Media power!

The Maoists have been committing blunder after blunder. Their slip-up is not only unacceptable but deserves highest order of scathing criticism. The manner this insurgency has been making its target to the Nepali media men of late is simply condemnable. The target at times terminate into merciless killings of the journalists whose plausible explanations they have so far failed to provide to the population and indeed to the media men. Nevertheless, they more often than not justify such killing by hurling allegations that the media men thus kidnapped or captured by them were an informer of the old regime and hence had to be physically eliminated. It was apparently this allegation on the pretext of which Dikendra Thapa, a radio Nepal reporter stationed in far-flung Dailekh district provided grounds to the rebels to kill him in spite of the Himalayan efforts of the respectable institutions appealing the insurgents for his safe release. However, this did not work and the result was that we lost one more media man from amongst us. This is not the end of the story. What is spine chilling indeed is that the insurgents have served notifications to a dozen of other Nepali journalists that they too would meet the same fate as they destined for late Thapa!

This is puzzling! How a matured and progressive political force, as it calls and claims itself, could go to this extent? After all what could have been the reasons of this rebellion group to behave the journalists in this awful manner? We see none provided we are told by the insurgency in a convincing manner. They have nothing to panic from the Nepali media men. What they have apparently failed to understand is the fact that it is this Nepali media that has propagated their analyses and views pertaining to their theories and made them popular in the country and beyond. What is also worth mentioning is that it is the Nepali media that has so far treated the insurgency as revolutionaries or as rebels but not toed the government line, which dubs this insurgency as terrorists. Worth noting also is the fact that none of the countries except India and the U. S have yet dubbed the insurgency as terrorism. This is precisely because of the fact that a large section of Nepali media has projected and portrayed the root cause of the birth of Maoist movement in the most justifiable manner, which gave the movement a shape within Nepal and beyond. Maoist movement in Nepal either by the command of fear or for having a soft corner for the insurgency, the Nepali media so far has treated them as a political force, which possessed some very good proposals in favor of the oppressed, depressed, neglected and the likes sections of the nepali society. The Nepali media too understood that the underground political force were a strong social force which preferred faster changes in the Nepali society so that majority of the population benefited from such phenomenal (?) changes. However, when the social force begins considering the agents of change, the media in our case, as a villain and begins eliminating those who differed with their dictums then the affected party, the media again, has to retaliate and the media has thus already expressed its strong reservations to the recent Maoists overtures aimed against the journalists.

It is in this light we in this paper support the initiatives undertaken by the Federation of the Nepalese journalists and join in the FNJ's call to the Maoists to explain their real intentions as to how they take the Nepali media and journalists.

If the Maoists continue with such wanton killings of the innocent media men, then their commitments to a more vibrant democratic system, which is what they aspire for and struggling apparently, will be in jeopardy. We the media men will conclude that when this force is not in power even could exhibit this intolerance towards the media men then what they would do to the media if chance allowed them to rule the country? Beyond imagination indeed!

It is in this light we appeal the high command of the insurgency to behave with the Nepali journalists in a manner that we deserve in effect keeping in mind that a critical press is ever in the interest of all those who espouse for bringing about dramatic changes in the society. Press, not necessarily should agree verbatim to the logic and the theories of the insurgents or whosoever. We deserve the right to differ. We differ on matters of wanton killings of the media men and those of the innocent civilians. The basis for such difference is that killings could not in any way be justified even if it were for good ends. In the similar vein, we supported the Maoists unconditionally when they jumped into the social scene a few years ago with an objective of restructuring the prevailing Nepali society and doing away with the common evils that had been eating the society.

It is time that the top hats of the insurgency instruct their junior rung cadres to understand the gravity of the situation and act accordingly. We hope that the two learned men, comrade Prachanda and Dr. Bhattarai, would understand the message contained in these paragraphs. Unquestionably, the two top-notch of the insurgency mean the value and the power of the media. Let's hope that the insurgents will not repeat blunders any more.

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