Online Media in Nepal: Short History

(This is a very short history of online media/journalism including that of Nepal that I had prepared a few years ago for my term paper. Updated with beginning of internet in Nepal on June 28.)

Internet is relatively new media. It was only in the late 80s and early 90s that the World Wide Web (WWW) emerged and started influencing the way people live. Journalism was not left behind. The early use of internet was for acquiring information and using computer to improve reporting, but by the half of the 90s, the newspapers were already on the internet serving the people worldwide.

Early precursors of the online journalism are believed to be teletext and videotext, introduced and used during 70s and 80s but never took off. In 1978, Bulletin Board System (BBS), information and emails sharing method by direct connection between computers, began. In 1982, StarText, the first newspaper intended to deliver only to computers via videotext was established. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created the internet. His invention changed the scenario as the WWW offered greater capacity, flexibility, immediacy, permanence and interactivity.

Chicago Tribune of USA began its online venture, the Chicago Online, in 1992. This is the considered the first online media. The first proper news site was put on the internet as early as in 1993 when the The News & Observer in North Carolina was put on the internet through bulletin board system (BBS). After the first internet browser, Mosaic was launched in 1994, it went online as Nando Times. The pioneering site, the Nando Times pages were discontinued May 27, 2003. On January 19, 1995, the first newspaper to regularly publish on the Web, the Palo Alto Weekly in California, begins twice-weekly postings of its full content.

Mercantile Office Systems began the commercial email system in June 1994 and established a separate entity Mercantile Communications for similar services. Before that Nepal Academy for Science and Technology (NAST) and Nepal Forum for Environmental Journalists had used email services as trials. Early services were used by dialing ISD numbers in India for the connection.

On July 15, 1995 Mercantile started providing full online access operating via a lease line through Nepal Telecom with it’s backbone in Singapore. By the end of 1995, Mercantile had approximately 150 subscribers – most of them being the International Non-Governmental Organizations in Kathmandu.

WorldLink began internet services as around same time with duplex dial-up lines that dials in USA four times a day. It had around 60 subscribers by January 1996.

Nepalese in US began the publication of first online media on Oct 23, 1993 – The Nepal Digest. This continued for 449 issues and closed before it resumed publication again in 2003. On September 1, 1995 (edited on September 5, 2013 after finding out that The Kathmandu Post started uploading on September 1, 1995 but only announced it on September 7, 1995) The Kathmandu Post went online on the University of Illinois website. It was joint effort of Mercantile Communications, the publication and Rajendra Shrestha, an engineering student who uploaded the news on his personal page provided by the university.

Himal Media started archiving it’s publication, Himal South Asia, in it’s own website himalsouthasia.com in 1997.

Mercantile established South-Asia.com in 1998 when it archived seven daily and weekly newspapers. The site however only gave the digital version of the printed publications. In 1999, it moved to NepalNews.com paving ways for more newspapers to put up their content on the cyberspace and the company also began serving it’s own news collected by the reporters it employed for the news portal.

Kantipur Publications established KantipurOnline.com on April 13, 2000. At initial phase, KantipurOnline.com employed reporters for news reporting. The site not only uploaded the digital version of its publications but also has their original contents with a few reporters working for it.

On December 15, 2002 Kamana Group of Publications began newsofnepal.com. Lately all broadsheet dailies along with weeklies and smaller media are available online.

Talking about weblog or blog, the first blogsite of Nepal, United We Blog, was established on October 1, 2004. The number of blog sites is also increasing rapidly because one can start it free of cost and without much of technical knowledge.

June 22, 2009 by History of Online Media in Nepal Series Online Journalism

On Chaukathi, a short film

Threshold or Chaukathi, a 30-minute film made by my friend Deepak Rauniyar, was officially the first film to be selected to be screened at Cannes Film Festival. There were two more from Nepal same year.

Despite being screened at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in Kathmandu, where it was adjudged the third-best film, I had not watched it and when it got selected for Cannes, I just felt like I should have watched it.

Deepak was surprised when I asked him, after he returned from Paris, to inform me to screening of it. He promised he would and he invited me today at Kumari, where the film will be screened just before Terminator Salvation [oddly enough to comment] on the ticket for English movie.

