OBSERVATION

Politics & journalism in poverty

Poverty is the cause of many ills. We can see the direct fall out of such ills of poverty here in Nepal like in many other similar places. From the corruption of the rich and powerful to the ignorance and dire straits of the general people, these are all clear reflections of the poorness in mind of some and material in others.

But what becomes difficult to fathom, is the corruption of the mind. You may see the results of perversity, sexual depravity and even crazy outbursts of some once in a while, but when clever minds are used in a twisted manner by even more clever powers, it becomes hard to say exactly where definite lines can be drawn.

For example, it is quite sad to see many of our politicians following the ideologies and the ideas of outsiders. They don’t seem to have any fixed policies and programmes of their own, leave alone ideologies. Though it may not be purely because they are ignorant. Many of our politicians are educated and well aware about what’s happening in the world, but it could be greed that drives them to be driven by others.

Virtually all speak of national interests, but they don’t seem to agree even on this common ground. Why is this so?

If the Nepali Congress says this treaty is good for the nation, the opposition communists try and point out many faults in the name of nationalism. There was a time when the communists even initiated a violent street campaign in the name of national interest.

But what did they do during their own time? They were not even able to make any revelation about the killer of two of their own party’s most popular leaders.

One remembers the time when the  UML leaders - it had not been divided then - jumped up and shouted hoarse in the Open Air Theatre saying they knew who the killer of Madan Bhandari and  Jib Raj Ashrit were. But did they make any efforts to bring the killers they knew to justice when they themselves led a one party minority government? Not that we know of. Many youngsters lost their precious lives believing such rhetoric of the political leaders.

So if they were able to lie about the murder of one of their own leaders, then how can we believe them when they talk of national interest?

But in turn the Congress seems no better. They also tend to tilt to one side or the other even in crucial matters. For example, a prominent Nepalese journalist who is a NC supporter and who almost got a ticket of the party in the last General Election, was accused of treason by a very  popular vernacular weekly some years back. That was a very serious accusation and the weekly also tried to produce documentary evidence.

But no one batted an eyelid even when the accusations were brought out in a series of articles. The NC was in power then and it did not bother to even make an enquiry, leave alone an official investigation or case. The issue just died away, though if it was in any other country, the accused may even have received a death sentence if found guilty.

The same sort of “flow with the current” attitude seems to be there among many journalists too. They either belong to this or that party and they follow either this or that line. This can easily be seen from the way they print news in their newspapers.

Still, this practice has almost become tolerable. But where things seem a little far fetched, is when they try to influence in matters of foreign policy as well. Or in matters of outsiders, meaning foreign countries.

Such journalists have a field day whenever there is an international conflict. Different people try to put in different views and some such journalists tend to tilt towards those who can please them the most.

It is almost a joke, but there is an “Editor”, who publishes his magazine, only on the national day of this embassy or that. Then there is another “Editor”, who acts as a host to some regional ambassadors and even closes down his weekly when he is on an ambassadorial duty! His work as a Liaison officer of an ambassador is more important than bringing out the newspaper which supports him.

Leave alone such newspapermen, even some serious journalists seem too eager to please this side or the other just for the sake of some small favours, sometimes as small a favour as getting a bottle of whiskey, or for the chance of being treated to a trip abroad.

There was a huge hungama last week when two UML MPs raised the query of how a certain article was printed in the official English daily, The Rising Nepal. The article did look too one sided as it was a speech of the foreign minister of one of the neighbouring countries.

It was absurd, the way the editor seemed not to use his discretion or editorial judgement. No professional newspaper, leave alone a government owned one, should print such “articles”. That is unless one likes to be overwhelmed by a flood of similar write-ups, which now will be difficult to refuse.

The same message could have been put across, if it really had to go, in a different way. An article could have been written by the editor himself where he could make references to the speech or to some points made in other newspapers. That would be more easy to swallow than an uncut policy speech of a minister.

But that is the way the cookie crumbles when one tends to be driven by others. Need any more proof? Just keep your eyes wide open.