returned sovereignty to people after Janaandolan 2063. Krishna K.C. who used to criticize FNJ and seven party alliance, now writes about press freedom and the need of privatizing the Gorkhapatra Sansthan. He thinks no government can run media in democracy. In his article he even informs that the Gorkhapatra Sansthan is getting nothing from the Government. Instead it is paying huge amount of money to the government. Yet it seems GP has not changed its loyalty. Even today it only serves the ministers not people. It is serving other GP(Girija Prasad Koirala). When will it serve the people ?

By Harsha Man Maharjan Nepal Education and Book Fair has become 10 year. It is the fact that we become matured as our years raise. But it is not so for the Global Exposition and Management Services Pvt. Ltd, the organizer of the fair. Global gave emphasis to one media house this time. It not only paid Kantipur Publication for the advertisement, but also for advertorials. These advertorials appear to create the environment of the fair before the twelve days of the fair. Only The Himalayan Times got few ads from the British Council. These ads informed about the British Council’s participation in the fair. This might have cut the Global’s budget on publicity and increases its profit. Kantipur Publication also participated in the fair. But it reduced the fair’s coverage in the other media. Anjan Shrestha of Educational Book Fair worried that only few media covered this event. He brought writers Manjushree Thapa and Narayan Wagle in the fair so that people can meet their favourite writers...