Media has an incredible role in propagating the norms and values of democratic system - Shiva Gaunle, Member Federation of Nepalese Journalists

Beginning from Dristi weekly and having a short stint at the Everest Herald in the not so remote past, I am now established in the Himal Magazine/Nepali Times weekly, professionally speaking.

Having the educational background in the Law discipline, I have the privilege of looking at the news stories through the eyes of the popular laws of the land, which allows me to understand the legal snag involved in the events in advance.

From the very beginning of my involvement in this profession, I was interested in doing jobs somewhat unusual than what my fellow colleagues have been doing in the country. My fondness was directed towards investigative/exploratory journalism which my friends either summarily abandon or for fear do not dare to pen stories that demanded courage and extra professional absorption.

I am satisfied being in this line of work because the glossy magazine wherein I am currently involved too has exhibited its interest in exposing scandals or shady-dealings that normally do not come to the surface. Himal, to me is a school where I am learning on how to proceed with the mission that I have chosen for myself. Frankly speaking, Himal is my Guru.

So far, I have made about a dozen or so stories that have exposed so many scandals and the offender duly punished by the establishment.

The first exploratory story that was printed some eight years ago in the Himal magazine was about the Nepalganj Hindu-Muslim riot. Later I exposed the pervasiveness of corruption in the Nepali judiciary. The successes bagged with these two stories made me to think that I was a stuff made for investigative journalism.

As regards the risks involved in kiss-and-tell scandals, well! Yes it is there all the time. Any journalist who dares to write against the fraudulent practices remains prone to threats from those who are affected. So did happen once when I penned one story that was related with the Passport mafia. I used to receive threat-loaded phone calls. However, those calls did not deter me from doing my duties.

The occupation itself is not free from danger. Now that when I am in this profession, I must now take up the challenges come what may.

Nevertheless, with the expansion and the numerical growth of newspapers in the country, I see there has been a tendency to control the production of the news by the management. In effect, this is a very damaging trend which must not be allowed to grow. I, at times, remain bewildered as to why one corrupt is chased by a set of newspapers and a similar corrupt is spared? To me, corrupts are the same everywhere. My colleagues should chase both the sets. However, that is not happening.

For me, journalism in itself is a mission. Newspaper journalism can't exist in the absence of a mission. The new breed that has entered into this sector was all qualified ones. They understand the value of the news better. They are highly skilled personnel as well. However, what is horrifying is to know that this new breed can't resist the temptation of a better salary what they are clandestinely offered by the other set of competing media institution. The new breed thus rejects an institution that is far better that the one they have recently joined for the previous establishment would have trained them or allowed a better environment to work with full freedom and liberty.

What is also paining me is to learn that Nepali media is not up to the mark when it comes to the presentation of the news and analyses. The comments carried out by Nepali media men appear below the standard. In a way, I would say that Nepali media is yet to acquire the needed maturity.

Professional moral principles? Well, to me it is a system wherein a journalist drafts a charter for himself and tries to remain within the boundaries as is demanded of a journalist in the profession. It is a mechanism that goads you to maintain your own professional prestige by sticking to the limits that you have charted for yourself.

Undoubtedly, the media has a incredible role in propagating the norms and the values of the democratic system down to the grassroots. However, the ground reality is that we have failed to a great extent in this undertaking. Instead, we at times misguide the people. We misinform them. This is deplorable. We should in effect have educated the people about the values of democratic system. The role that was expected of us by the people in this system has been denied to them for a variety of reasons.

However, what we did over these years is that we only heightened the expectations of the people who were exploited and remained suppressed and oppressed by the erstwhile regime for decades and decades and did nothing to redress their longstanding grievances. We could not understand the feelings of those who demanded government's intervention for the redressed of their sufferings the result of which has been there for all to see.

In the same manner we took lightly the issue of the Maoists at the very start of this movement. We should have fathomed the inner potentials of the movement right at the time when the movement itself was in its embryonic stage. We simply highlighted the Operations Romeo and Kilo-Shera-2 and left the other aspects and the overall impact of the movement in the country. We miserably failed in doing our task of minimizing the steadily growing conflict for our own political reasons. Although, we could learn the gravity of the problem when it already had acquired this Himalayan dimension. By then it was too late.

I firmly believe that if we the media men remain honest to our profession and act in a manner what is expected of us by the society, we can minimize the conflict. We can't escape the blame that it is the media that too has contributed to the conflagration of the conflict. Sorry to say, but let's admit that our roles too were not that balanced, as it should have been.

King's role? Well, a section of the people had expected much from the King's October 4 move in 2002. However, this did not happen. So under these prevailing circumstances, what would be better for the King is to work with the political parties and find suitable means to end the current political/constitutional crises. After all, the King is a constitutional monarch and has repeatedly vowed that he would remain within the limits of a constitutional monarchy so what is the harm in joining hands with the political parties? In my opinion, this path would be the best for both: the political parties and the King.

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