To be true, I didn’t expect anything ‘very good’ from Deepak, a close-friend during our jobs at Nepal Samacharpatra daily. But he proved to be beyond my expectations; although I feel there are still a lot to be improved.

threshold

So, what’s the Chaukathi all about? It’s a story of a woman, educated till standard 10 before marriage, who is amazed by the talks of a census data collector woman. The woman says the household Tarai woman that she left her husband because it did not just worked. Then, during the night, when her husband asks her for an intercourse, he refuses and leaves the room as she was in no mood for it.

Very simple storyline but told nicely – a strong message of women empowerment. I loved a few things about it:

  1. There is no villain, even the husband of Saraswoti Gupta, the woman, loves her dearly.
  2. Messages are told vividly yet nothing like preaching.
  3. Natural story – I didn’t felt like even a piece of it can not happen in my neighborhood.

Rooms for improvement: yes, the film is unnecessarily long – it will lose nothing if brought down to 20 minutes; acting is not the best; in few scenes camerawork/editing leaves scars.

Somewhere in Facebook, Deepak wrote that a popular commercial director told him that since the film is produced/written/directed/edited by him, only he would watch it. I am not interested in what he answered, but here is my answer: it is a lot better than a few of your films that I have watched.

And, before I conclude here is an encouraging comment from a man sitting behind me: It looks like a Hindi film dubbed in Nepali. Well done, Deepak!

June 19, 2009 by Leisurely Activities

Changing faces of Nepal’s news sites

In last few months – three top news sites of Nepal namely eKantipur.com [the new name for KantipurOnline.com], TheHimalayanTimes.com [the online venture of APCA House which publishes The Himalayan Times English daily] and the old gold NepalNews.com changed their designs [and updating frequency].

Here are the two screenshots of these sites for comparison:

eKantipur in January, 2009

ekanjan09

Changed eKantipur

ekannow

Old face of NepalNews

nnold

And, NepalNews’ new face

nnJune

Old TheHimalayanTimes

thtjan09

And, the complete makeover

thtnow

Why the change?
Those changes on the online news site were seen on the short span of time. Why? I believe the big reason is the arrival of MyRepublica.com [I am not telling that because I am working there]. MyRepublica.com started a few months before the publication of print edition and with all the effort of the journalists, it soon climbed to the top position forcing others to rethink about their running news site.

Anyway, it’s a good news for the online media lovers and those who prefer reading online news.

June 14, 2009 by Online Journalism

Time to wake up!

Barbarity! Inhumanity! Heinousness! Atrocity! Savagery!

These are the synonyms that my small dictionary offered to me as I searched for the right word to define the incident that happened today at Chabahil. Sadly, I believe none of these exactly represent what I want to call it!

1

A mob attacked a stationary microbus parked on the side of the road. The passengers of the microbus were small school children – who had to ran out crying for the mob started pelting it’s windshield with stones.

How shocking is that? Since I saw the photo for the first time at around 3 PM, I am feeling bothered, a kind of numb feeling, and every time I look at these photos I feel a chill running from my heart to my back.

2

If Keshab Thoker, the photojournalist, had come to me and interpreted the event without the photos, I would never have believed him, for I thought, the peace-loving Nepali would never do such an inhuman act. But there were proofs and that left me trying to think what these innocent children were thinking at that time.

No blame game! I don’t want to blame any party or political leader or anything like that, but probably the ever-flowing news of violence had left us senseless – without any feeling – and that way we, the once proud Nepali as peace loving people, are turning savages from human.

3

Sadly, there seemed very little things we could do to stop that [and those who could help a little are not willing; for there interest comes above all including the humanity, the nation and the social welfare].

For all of us, it’s now time to wake up!

(All photos copied from myrepublica.com)

June 7, 2009 by Sadly!

5 Truths About Blogging

(or 5 Bitter Things You Must Know Before You Start Blogging)

Last week, I received an email from one of my friends that read: Please provide me some information on how to start good blogging and earn a few bucks from it!

It was not the first time I have been asked in that way. I had a few requests from people who want to begin blogging and earn. Primarily for them, here is my list of 5 truths about blogging:

1. Setting up a blog is easy

Setting up a blog for you is as easy as opening an email address. There are free services such as wordpress.com and blogger.com which lets you begin a blog for free. Just click on sign up button, fill in the details and your blog is ready.

Writing a new entry [or post] for your blog is also quite easy. Click on new post button after logging in and write down the headline and text and click on post/publish button.

