Author: नागरिक

THE context of this article is my another article published on 11 April 2020 in Nepali daily, Annapurna Post on the implication of Covid-19 crisis in Nepali media industry. I ended the piece with a note that this implication will depend on the decisions taken by owners of news media and the government, and the victory of humankind over the virus. This week Khulanepal, an online media published six news items from 20 to 24 April 2020 highlighting that Kantipur Publications pressured its staff members to take unpaid leave. However, this case is only the tip of the iceberg, which shows that the pandemic is having a big toll on the media industry.
In early three days, this online published a news story every day. The first news, attributing an anonymous source from the publication, emphasised that the newspaper house had taken a strategy to stop permanent journalists and workers from working. It informed that the publication pressured more than 40 staff members the day before to do so. The second news underscored that the publication continued to force journalists working outside Kathmandu to take such option. The third news stressed the press release issued by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee urging big media houses to revoke the decisions to remove journalists from jobs. Interestingly, the release had not named any organisations, but the news headline shows as if it was directed to Kantipur Publications and Nepal Republic Media. The headline also notified that journalists and unions from Kantipur Publications were planning to start a movement against these decisions.
The online published two news reports on 23 April and one on 24 April. The first news highlighted that journalists in Kantipur Publications feared the virus and losing jobs, and they had shared their views to the management. It also informed that all unions inside the organisation had organised a joint meeting and had decided to start the movement if the management did not revoke their decisions to remove the journalists and pressurise them. Another news emphasised the press release issued by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) on the ‘forced leave’ in Kantipur Publications and on wage problems in other media companies. According to the news, when news about Kantipur Publications became viral and journalists lodged complaints in FNJ, the federation organised a meeting to discuss the issue. The last news highlighted that Kantipur Publications backtracked from the decisions by sending a clarification to FNJ that the publication had denied that it forced journalists to take such leave and stressed that it would keep on providing wages on time.
Though the above discussion might sound as if there is wage problem in one or two media houses, the press release from FNJ clearly shows it is not limited to them. In fact, the release mentioned that Annapurna Media Group, Rajdhani daily and Avenues Television also had similar problems. Therefore, the wage problem prioritised by the online is just the tip of the iceberg.
Readers only see the tip and the huge part remains hidden as Nepali media often discuss everything except their own issues. Many news media might have ignored Kantipur Publications’ case due to two reasons. First, the management passed decisions orally and journalists gave the information to online seeking anonymity. In such situation, only those media that really care about journalists or that have own interests to serve carry news. Many readers might have thought that Khulanepal had its own axe to grind due to the past relationship of some journalists from this online with the publication. Two, media might have shied away from reporting it as they feared that if they did, Kantipur Publications and others might report such injustice, when the former had similar problems inside their own companies. Nevertheless, whatever be the reasons, it is interesting that those who write about every problem, cannot write about their own.
However, the wage-related problem is endemic in Nepali media industry as shown by the reports published by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee in June 2018. The report on broadsheet dailies mentions that the pay scale of some journalists working in these newspapers except in government-owned ones received wages below the pay scale determined by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee. The report did maintain that even in government-owned broadsheets stringers and journalists working in contract did not get the minimum wage as fixed by the committee and the facilities as discussed by Working Journalist Act. Likewise, the report on such condition in television stations mentioned that many journalists working there did not get the minimum wage, and the leave and others facilities according to Working Journalists Act. As this data is old, we might guess this situation might have improved in some media houses. Yet, these two reports show that wage issue is not a new problem that has evolved during Covid crisis, but the crisis has aggravated it.
Managers/owners of news media should not forget that the decision inside media industry also falls under public interest and audiences are interested to know what is going inside this industry. When there are plural means of media, one or another media can carry news related to media industry because when journalists cannot write news themselves about their own problems they can pass information to their colleagues in other media.
No doubt, media industry too will suffer during the pandemic but the media managers/owners must take decisions taking media workers into confidence. There is mistrust between journalists and media owners/managers also because journalists don’t know clearly about the economic health of media companies as these companies except government-owned ones don’t make public their income and expense. During crisis media houses have to give priority to the welfare of media workers. Only when both media owners/managers and media workers unite the industry can overcome this hard time.

