Journalism & Media

Simply inhuman

Killing anyone is a crime itself. Killing someone for criticism is an act of people who have already lost a portion of humanism. Attempting to kill a journalist for what she wrote – that too by gradually cutting her right fingers and pushing off a cliff – is simply inhuman.

Tika Bista, a 22-year-old Rukum-based lady journalist, was brutally attacked for murder and thrown on the 20-meter deep cliff and left to die. She was found next day, airlifted to Kathmandu for further treatment and she is still fighting for life.

A few things indicate that the attackers though unknown as yet are Maoists.

Reports say Bista had been receiving phone threats in connection with her recent commentary on local Jantidhara weekly titled – “Why Maoists need Tirtha’s sindoor?”

She wrote the article in response of Maoists using a slogan about martial symbol (sindoor) of former MP Tirtha Gautam, widowed due to murder of her husband by the Maoists in 1999, while waving black flags to a minister.

Bista had issued a press release last week on the threats she was receiving from unknown people after the article was published.

While talking to her friend at the Nepalgunj Hospital when she regained consciousness briefly, Bista quoted a male threatening her on mobile as saying:

Writing about the widows?.. Should I send you to heaven? Yadu Gautam is already there and you can meet him there.

According to The Himalayan Times, the brave journalist told the friend: I’ll never be intimidated by such attacks. Nor do I want my name to be among killed journalists.

Such first-degree murder attempt to people for what they write/think/believe should stop!

NepaliVoices strongly condemn the attack and demand government to arrest and punish those involved!

December 10, 2009 by Journalism & Media Sadly!

My views on sex video scandal

Last week, Naya Patrika, a daily tabloid, printed main story on a sex video of a rising female movie star. The story became buzz of the town, albeit on whispers, and was loud on internet as the video, first available on YouTube, was available to download on many online forums.

The video, reported about six-month old, showed the female actress and model in explicit sexual act with a married DJ. A private video – but of course of ‘big news’ for the paper: big because it attracted more than 500 comments in less than three days on its website (the second most commented story on the site had 273 comments, printed two months ago).

Before indulging into what was right and what was wrong, let me look into similar incidents in Nepal.

There were at least two similar incidents when the debate of media ethics on publication of such materials emerged. The first was publication of the nude photo of a top actor by a monthly magazine and then publication of photo of an actress in sexual act by a weekly.

The first case ended after the publication apparently apologizing with the actor after long debate and in second case, the actress committed suicide.

This news case is different in at least one factor: first the media did not publish any photo that could be considered obscene –although there were photos from the videos. (But it’s publication of the news that such video existed was enough for thousands of people to search and download the video from internet).

We at our newsroom had a long discussion on was it ethical for media to publish such news. There were arguments for and against but the not a consensus. The nearest conclusion probably was that ‘it’s an issue, running it or not is a newsroom decision.’

For tabloids, such news is big; for broadsheet, almost nothing. (As in this case, no broadsheet has printed anything on it while many weekly broadsheets are not missing the follow-ups).

One thing for sure: the debate of ethics on publication of such news leads nowhere.

The video means the actress’ movie career is over; but more disastrous effect is the social embarrassment throughout her life. But can the media be held responsible for any effect on her life due to video?

No. Despite the fact that media should be socially responsible for the effect, it should not be held responsible.

The reason she suffered is not the media but the mistakes she committed: firstly, she had an illicit relations which our society does not perceive as moral behavior; and secondly, she let the act to be recorded.

Would the newspaper have published such story if at least one of the involved people was not a celebrity? No. Then why only chase celebrity? Because they are the one people follow. Was it right on their part to engage in such activities or record such activities despite knowing that they could be the ideals of many fans?

Being a celebrity also means some social responsibility.

Personally I think media in countries like Nepal should have refrained from publishing such materials primarily because it has a lifelong effect on those involved. Everyone commits mistake; the celebrities pay bigger price for it if they go public.

September 23, 2009 by Journalism & Media Sadly!

History of Sport Journalism in Nepal

(This is the an excerpt from my post-graduation thesis – Sports Press in Nepal: A Survey of Sports Pages of the Daily Newspapers. See bottom of this post for more information.)

Sports journalism is defined as the collection, editing and disseminating the news about the activities of sports. (Acharya, 1998) When there is talk about the involvement of media in the development of sports, it is referred to its vital role in disseminating the sports events. (Shakya, 1999)

Sports journalism started getting importance only after 1985. At that time, there were only two broadsheet dailies, Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal. Not to talk of a separate page for sports in the newspapers of those days, even the coverage of sports events were very scant. (Shakya, 1999)

The history of sports journalism in Nepal begins with Sporting Times, a sports magazine published in 1956. (Acharya, 1998) Edited by Manindra Raj Shrestha, it was English fortnightly. (Shakya, 1999) It ceased publication after a few issues. (Acharya, 1998).

In 1960, Shyam KC began Sportsman monthly which also ceased publication soon. (Acharya, 1998) This publication played crucial role in enhancing sports journalism. (Gyawali, 2003) Since then a number of sports magazines were published but none of them were published on regular basis. (Shakya, 1999)

In 1967, Rangasala was published under editorship of Rajendra Bahadur Shrestha and National Sports Council published a sports magazine Khel Ra Kheladi a year later. Both of these could not continue. In 1974, NSC began a quarterly publication, Khelkud Ra Janajivan, which was also closed after three issues.

It’s debatable that why NSC, a government body, with yearly budget could not continue the publication. (Silwal, 2005) NSC also began sports programs in Radio Nepal and Nepal Television but that too were short-lived.

Subodh Giri began Khel Jagat in 1979 which irregularly continued till 1987. The sole cause of the irregularity in publication was source of funding as well as lack of trained sports journalists (Gyawali, 2003). Magazines under the flagship of Sports Nepal, Khelkud Manch and Khel Sansar were seen in the market in early 90s, but all of them have closed down now.

Historically, there has been frequent publication of sports magazine but all of them ceased publication after a few issues. The main reason for the closure of all these publication was financial instability. Lack of financial resources for the publication, lack of advertisements and small market caused the shutdown of sports magazines. (Silwal, 2006)

It was The Rising Nepal that has given priority to sports news from the day of its inception. (Silwal, 2006) Even so, daily newspapers didn’t have a separate sports page until early 90s. After 1990, national daily newspaper started separating a sports page which is continued till today. This is a positive aspect of sports journalism (Gyawali, 2003)

The current situation is that every daily newspaper has a separate sports page but still though they are not serious about the sports news. (Acharya, 1998) There were various problems for leading newspapers on sports reporting, one of them was irregularities and sadly, that continues in present context too. (Acharya, 2001)

Sports news has long been the ‘necessary fillers’ something that can’t be missed but also something that doesn’t hold much importance.

Electronic media have begun understanding the importance of events as they have started live broadcasting such events and giving good coverage. The AFC President’s Cup football tournament was not only broadcasted live on Nepal Television, it was also live on Kantipur FM.

Similarly, Nepal Television has bought rights of football and cricket for next four to five years paying a handsome amount. Live broadcasting of cricket or football matches is not new for Nepali television channels these days with NTV being the front-runner. Despite all that, electronic media have not yet been able to give importance to sports news. (Silwal, 2005) Continue reading…

July 11, 2009 by Journalism & Media

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