Pondering over Nepali media

Nepali media is considerably different than others. We toe political lines but yet claim ourselves self-governing. At times, we speak the voices of the political parties but yet assert that we were the most middle-of-the-road observer(s) of the entire political setting and portray that in a manner "as it is".

Lost in the course of action is our integrity to what we claim we never compromise. But the fact is that it is this integrity that we have been compromising each and every moment. Beginning the broadsheet dailies to small tabloids, including ours own perhaps, have had in the past or in the present and probably in the future as well be compromising in some way or the other. Some will do so in the name of sustaining the existence and others could do this in the name of amassing wealth out of commercials. Finally, the latter would also claim that they did so in order to sustain their media institutions.

The fact is that we all are fraudulent. Being dubbed as small corrupts and big-corrupts will have depended on the size of the corruptions that we will have accomplished in order to exist. Pushing news and views that suit to the interests of political parties too amounts to a sort of academic dishonesty in the media sector. Albeit, it is said that a newspaper can’t practice neutrality as such, however, what is for sure is that the media can at least practice what is considered to be a journalism based on certain universally established ethics which is perhaps every where the same. Though we in the media men concur to abide by the rules of the game, however, in practice we differ intentional or otherwise and go ahead with what our political masters command. It is these dictates that corrupts us whose ultimate result is that the entire media sector becomes the victim of the credibility factor. After all what is left with a newspaper if it were bereft of credibility in the eyes of the people? Cipher perhaps.

We have one suggestion to our own equals. If they could abide by the rules of the game and provide the laymen with correct and reliable information, they should continue in the profession or else it would be honorable for them all to quit the job and help save the prestige and popularity of the media sector what ever is left till today.

Having said this, we join the hands of all those who have been at the moment fighting for the cause of the media independence in the country. The media of late has become the prey of government attacks. We differ with our own colleagues on so many counts, however, what is also clear is that we continue to champion the cause of media freedom in the country and will work with our friends until the establishment guaranteed our freedom.

On the occasion of Press Day, May 3, we in this paper send compliments to our colleagues within and without and hope that our combined efforts will make the profession a distinguished one in the days and years ahead. The government must understand that we might be at variance on varied counts, but when it comes to the unity of the media, we are one and will remain one.

Sorry to say, we in the media too have become like prostitutes. A prostitute, with due regard to this woman who has been forced to go on prostitution for varied male related-societal reasons, who is ready to sell her flesh to any body who offers her inflated amount and yet never belongs to that man in all her honesty. We in the media also have friends and go on changing customers for the fulfillment of our own self-interests. Till some one served to our interests, we are with them. If it is otherwise, we change the customer straight away. This should be a deplorable act.

A media man must be honest to its readers. A media man must act like a bridge in between the State and its citizens. It is time that we analyzed our own behavior and ask our own psyche as to whether as a media men we did the right job that was demanded of us all?

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