(Maharjan is a senior researcher at academic NGO Martin Chautari and writes on issues related to media and technology.) 

Nepali media back calls for vigilance

The Nepali media have been following the progress of the coronavirus closely and issuing warnings over the implications of its spread to Nepal ever since the virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Long before coronavirus developed into a global pandemic, there were three very good reasons to worry about the possibility that the new disease could reach Nepal. Firstly, the government had already launched its “Visit Nepal 2020” campaign with the aim of attracting two million tourists to the country. For some years now, the majority of tourists arriving in Nepal by plane have come from China. Secondly, more than seven million Nepalis – almost a quarter of the country’s population – live and work abroad, most of them in countries such as India, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. There is hardly a single Nepali family that does not have a member who is a migrant labourer. And finally, the fact that Nepal ranks 147 out of 189 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index for 2019 shows that the healthcare system does not have the resources to cope with a major health emergency. There is a shortage of doctors, hospital beds, ventilators, ICUs and PPE even at the best of times.

The media began to cover the Wuhan outbreak and to urge the authorities to take steps to ensure that Nepal was prepared for its arrival in the country early on. For example, on 9 January The Himalayan Times carried a Reuters report about the deadly “new type of virus”. Only two weeks later, the first case of coronavirus in Nepal was registered when the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division confirmed that a Nepali student who had returned from Wuhan earlier in the month had tested positive for the virus. This was reported by The Kathmandu Post on 24 January, a day after Wuhan had been put into lockdown by the Chinese authorities in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Over the next few days, many Nepali news outlets including Republica carried a story about how the World Health Organization (WHO) was urging Nepal to remain vigilant and ensure that it was in a position  to detect any new cases of coronavirus and take any necessary action promptly. Meanwhile, The Kathmandu Post , which had earlier accused the Nepali government of being slow to react, now complained that the authorities’ response was “lackadaisical” given the seriousness of the threat.

Government bows to pressure

At first, the government paid little attention to the warnings of the experts who were regularly quoted by the media. On the contrary: the “Visit Nepal 2020” campaign was kept up. Some ministers even claimed that Nepal was a “Covid-19-free country”, pointing out that the man who had tested positive for the disease in January had recovered and that no other cases had come to light. The Ministry for Tourism and Civil Aviation instructed all Nepali diplomatic staff to spread the word that Nepal was open for business.

It was not until early March that the government bowed to the relentlessly mounting pressure and began to introduce stricter measures designed to limit the spread of the disease. The visa-on-arrival service was suspended for nationals of countries particularly badly affected by Covid-19 and foreigners were barred from climbing Mount Everest. From mid-March onwards, even more severe restrictions were introduced. On 20 March the government banned all passengers, including Nepalis, from entering the country from most of the rest of the world.  On 24 March, a country-wide lockdown came into effect. By 1 May, 59 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in Nepal, with no deaths directly attributable to the disease.

Pressure on media

The Nepali media have throughout kept a watchful eye on how the unfolding coronavirus story was being covered elsewhere. On 18 February, The Kathmandu Post ‘s reprint of an article by a former US ambassador to NATO originally published by The Korea Herald incurred the wrath of the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. The article was headlined “China’s secrecy has made coronavirus crisis much worse” and was accompanied by an illustration showing Mao Zedong wearing a face-mask.

The embassy responded with a strongly worded statement condemning The Kathmandu Post and its outgoing editor-in-chief Anup Kaphle, labelling him “a parrot of some anti-China forces”. The statement added: “The Chinese embassy in Nepal has made solemn representations to the newspaper… and reserves the right of further action.”

A group of 17 editors of Nepali dailies and news websites objected to the threat contained in the embassy’s statement, and issued their own statement condemning its attempt to intimidate a Nepali media outlet. “We respect the right of an individual or organisation to express their disagreement over materials published in the media,” the editors said in their statement. “But we disagree with the disparagement and threats issued by naming any particular editor. We condemn such an act.” The editors declared that “Nepal’s constitution has guaranteed full press freedom, and we are committed to exercising and protecting it.” The Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ) also condemned the Chinese embassy’s statement.

