Nepali media in the late 60s and now!

The Telegraph Weekly entered its 19th year of publication from Kathmandu February last.

I get at times nervous and bit surprised as to how this modest news/analysis weekly could traverse such a long and arduous path without a halt since 1982, I suppose. Was it a charisma or an invisible blessing from the Almighty who, I am told, remains invisible but yet pulls the strings of all and sundry(of the mortal ones) from the ethereal medium to which we have given the name-the heaven or say the sky. But whether or not we bagged His blessings, the fact is that this weekly is a continuous process from the day it began its publication and I wish to assure my readers here and abroad that it would continue to have its strong presence in the Nepali media sector till the men involved in this organization support the editorial team.

We are not a very special newspaper indeed in the truest sense of the term. We never claimed that we were the one who molded the opinion of the Nepali population. We will never claim that. However, what we could very boldly be claimed is that we too have contributed in molding the opinions of the laymen, academicians, scholars and the likes even if it were in a mini level. This is our contribution to the Nepali media sector and by extension to the Nepali society.

Some say that the media sector houses men who could neither sell themselves in lucrative posts of the government nor possessed high educational qualifications. The lack of education and the lack of "source and force" perhaps could have forced some in the primary stage of Nepali journalism to join this sector. In effect, this was true when I began my career in this profession some three decades plus back. Now it is entirely different. I am in knowledge of several media institutions, which provide high quality education in journalism. In the process, even the reputed institutions, like the T.U and Purvanchal University, too have started educating students in this discipline. A discipline, which till two decades back was considered to be a domain left only for "inferior" citizens of the nation, has now become a very lovely and mind-exercising subject.

It is a matter of great pride for us in this profession that the new breed which has lately entered into this profession is a set of highly qualified, intelligent and laborious students who would time permitting become the valuable asset of the nation. I visualize soon a time will come when Nepal will have enough teachers in this sector which will attract more and more students to join this profession.

When I joined this sector, Nepal had only 27 weeklies in all. The dailies could be counted in fingers. This meant that the men involved in the profession then were understandably a sizeable number. We lived happily and cooperated each other considering the entire members belonging to one and a single family. It is perhaps still valid although the number has swollen to an unimaginable extent today. But what is the harm? Let it expand more. However, care must be taken that the ratio of quantity and quality grew concurrently.

I have already mentioned that it is a modest newspaper. And it is indeed. Our international readership is one of the best in Nepal. This is what encourages us every time to give full attention in maintaining the quality of the articles and the kind of news/analyses which in effect, we suppose, has made this newspaper a must for our brethren living abroad. We count on their moral support and hence the courage.

One thing I must tell my readers frankly. We have from day one till today, never compromised our professional integrity nor will do so in the future. Secondly, we have never penned any article or prepared any news/analysis under some one's instigation or for that matter lured by financial transactions. It is this continuity and high-morale standard that we have maintained all along is one reason why this newspaper is not "'liked" by the establishment of the day.

From K.N. Bista, Tulsi Giri to Marich Man Singh in the Panchayat days and from Koirala, Manmohan and then to Deuba at present, we are treated more or less in the same way even in this "democratic" system. The fact is that we ourselves never wished to be in the "pockets" of any minister or for that matter of the Prime ministers. The other thing we rejected is the "'envelope" journalism. What this envelope means perhaps you all know.

Self praise is no recommendation. This we know. Finally, what we mentioned above shall come true. We will not budge an inch from the ethics of journalism come what may.

Finally, on behalf of the weekly I wish to extend heartfelt thanks to all those who have extended/provided us the needed moral support which in effect have brought us here. We will talk about it when we will be 20 next February. Thank you all.

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