Youth Media and Democracy in Nepal

I Youth, Media and Democracy : Concept and Context

The triangular relationship among the youths, media and democracy in to-day's globalized world has become a subject matter of prime concern in any political and social system. It would be important to note here that the youths are the subjects of socialization within the nation state, the media are the means of such socialization and democracy, thus, become a value or ideal to be achieved both by the subjects, and the means.

The youths as the subjects of socialization and as the dynamic sectors of the society have to play constructive role in the process of democratization and in the realization of the concepts of HRs, good governance, decentralized administration and the promotion of system of transparency, accountability, responsibility and the rule of law. As the largest consumers of both the electronic and printed media, the youths in any social and political system remain as the most conscious, educated and well informed groups whose roles, among other things, as the vehicle of change, development and modernization is particularly notable.

The youths as the subjects of socialization have to play crucial role in inculcating democratic values, faith and belief among the citizens, revolt against the authoritarian regimes and promote pluralistic polity and work for the realization and promotion of human rights. Youths, in this sense, are mediating links between the past and the future and between children and old generation.

II The Media in Nepal

With the dispensation of pluralistic polity and the inclusion of the press and publication right and right to information in the 1990 constitution, the Nepalese media have got favourable environment to flourish. As full legal and constitutional freedom for the media is guaranteed, efforts have been made to promote diversity, professionalism and careerism. Media are the carriers of messages in society and help to convert inputs into outputs and correct the unrealized outputs through feedback processes. Reasonable restrictions on media, however, can be imposed on certain conditions which "undermine the sovereignty and integrity of thinking or which may Jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities, or on any act of sedition, defamation contempt of court or incitement to an offence or on any act which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality" (Art, 13).

Positive Achievements of Media in Post-1990 Nepal

In post 1990 Nepal, the media have played crucial and constructive role in providing impartial information of the citizens, institutionalizing democratic values and ideals and inculcating parliamentary culture among the citizens, and advocating the human rights (HRs) of the minorities and weaker sections of the society (e.g. women, child, labour, dalits, Janajaties, Adibasies, linguistic, socio cultural, religious and regional minorities) in different dimensions (civil, political, economic, social, cultural rights, right to development and preservation of environment). They have served as the effective means of socialization for the youths; creation of democratic citizenship; transformation of people into public; means of providing feedback between societal and state values so that system maintenance can find encouragement. Similarly, they have contributed in the process of acculturation; developed conformity between system and the people and sought equilibrium in every sector of society.

Media Challenges in Nepal

In the triangular relationship among the three factors- democracy, media and youth, the media faces a number of challenges and problems. As the media have become partisan in most cases, they have contributed less to the institutionalization and inculcation of democratic values among the citizens and have produced private views and opinions and false consciousness restricting public right to information. As private media have continued to provoke events and views of their political taste, this tendency has largely created a threat to good governance, system of transparency and accountability. The government media have become the month piece of government alone rather than giving a wider coverage of news of opposition parties and minorities. In general, the Nepalese media have lost the credibility of the people.

The role of the Nepalese media in socializing the youths about human rights and democratic values and their challenges can be analyzed on the basis of the following points:

Manufacturing Consent Versus Public Opinion Formation

The mass media in pluralistic polity and open society are considered as the effective instruments of educating people about public affairs and policies; democratic values and various dimensions (civil, political, economic, social, cultural, right to development and right to protect the environment) of constitutional and human rights human rights. Political scientists have attached much importance to the daily press in educating the citizens about democratic values and forming public opinion in open society. Daily press, as Lippmann considers it as the "bible of democracy", has to play extraordinary role in an illiterate and under developed society like Nepal. The media, thus, are the effective means of public opinion formation.

In post 1990 Nepal, the Nepalese media have played constructive and effective role in public opinion formation, in providing information and educating the citizens and socializing the youths about the democratic values and human rights. But some of them are said to have informed or manufactured their own taste of consent, under cult the possibility of alternative perspective and projected that they are the only producers of truth and, therefore, only their views should be respected by the society at large.

Information age Vs. ill-information of Nepalese

In the current globalized concept of "global village" or "global family", information technology or information revolution, it is the most important duty of the media to report objectively or to provide adequate, impartial and non-bias information to the citizens respecting their right to information. But the symptoms of yellow journalism and the ill-information mentality in some of the media or media personalities have created some challenges in this respect. During the last 12 months, the killings of the Maoists and the security forces by each other had encouraged the tendency of ill information and distortion of the news and facts.

