When ex-PM KP Oli warns ex-King’s family for a fake tweet

On April 27, 2023, ex-Prime Minister and the chair of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli in Ilam criticized ex-King Gyanendra Shah saying:

‘ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह उसको परिवार । उनको बुहारी जान्ने भएर जनताले ढुंगा होनेको देखिन् । ट्वीट गरिगरिकन जनताले केपी ओलीलाई ढुंगा हान्यो रे । मैले यसको जवाफ दिनु नपरोस् बर्ता फरफुर नगर । बर्ता फुरफुर गने होइन । हामीले हिसाब कितान नगरेरै छाडेका छौँ । हाम्रा मान्छे गोली हानेर मार्दा छाडेका छौँ । अनेक हिसाबकिताव गरेका छौनौँ । हिसाव किताब गर्न सुरु गर्न नपरोस् । छोराबुहारी अगाडि सारेर फुरफुर नगर !’

His statement was based on a tweet of a fake account on the name of Himani Shah (the tweet was deleted soon after).

Next day, ex-King’s communication secretariat issued a statement saying: 

‘श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज सरकार, श्री ५ बडामहारानी सरकार तथा श्री ५ युवराज्ञी सरकारबाट कुनैपनि प्रकारका सामाजिक सञ्जाल सञ्चालन नगरिबक्सेको बेहोरा पुनः जानकारी गराईन्छ । यस्तो निाराधार कपोकल्पित भ्रमजालबाट मुक्त रहन सबैमा आग्रह गर्दै आस्था र मर्यादामा आँच नपुर्याउन अनुरोध गरिन्छ । यस सम्बन्धमा यस सचिबालयबाट मिति २०७८।०।२३ मा समेत खण्डन भइसकेको जानकारी गराईन्छ । मिति २०८० साल बैशाख १५ गते ।’

Another case: Naya Patrika and KP Oli

सय किलो सुन तस्करी प्रकरण : मलहोत्राको फोटो छापिँदा ओलीको आपत्ति

४ साउनमा प्रकाशित नयाँ पत्रिका, जसमा आफ्नो फोटो छापिएको भन्दै ओलीले आक्षेप लगाएका छन् तर, पूरै समाचारमा न उनको फोटो छ, न नाम

अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थलबाट पछिल्लोपटक भएको करिब सय किलो सुन तस्करीसम्बन्धी समाचारमा आपत्ति जनाउँदै एमाले अध्यक्ष तथा पूर्वप्रधानमन्त्री केपी ओलीले नयाँ पत्रिकामाथि लाञ्छना लगाएका छन् । गत बिहीबार प्रकाशित समाचारमा आफ्नो फोटोसमेत राखिएको उनको आरोप छ । जब कि समाचारमा न ओलीको फोटो छ, न उनको नाम नै । 

https://www.nayapatrikadaily.com/news-details/120250/2023-07-26

Life is a journey – II

After 1,369 days (well, that’s nearly four years), I left BBC News Nepali’s newsroom for good.

After working 45 months as the Senior Journalist (Social Media) at world-renowned media, I decided to quit to pursue my decade long dream of establishing a journalism academy in Nepal.

I will write more about the Academy in coming days and in other platforms (including the Medium page of the Academy) but in this blog post, I just want to write a sentence that has come to me again and again, especially during hard times:

I must have done some thing really good in my this or past life that I have so many friends who share and support my passion, and care for me!

Thank you friends!

Amazing 3 Days at Sauraha

I went to Sauraha – the eastern entry point to the Chitwan National Park to spend a couple of days with family and friends. Sauraha, a popular tourist destination, is a must if you are visiting Nepal. Accessible by road (4-5 hours) from Kathmandu and Pokhara, if offers entry to the wilderness from within the moderately developed small town.