2. … but running a blog is very difficult

Setting of a blog is very easy but then having the passion to run in for a long time [which is necessary if you want something – little money, fame or recognition – from it. As many other bloggers in the world, I have myself, despite being known among many as a pioneer blogger, have found it hard to continue maintaining blog.

Sometime, we don’t have time, sometime no subject to write on and sometime when we have time and subject, no energy to write it. A lot of time, especially if your blog is not very popular, you question yourself why are you writing.

3. Blogging does not give instant cash [or sometime does not earn at all]

Money is a big attraction. Some bloggers earn their livings from it; but a very large number of them earn very little or nothing from their blogs. If you set up blog in WordPress.com, remember you cannot put advertisements on it and thus earn nothing.

My experience with Google Adsense is not very encouraging one. I earned about US$10 a month from this site in its early days [and that was the time when I used to write regularly]. I then decided not to put it on this site. Even with UWB!, an immensely popular blog during the Royal Regime, I don’t remember getting a 100 dollar check in one month, so if you are looking for money from your blog, think of other business unless you have a very concrete plan to do something to earn.

4. Blogging is not about money

Therefore blogging is not about money. If you read my article about why people blog in Nepal, you will know what can be motivation to blog.

5. Blogging does not make you famous

And, one more bitter truth about blogging – it does not make you famous. Well, there are every chance that a few dozens of people will read your blogs and will comment on your writing, there is no guarantee that blogging will make you famous [sometime even after blogging for many years]. One thing, for sure, is that if you maintain your blog for a long time writing consistently on some specific topic, you will have thousand people knowing you.

Becoming famous is to cash on the opportunities. Bad events are good opportunities – like the Royal Takeover was for me and many others; Tsunami was for many bloggers in Asia.

Now here are some links to my previous entries that could prove useful in understanding/getting more information on the topics I mentioned in this entry:

If you want to add anything about blogging or link to things/your blog entries, you are welcome!

April 13, 2009 by Blogs & Blogging

Stories from Manakamana Trip

mana1

Travelling was not easy; especially after facing a non-sense strike and fuel crisis, but it was full of fun.

I left Kathmandu for a short-trip to Manakamana Temple. It trip was supposed to be completed in 24 hours but it took almost 50 hours. A two-hour strike on highway at Kurintar destroyed our plan and forced us to go to Pokhara. Stories from the trip (a personal diary):

A Highway Closed

As we were two-km away from Kurintar, where we were supposed to get into a cable car to take us to Manakamana temple, there was suddenly a queue of vehicles. The cause, I found out after walking five minutes, was an accident. An ambulance hit a boy and ran away.

The boy was injured, not seriously, and the locals demanded that the ambulance that had hit him to be brought back and the boy taken to a particular hospital in Kathmandu. They said they would only let the vehicles go after a phone call from the hospital that the injured had been admitted.

The locals were divided. The elders were saying if the police promised that to happen, they should let the vehicles go. Youths, especially two of them, were arrogant saying nothing would happen if they closed down the highway for a day or two at the time when Tharus had closed entire Tarai for 10 days.

The highway opened after more than two hours after long negotiation with the locals by police. We did not stay to know on what promises.

The PM Cup football final

We were five – my couple, a friend’s couple and their little son. Subash is a football fan. Though I had not been regular to PM Cup football tournament, I would have gone to the stadium on the day if I was not travelling. Nepal Red was playing the final with Sri Lanka in front of a record crowd.

There were two good things: the first Nepal won the final 4-2 on tie-breakers. And, due to highway closure, we could watch the live telecast of the match at a tea-shop.

To Pokhara

As the cable-car closes at 5:00 PM, we could not go to the temple. Rather than returning, we decided to go to Pokhara – some 100km west. We were at Pokhara by 8:30 PM and had requested a friend of mine, whose brother-in-law was a policeman in Pokhara to find us a guest house. He turned out to be very helpful and put us in a guest house at a very low cost.

At around 11:00 PM, I heard noises downstairs and a woman crying. I could not sleep but at the same time was so tired that I could not put on enough courage to get off the bed and look what had happened.

Next day, we knew that the owner of the guest house had died and his funeral happened in the morning.

mana3

Sarangkot [without sunrise/mountains]

Sarangkot provides the best view of the sunrise. We woke up early to go there, but Pokhara was on the different mood. There was thick fog and no sunrise for us. It was my sixth visit to Pokhara and the only one when I could not see the famous Machhapuchhere [fishtail] peak.