Event Provocation Vs. Reporting Objectively

The mass media, among other duties, have to report objectively about the event after detailed research or collecting fact or adequate information about public affairs so that youths learn the knowledge, information, habit and practice of democracy. The Nepalese media are often involved in event provocation or are to be blamed for creating/starting unnecessary rumours, false propaganda and bazaar gossips (e.g. in the case of Rhitik Roshan few years back). Good and effective media coverage in most cases can reduce such rumours.

False consciousness Vs. Democratic will Formation

The Nepalese media, particularly in post 1990 days, have played important roles in institutionalizing democratic values and human rights. They have raised the issues problems and grievances of the sovereign people. Media's critical views, reviews, opinion and issues help youth get exposure in a world of democracy and enable themselves to make meaningful choice on public matters affecting their lives, liberty and property.

As the media in Nepal (both the printed and electronic ones and particularly the former one) are politically partitioned on ideological grounds, they used to provide the citizens false consciousness, half/distorted/ incomplete/biased information that suited to their political colour, interprets or taste. This tendency has encouraged or forced to listen either BBC or CNN for impartial interpretation of news and views. As a result, some media have created credibility gap in the functioning of the body politik of the nation and, scantly, eroded the compliance of citizens on the system.

Right to Information/Free access to Information Vs. Controlled Information

The media in Nepal can broadly be classified in three categories. The government owned and controlled media including Radio Nepal, Nepal TV and printed media- The Rising Nepal (English Daily) and Gorkhapatra (Nepali Daily) carry the government news and views; are bias and enjoy less or almost no autonomy. The privately owned and run newspapers in Kathmandu and in few facilitated urban centers or district head quarters, except very few, face a number of problems and challenges including that of the resources, management, leadership and flow of information. Some newspapers are formally and informally associated with or operate within party lines. Interesting enough, most larger political parties or their factions run at least a newspaper that has mass circulation within the kingdom, besides running their own party paper or magazine (e.g. Nava Yug of the CPN-UML). "The national print media seems to be more interested in covering the activities and views points of major political parties and the political class rather than the citizens-at-large. A majority of the newspapers cater only to a small urban elite and are a little significance in the over process of political education. Perhaps most significantly a majority of Nepali are illiterate and live in rural areas where access to newspapers is difficult" (International IDEA, 1997: 33). As right to information is weak and as no separate Act on it has been made the system of transparency has virtually been affected.

Parochial Outlook Vs. Global/broader Perspective

Instead of encouraging broader national and global perspectives, the media in a pluralistic and open society are often involved in promoting narrow ideas and outlook and parochial loyalties based on ethnicity, race, caste, tribe, religion, region, language, culture or in one word "identity politics" which often can encourage fragmentation and disintegration in different forms and shapes in society. This has fragmented the "public sphere" and disabled the power of authorities to enforce collective action.

2.2.7 Independent Media Vs. Partitioned Media

Independent and politically neutral media like Telegraph weekly in post 1990 Nepal have to face a number of problems. If such media would not be encouraged (financially and in other ways) in future, it would be difficult to get independent and impartial news and views. Interestingly enough, the party government in Nepal, as DR Dahal (2002: 19-52) in an edited book Media in Society views, "often chooses policies to serve partisan interests, not the general interest of the public."

III Youths in Nepalese Context

The Nepalese Youths during the Rana (1846-1950) and the non-party Panchayat period (1961-1989) had played important role in conducting anti-government activities and introducing and institutionalizing democratic values within the kingdom. Their role in the 1990 mass uprising in restoring pluralistic polity was particularly notable. In most cases, the Nepalese media have become the instruments in this direction.

3.1 Achievements of the Youths in Post 1990 Nepal

In post 1990 Nepal, the youths have worked as subjects of socialization, agents of change, development and modernization. As sister organizations of political parties, they have contributed much to the institutionalization of democratic polity; promotion of Human Rights (HRs); and challenging the traditional values such as caste differences and untouchability, discrimination (sex, racial and others) and other parochial loyalties. Modern youths entrusted with the ideal potential of life constitute a vibrant civil society with the capacity to articulate the peoples aspirations for modernity, social justice and freedom.

3.2 Challenges of the Nepalese Youths in General

As the Nepalese political system in post 1990 days has largely failed to bring the youths in the main stream politics and in central leadership and failed to address the problems, challenges, grievances and issues of the youths including unemployment, poverty, inequality, alienation, dependency, migration, rebellion, drug abuse, human trafficking, abroad, (including the youths, girls, child, labour etc.) violence, crime (bribery, blackmail, dacoity, robbery, smuggling, murder), drug peddling (alcohol, opium, heroin, cocaine, Ganja/cannabis, glue solvents, smack) environmental pollution, this sector suffers a number of challenges. Nearly 60,000 youths according to one statistics, have turned into severe druggists. (NTV News, Poush 6, 2059, 8 pm). The differences in the quality of education between the English-medium private boarding schools and low quality government schools produce two categories of youths in Nepal. Nepali polity awfully suffers from the deficiency of intergeneration justice both in terms of representation in public power and in decision-making. The youths between the age group 15-30, are not represented in political power and thus have no leaders in political parties and in political power to represent their interests.