Veteran Nepali journalist Yubaraj Ghimire – the editor of the online outlet Deshsanchar – subsequently noted that China was not alone in resorting to such tactics. He revealed that representatives of the US and Indian embassies had in the past also issued veiled threats to the Nepali media. The media community hoped that the Nepali government might gently remind the Chinese embassy that Nepal enjoys press freedom and that the latter would issue an apology. However, no such gesture has yet been forthcoming.

Before long, another Nepali media outlet was subjected to a different kind of political pressure. On 1 April, a news website, The Kathmandu Press, published a report about a controversial PPE procurement deal with China, in which it alleged that the relatives of several senior government officials had been involved. The following day, The Kathmandu Press issued a statement alleging that the report had been removed by the website’s developer, Shiran Technologies, a company co-owned by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s IT advisor. The statement said that the website’s editor had come under political pressure to withdraw the report, and when he refused, it was taken down by the developer. The journalistic staff of The Kathmandu Press, the FNJ and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) all condemned this action. The FNJ issued a statement describing it as “an unconstitutional step” and “direct interference on freedom of expression.”

Mounting tensions

Despite these obstacles, the Nepali media have persisted in exposing dubious practices and holding the government to account over its handling of the pandemic. This has not gone down well with the country’s leadership. On 7 April, the prime minister gave an address to the nation in which he urged Nepalis “to support and show solidarity with the government’s efforts” by continuing to comply with the lockdown. In a veiled allusion to critics of government policy, he called on people to choose life over personal freedom. Some observers took exception to this statement, saying that people should not be expected to give up freedom in exchange for security.

The prime minister has also expressed his irritation at the media’s highlighting of the plight of the most disadvantaged sectors of society, who have struggled the most to survive the weeks of lockdown. One of the hardest-hit groups are the daily labourers who had come to Kathmandu and other cities to find work and were left without any way of feeding their families once the lockdown was imposed. A mass exodus from the cities ensued, with thousands of daily wage workers attempting to return home, often walking hundreds of miles with their children, in contravention of the lockdown restrictions on movement. Some of them came into confrontation with law enforcement agents, and by mid-April cases such as these were dominating the headlines. Sharma Oli voiced his exasperation with these reports, demanding to know how the media knew more about the situation than the authorities did.

And on 1 May, Oli used a video message marking International Labour Day to accuse the Nepali media of creating instability in the country. “Today, some media of Nepal and social media are engaged in disseminating news and other discussions that push the country towards instability,” Oli said. “On the one hand, the entire citizenry, along with the world, is fighting against the coronavirus pandemic; but on the other, there are efforts of instability taking advantage of this situation,” he added, noting that the government would do its utmost to foil such efforts.

Print editions suspended

Some leading news titles, including Kantipur, The Kathmandu Post, Nepali Times, Himal Magazineand The Himalayan Times suspended their print editions when the lockdown was imposed. However, Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post resumed their print editions at the beginning of April. Other news dailies, including Nayapatrika, Annapurna Post and Nagarik, never stopped their print editions. Nagarik even announced that it would distribute copies free of charge for the duration of the lockdown.

Most journalists now work from home as much as possible. However, some media workers such as news presenters, photographers or film crews have continued to work from the office or to do field reporting. The government has provided them with special permits to enable them to carry out their duties during the lockdown.

Meanwhile, both the media and the public have expressed concern over the spread of misinformation, disinformation and fake news relating to the coronavirus. The country’s press regulator, the Press Council Nepal, has shut down 25 unregistered websites which were found to have infringed the Council’s code of conduct and to have been active in disseminating fake news.

This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared on EJO’s German-language site with the headline “Nepal: Die Corona-Krise und die Medien“.

Opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies or positions of the EJO.

See “How media worldwide are covering the coronavirus crisis” for a complete list of EJO articles in English devoted to this topic.

Indira Aryal

At a time when the world is at standstill with lockdown used as a major strategy to combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the role of media to spread right information to the public continued to remain unabated.