Here is how we spent three days at Sauraha as tourists and enjoyed every second of it. Continue reading…

Meeting Tiger in the Wild

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet? (From Tiger by Willian Blake)

January 1, 2016: Tiger is an animal that co-holds the titles of both – the beauty and the beast. Meeting a tiger in its wilderness is a treat – not only for the eyes but for your heart too as someone termed the experience as equivalent ‘achieving orgasm during first sex by a lady’ – a possibility but a rarity. Continue reading…

A Teacher of His Own League

I’m retired but not tired.
Prof. P. Kharel

Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication P. Kharel retired from the Tribhuvan University recently. A teacher of his own league, I was among those fortunates to get opportunities to learn from him. During our college days, we had to muster enough courage to face him as he was considered a strict teacher. When I was doing my master’s in journalism and mass communication, I asked him to supervise my thesis on sports journalism for two reason: first, because he had been a sports reporter himself during his career, and secondly, I was writing in English.

In this blog post, I will write some of my interesting experiences with him.  These experience with him probably tells us how his personality is. Continue reading…

Why We Should Express Our Opinions Publicly

“Facebook & Twitter is full of trash! People are writing all sorts of non-sense thing on Social Media.”

I hear that quite often. I am asked about it quite often. There were times – such as after the April 25’s Earthquake – when I felt irritated, frustrated and even angered by what were written on Facebook and Twitter. Everyday, I see Facebook and Twitter; and I find things that people should not post there.

This morning I saw one of my students (and a journalist) posting news with a picture of a woman who was hanged herself. The other day, someone wrote a racial comment regarding a political group. Of course, there are things that shouldn’t have been posted on Social Media.

And, there are quite a lot of things that I come across everyday that I disagree – wholly or partly. Reading such posts gives be a kind of bad feelings – sometime a light one and sometime a hard one. Continue reading…

Introducing an Alien Called Dr Govinda KC

“By letting the newspaper print my works, I’ve probably undervalued my works.”

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Dr Govinda KC during one of his self-financed free camps. Photo: Republica

Dr Govinda KC spoke those words in a packed hall of Hotel Annapurna on April 24, 2010 in an event that was organized by Nagarik & Republica daily to let 15 social heroes doing selfless service to the societies tell their stories. Dr KC was one of 15 and was most reluctant to appear on newspaper or speak in the event.

I was told it needed a lot of persuasion to ensure he is available for the event – and I clearly told the hall why he was reluctant.

A story that appeared on the same day in the newspapers’ supplements began with: “The surest way to locate Dr Govinda KC is to go looking for him in that part of the globe where a major natural disaster has just struck.” Continue reading…

Journalism always has a future

Last year, I attended Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at the Ohio State University learning and honing my digital journalism skills. Not only the course, the program was fantastic as I got to know a few brilliant people there. One of them is Manuel Moreno, from Spain. We became more brothers than friends and spend a brilliant week together. I feel privileged to know him as he has a devoted himself in technology and runs Trecebits – a popular portal and is expecting publication of his first book in 2014.

After we both returned to our homes, he wanted to publish an interview at Trecebits. I couldn’t speak Spanish so he took all the pain to send me English questions, translate my answers and publish it in the popular website. Since it’s in Spanish, I thought I would keep the English version in my blog. Here it is:

How do you think journalism has changed since Internet and social networks became popular on the newsrooms?

When I first joined in as an intern reporter in one of the daily newspapers in Nepal some 14 years ago, there were no computers at newsroom. There were Macintosh computers to design pages in designing section. Since then a lot have been changed. Now newsroom in Nepal can not be imagined without computers and media are slowly getting hooked with social networks.

At a few newsroom, social networks are still blocked at peak work hour but they are slowly getting popular as source of information.

The change that social networks have brought include sourcing information and promotion of the news items. Journalists in Nepal mostly use social network to get tips for news stories and share a lot of things they write. Continue reading…

Electronic Transaction Act #Clause47 & Journalism

On Monday, 30 September, news came through that yet another journalist has been arrested under Clause 47 of Electronic Transaction Act 2008. Dinesh Acharya, editor-in-chief of Share Bazaar Weekly, was arrested as a case against him was filed by Nirvana Chaudhary, a heir of Chaudhary Group of industries and son of Nepal’s only Forbes billionaire.

At the Kathmandu District Court, where he was to be brought that day, I saw police bringing in people handcuffed together. A thought of a journalist being handcuffed alongside those accused on cases of drugs and violence horrified me for a few seconds. But Acharya was not among those dozen who were brought in an open truck. A police van later brought him – handcuffed but alone and in a better way. Continue reading…