3.2.1 Problems of the Maoist Youths

Since the inauguration of "people's war" by the Maoists, the youths have been largely used by them in particularly the Western Mountain and hill districts in their "Red Army" as their "Red Guards" and trained in guerrilla warfare. The last twelve months have witnessed the killings of more than 4000 people in the clashes between the Maoist youths and the armed forces in which the youths are particularly killed. They have used the school going youths in their 'Red Army." Due to the Maoist insurgency, the unemployed youths in most of the backward villages were mobilized by the Maoists under their popular slogan "at least one youth from one family" to fight against the government in establishing their party-led Jana Sarkar. Those youths who had not joined the Maoist camps face a number problems. As they remained unemployed, they have turned into severe druggists, gamblers, pickpocketers, liers, cheaters, betrayers. In most villages in the Western Himalayan Mountain and hill districts, the youths are either the gun-carrier guerrillas of the Maoists in their Jana Sarkar or have fled to neighboring India for jobs. Those areas, where the youths were killed in the name of Maoists, have virtually turned into youthless areas virtually living only the elderly persons or widows.

3.2.2 Problems of the Youth Women in General

Trafficking of the human beings including the youths women, girl-child, prostitution, rape are some of the severe problems. According to one informal statistics, more than seven lac Nepali girl-child/women serve as pros in the prostitutions of Indian cities. Among the various challenges and common problems faced by youth women in general in Nepal, girl trafficking to the prostitution centers of India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Gulf Countries, suffering the HIV/AIDs problems of Youth women's participation in social, political and economic life, problems of women empowerment gender discrimination, domestic and other violences against women, malnutrition, sex tourism are most important ones. Their other challenges include low status of women n society, their role and responsibilities confined to the household, no control over family funds, no participation in family decisions, beating by husbands, low literacy rate, little knowledge about health acre and family planning.

According one CWIN statistics, more than two lac Nepali youth women are trafficked in which women of 10-14 years of age group remain nearly 30%. According to one research conducted by New Era few years back, nearly five thousand to seven thousand of 10-20 years of age group are every year trafficked to India. Among those trafficked, nearly 60% are from Tamang, Brahamins, Chhetries and Dalits and 40% from Gurung, Magar, Bhujel, Kumal, Newar and Terai groups. According to one statistics, women in Asia are forced to enter in sex trade without interest in it. One Internet Website (www.trfficked_women.org.) survey concerned with human trafficking and sex trade, 3% youth women are sold in prostitution centers by their male friends; 4% sold after they are raped; 5% sold after they were raped by their step-fathers, 32% sold by forgery and tricked by their family members or relatives, 8% sold after their guardians failed to pay the debts and 4% were sold in prostitution centers after they were brought to urban centers in search of jobs. Like this Asian scene, no such detailed research has been conducted in Nepal but girl trafficking is a serious problem in the kingdom. The Nepalese political system has failed to address their problems and grievances and bring them in the main stream politics.

3.2.2 Problems of the Maoist Youth Women

An informal statistics reveal that nearly 40% females of 15-30 year age bracket in the remote areas are employed in Maoist Red Army. They are not in a position to get education and other facilities of the state.

3.2.3 Problems of the Dalit Youth Women

The Dalit Youth Women have to face some specific problems in this direction.

The Nepalese political system has, thus failed completely to include and bring the youths in general, the youth women in general, Maoist youth women, the youths from Janajatis, Dalits, Adabasies and minorities in the main stream politics and thus failed to get their active support within the system. If this tendency continues in future it will further encourage politics of alienation (political, geographic, regional religious, socio-cultural, linguistic, ethnic and others).

Conclusion

The future of democracy in Nepal lies in the creative role of the youths. Media can play a role in educating youths about their civic and political rights and responsibilities, about civic action and peace. Given the trend of migration, alienation and rebellion tendencies among the youths, it is height time for the media to highlight positive values of democracy and mobilize them for the purposive politics of political stability, social justice, peace and development. In a multi-cultural countries like Nepal gripped by fault lines, media persons must try to transcend their parochial loyalties and promote democratic politics as an instrument of social and economic transformation so that every Nepali claims a stake in the nation-hood and contributes proportionately to the benefits of youths on whom the future of this nation rests.

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