2nd Impression The Telegraph

S E C O N D I M P R E S S I O N

Nepali newspapers suffer from "financial crunch"

N.P.Upadhyaya

Fall in this category those who prefer not to toe the political lines; wish not to become the mouthpieces of a particular party or so; feel honored in adopting an independent line to the extent possible and keep a distance with the underworld Mafia.

My own personal experiences in this profession which fortunately has already crossed the three decades plus limit, to be precise 34 years by this October, has remained a mixed one. Mixed in the sense that I have had the opportunity of experiencing all the possible troubles, most of which emanated with what I have preferred to call "financial crunch", and concurrently I have enjoyed the profession to the fullest extent. Fullest extent in the sense that I have utilized each and every seconds in the profession with a sole view to cash in on the vast reservoir of knowledge that one find in this profession. However, this would apply to others as well provided they too wish to extract benefits out of this noble profession.

The first criterion to enjoy benefits is that the man involved in this sector must spare few hours everyday for reading. Study enhances the capabilities of the journalist. The more you study and keep yourself abreast with new innovations, new theories, definitions and the likes, the more you would be able to give real standard and quality materials for the readers. The fact is that today’s readers are completely different than those with whom I used to come across some three decades back.

That was the time when a journalist wrote something as a comment, readers use to accept it intoto. However, things have become different for obvious reasons.

Today’s readers are well equipped with new technologies and could give a rebuff to what a newspaper man writes in his or her paper should he prefer to differ with the supplied comments in the paper. Instances abound when I have myself been rejected at times by my highly qualified readers living abroad. It is not necessary that your reader should accept your comment. The beauty of this profession is that a seasoned mediaman would gladly print even those views coming as it does from his reader which reject the editor’s analysis. This I have done many a times and have given platform to those differing views in my letter to the editor column. This is the beauty of it. And to a greater extent this also falls under the ethics of a media man. I, for one, greatly value this ethics and I will continue to do that.

The tragedy with our media men is that they possess no time for such studies. For some, this has become a business. For yet another set it is some thing like amusement. Persons who fall in this category enjoy mercilessly when they target a gentleman and assassinate his or her character. Instances abound in Nepal that some naughty journalists have made it a point and squeeze money from such processes. This is ugly method of making money. But no! It is this lot of the notorious elements who have been honored by the establishment and taken proper care by the society as well. I think the society honors this lot under duress. Or else they know their fate next morning. This in my humble opinion is totally wrong. The society by extending helping hands to these rotten eggs is harming the nation very badly. The society must stop such practices or else a day will come when all the notorious persons will reign supreme much to the displeasure of the society itself which boosted the morale of those eggs.

My long association in this profession also offered me opportunities to interact with high-ranking diplomats and the nation’s scholars. While others totally rejected the Nepalese scholars, this newspaper always invited them and pressed them to ventilate their feelings regarding the situation in the country, its economy, education and the foreign policy conducts. The 5 Questions column of this newspaper has become very popular among the academic circles simply because it contains the voices of those silent majority who have been utterly neglected by the establishment and the society, including the media, as well. We thank all those scholars who have appeared in these columns. We hope that many people have benefited from this column. Other columns like views, dossier, and dateline too have become popular of late. Like wise we have benefited tremendously from the articles sent to us through emails by our friends and readers abroad. The tragedy with us is that we have not been able to honor them with "honorarium" which is what they expect from us. But alas!

In sum, media as a profession has remained a rewarding experience for me. I can't say of others. All that I wish is to expand but the same crunch restricts me to do so.