Media in Nepal have played an important role to cover the issues and events surrounding the global pandemic and advocated on health issues and educated citizens for safety measures while staying socially disconnected.

The effect of the pandemic is felt in every sector that we knew and has disrupted all forms of industry, let alone the media sector.

This article brings into understanding the challenges and trends of media sector amid six weeks of lockdown in Nepal.

Job security and safety of journalists

The effects of COVID-19 are felt in operation of media.The advertising revenues have declined, and larger print media outlets have reduced the number of pages they printed and their circulation.

The trend of print edition newspapers and magazine has gone online. Himal magazine and Kantipur Publications suspended their print edition, but the latter continued its print edition from April 4 after discontinuing for a week.

But as of now, many print editions, especially that of magazines and weeklies as well as Republica daily remains suspended. As the lockdown prolonged, and the economic support to the news media was drying up, major daily newspapers have internally announced furloughs, minimize costs and forced unpaid leave.

Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) in its monitoring report warns that the pandemic will have an effect on job, where journalists are losing their jobs. The report further points out that that journalist was deprived from salary, were given unpaid leave, and were only called for part-time work.

However, most of the journalists work from home apart from journalists working in the broadcast media and photographers has been reporting the news events from the field, as they have received permission from the government to report from the field during the lockdown. The safety measures however, were unconvincing.

FNJ pointed out that the media houses were unable to provide journalists with mask, sanitizer, gloves and other necessary materials that are deemed necessary while working in the field.

Diversity of content

The news media have covered diverse news stories. They have produced some powerful stories that have uncovered stories on corruption and misuse of authority case related to COVID-19 medicine and materials procurement.

Further media have set an agenda, where caravans of migrant workers walked to get home with no transportation and food support hundreds of miles, resulting government to manage transport service to them, a dichotomic role against its message that it has been spreading to stay at home.

Some positive stories of people supporting these migrant workers by providing them food in the streets and support provided to the hospitals by social workers are also influential stories that have been prioritized by the media.

Still at large, the media was positive towards government step to use lock-down measuresto combat COVID-19.

Combating Dis/ misinformation: Fact checking

Another trend during this crisis, is the effect of misinformation and disinformation that has circulated. Social media have become very powerful tool and it has been used as grounds for dis/misinformation even in some instances have affected the mainstream media in circulating such information.

Several stories have come up in the social media where Nepal’s online news media have created the news stories without verification. This infodemic has resulted to conspiracy theories, diverted the attention of policymakers, fostered distrust in government and sowed the seeds of confusion in the public.

Efforts have been initiated at the private level to fact-check the information disseminated through news media and social media. Nepalfactcheck.org operated by Center for Media Research – Nepal during the lockdown was an attempt to fight misinformation.

Umesh Shrestha, the editor of the fact checking site informed that they have engaged in fact checking the information on the viral posts that has come up in the social media and also news stories produced by the mainstream news media.

It is important in the times of crisis as public can be misled through the unverified information, even some mainstream media have apologized publicly after the factchecking was accomplished said Shrestha.

Obstruction in press freedom

In the international front, research show that pandemic is slowly threatening the press freedom around the world.

The latest report of Reporters without Borders and Article 19 that watches the situation of media scenario around the world has shown that freedom of expression has been affected during the pandemic as government use surveillance, censorship, arrests and application of restrictive laws that could affect media freedom and freedom of expression.

According to FNJ, there are at least 16 cases of violation of press freedom during lockdown that are related to threat, abuse against journalists and obstruction in gathering news.

Way ahead

Despite such challenges and disruption in services, media industry has been upended many times during crisis. Crisis also leads to opportunities. As people are in lockdown, the consumption of news media has grown online, and it is necessary for media managers to think to tap this new opportunity and bring innovative ways to attract advertisers to sustain their media.

But surviving this crisis, which is going to have long term effect in the media industry, also means support needed for its survival during and the aftermath of the pandemic. There are instances where province government have provided supported for journalists through FNJ providing them necessary materials that could prevent them catching the virus such as gloves, mask, sanitizers among others.