Came back to city to know that our guest house owner died last night and there was no petrol in the city. Even the policeman could not arrange any, as we were forced to stay back.

I had always loved boating at Fewa lake – the beauty of Pokhara. The policeman arranged us a boat, put all of us on a rowing boat. A man with two oars followed us, pulled out boat to water and then, surprise, instead of getting into it; he handed over the oars to us wishing us a good boating.

We were stunned. None of us had rowed a boat in past. We had to learn it now. After very hard learning, I somehow learned to steer it as my wish. That was good part.

At the middle of a lake, a journalist friend called us to inform he had arranged petrol for us. We quickly went to him; got 15 liters of petrol from a closed fuel station and then hurried to Kurintar.

mana2

Manakamana [the goddess to fulfill wishes]

In Nepal, we believe, if we promise to visit a temple and do not visit it, and then it will be a curse. I had made a vacal [promise] to visit Manakamana long ago; a reason for my visit.

We went at the temple in the evening. And, in the morning to offer a puja; I felt all good after performing the puja and hope that the goddess will fulfill my wish.

That’s all for the diary.

March 16, 2009 by Travelogues

Fagu Purnima: It’s all about colors

Thanks Dipesh Shrestha for the photo.

Thanks Dipesh Shrestha for the photo.

Red for victory; yellow for happiness; blue for peace; orange for joy; green for wealth; pink for love and purple for health: may all these colors blend you and result a new color called your life.

So goes the only sms wish I received on Fagu Purnima [or Holi – the festival of colors]; it may not exactly represent the meaning of the colors but it surely represent the theme of the festival. The festival of colors meant to bring happiness on us as we celebrate the victory of good over evil.

The festival, celebrated of good’s victory over evil, by smearing colors on faces. For my community, we sacrifice a he-goat to god Bhairav in a temple that existed in our neighborhood since before my birth. Since the offering is done in the morning, it takes half-day to complete the function and then, with all hands smeared in red color while hand-painting the big stone – that we call Bhairav, there is hardly any chance to leave the temple without red smeared on face.

So, despite many people of my age, not playing with colors and water, I along with my relatives generally celebrate it. Same was this year [also drinking of Ghhotta – a drink that sometime makes you more than tipsy and smoking marijiuana].

myholiIt was a joy! The festival is a joy [ok unless you turn to be a girl on the street as pointed out in this blog post.]

March 11, 2009 by Uzz Update

Moutain Flight: A Unqiue Experience

Lovely Moutains!

Lovely Moutains! Mount Everest at the middle.

That’s beautiful, isn’t it? The photo was taken from a Buddha Air airplane during a 45-minute mountain flight on February 13, Friday [scary date to go on mountain flight!]

Two times before the date, I had returned from airport without flying because of the weather. But this time, despite being on the date that many consider unlucky – one of the earliest computer virus was called Jerusalem infected computer only on Friday the 13th, I was lucky enough to get the flight.

And, I found out how lucky I was and what I missed after a few minutes [a bit quicker than half of the crew who were seated on the other side]. Beautiful mountains as if I was seeing them from my rooftop – so near and so majestic.

Lovely Moutains!

Lovely Moutains! Mount Everest at the middle.

I was not carrying a camera because I could not charge the batteries because of load-shedding but I took a few shots from the camera that my friend was carrying with him. When the beautiful lady [the air hostess] asked me if I wanted to go to cockpit to take photos from pilot’s window [yes! they let you do so], I said no and she glanced at me for a second surprised.

I thought, who wants to see such beautiful mountains through lens. It was truly an amazing experience [not as good as trekking to Everest base camp though, but I you have no time to got the EBC, the mountain flight is something not to miss in Kathmandu].

However, you can not take picture of you and mountain together with an amateur camera

However, you can not take picture of you and mountain together!

Here are three tips for you if you want to go for Mountain flights in Nepal:

  • Go to Buddha Air [disclosure: I was on the non-paid ticket that the airlines provides to my association as sponsorship]
  • Get into plane as early as possible [I was the last and I got a seat on wings, so some obstructive views]
  • Sit on the left side row. [so you are first half to see the mountains plus while returning, you can either sleep or talk]

Thanks to S. for these photos.

February 24, 2009 by Leisurely Activities Travelogues

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