Also, providing them with insurances, regular health checkup could be other immediate action to be undertaken. There are also different ways one can explore into such as support from the government in leveraging loan, bringing in community support; seeking support from charity organization could be some options. Also, in regard to fighting misinformation and disinformation means spending in media and digital literacy.

In many countries across the world, even those with history of defending democracy and press freedom, the coronavirus pandemic has become a cover for suppression and control. Lockdowns are an excuse for crackdowns.

Just as quarantines curtail freedom of movement, so the global outbreak has been used to clamp down on the freedom of expression. To be sure, the trend started long before the coronavirus, as demagogues used the free media and free elections to stoke populism and get themselves elected.

The chief purveyors of falsehood are the ones who are using the pretext of ‘fake news’ to mute criticism. And here in Nepal, as the government of Prime Minister K P Oil is cornered in a intra-party power struggle, there is increasing intolerance of criticism as we have noted in this space in the past two years.

In a speech on May Day on Friday, Prime Minister Oli used the occasion to lash out at the press and social media for endangering Nepal’s stability. “The Nepal Communist Party and citizens will never allow attempts to undermine stability by those with vested interests,” he said.

Starting with the Penal Code criminalising satire, the ban on journalists publishing personal information on public officials, drafting a Media Council Bill that could haul journalists over the coals on vague infringements, jailing bloggers and YouTubers, and a draft Information Technology Act with hefty fines for ‘improper’ social media posts, it looks like the government strategy is to gag the media in installments.

Some of these provisions are being applied to critics of the government, but selectively, so that people accused of crimes of the same nature during the nation-wide lockdown get different punishments.

Some who have been tracked down for Facebook posts on social media have been returned to their guardians, others like former secretary Bhim Upadhyaya last week was imprisoned on charges of spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and defaming senior government officials. He has since been released on bail, but the message is to kill the messenger. He is being made example of, so others behave themselves.

Upadhyaya was the 14th person to be charged under the Electronic Transaction Act during the COVID-19 lockdown. Of these, the Police Cybercrime Bureau has filed cases against two individuals while the Metropolitan Crime Division has charged one. Police have also taken in five for ‘posting baseless information’.

Despite being an ex-bureaucrat, Upadhyaya was an outspoken critic of the government on social media. It is believed he was being ‘taught a lesson’ by a government secretary whom he implicated in the alleged scam involving the contract to buy Chinese COVID-19 test kits.

Since then, a youth in Ilam was arrested for spreading misinformation about the current pandemic via social media. Another in Makwanpur was detained for posting a photoshopped image of President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister K P Oli on Facebook. Young men in Siraha and Hetauda were taken in this week for posting false information about the pandemic.

A Christian pastor was arrested in Kaski for posting a YouTube video that proclaimed Jesus Christ as a protector against the pandemic. In Kathmandu, others have been arrested for ridiculing the prime minister on Facebook. Half a dozen others have been detained for COVID-19 related posts on social media.

On Thursday, Police took journalist Deepak Pathak into custody for criticising NCP co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal in a Facebook post. Dahal had earlier filed a complaint at the Press Council against Pathak.

Obviously, the government has to stop the spread of rumours and panic about the disease through social media, but it appears that different legal processes have been applied to similar cases. And in many of them, the punishment appears to be more severe for political criticism and satire.

The government’s over-reaction to reprimand the acting head of state-owned Radio Nepal and its news chief for broadcasting an interview with former Maoist ideologue and leader of the Nepal Samajbadi Party Baburam Bhattarai hints at a worrying underlying inability to take criticism.

In the live radio interview on the Antarsambad program broadcast last week, Bhattarai lashed out at the government calling it “incompetent and dictatorial”. As if to prove him right, the government got Radio Nepal to delete the interview from its website and to issue an apology for airing it.

As absurd as all this was, it must also be said that all elected governments (and even unelected kings) have since 1990 shamelessly used the state media as a propaganda tool. In fact, Bhattarai himself, when he was prime minister in 2011-13, axed a radio program for being critical of the government.

On World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, it may be worth reminding ourselves that no political party in Nepal seems to have a monopoly on intolerance.