-Robert Kerr, US Official

Kathmandu: The Nepali media, which considered itself sacrosanct and had monopolized in one way or the other the right to criticize others till the other day came itself under scathing criticism by Nepal’s noted academicians at a media seminar organized by The Telegraph Weekly in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

The Nepali scholars summarily opined that the media could have done better had it not aligned itself with the existing power politics in the country. This implied that a section of the Nepali media were politically biased in their reporting which in essence is a hard reality.

Attending seminar participants also reminded the media to act like Fourth Institution in the truest sense of the term in order to guarantee additional check on the three other official branches of the nation.

The literati also hinted the Nepali media men that their actions and ulterior motives too were being watched by the general masses. This apparently gave an indication that the monopoly enjoyed by Nepali media for all along these years were already under scrutiny.

The high powered diplomats from the developed West attending the seminar too possessed not that kind words for the Nepali media.

It was evident that the Kathmandu based diplomats wished Nepali media to play a critical role that was expected of them in a nascent democracy like Nepal.

From the speeches that were made by Western diplomats what became evident was that Nepali media lacked the ability to access, verification, collection, processing and correctly presenting the information to the public-the real consumers.

However, the diplomats and the academicians hoped that time permitting the Nepali media will enhance its capability and cater to the needs of the people and the nation in sectors like development and more so in providing good governance in the country.

Welcoming the attending guests at the seminar, the chief editor of the Weekly, N.P.Upadhyaya, opined that despite repeated talks on governance, and good governance over these years, the hard reality had been that good governance had remained a mirage indeed and merely confined to academic debates only.

“Instead of providing good governance to the people, the successive governments in Nepal after 1990 remained engaged merely in bringing about a quick changes in government, pulling one set by the other, blocking the entire proceedings of the parliament but yet pocketing the perks’ forming unholy alliances in order to pull its own party-rule and yet crying that all these were being practiced in order to provide good governance”.

Mr. Upadhyaya however, also criticized the role of Nepali media in this regard by saying, “we have been acting like lap-dog instead of being true watch-dog. He also assured the establishment that if they sought media’s support in enhancing governance in the country, the media was ready to extend its support in whatever way it can.

Professor Anand Shrestha, director NEFAS, on the occasion said that the seminar was in a series of such seminars held in the past which would go a long way in stabilizing and sustaining democracy in the country.

P. Kharel, FES Media advisor maintained that the endeavor should come from the establishment in providing good governance to the people. “If that happens, the Nepali media will definitely cooperate the establishment”, Kharel added.

The keynote speaker, Robert Kerr, Director at the American Center, said that “an evaluation of whether governance in Nepal is good or bad must include an evaluation of the performance of the media”‘.

He however maintained that “for Nepal to achieve good-governance it has to have a good and independent media. In the same vein Robert reiterated that “if you and others evaluate that Nepal does not have good governance, you need to look seriously at yourselves and the performance of the media to determine whether or not you are functioning at full speed”.

In his opinion, independence, integrity, honesty, investigation and the needed follow up were some of the characteristics of a functional media.

Touching upon the stories of corruption (referring to the LAUDA Air deal) raised more often than not by the Nepali media of late, Robert Kerr said that “I have read nothing about this case since the former Prime Minister resigned from his post”.

Concluding his remarks, the US official said, “to me the most important ‘role of the media’ as an institution of governance is in its obligation and responsibility to seriousness”.( See third page for Mr. Kerr’s full text).

The chief guest, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Rudiger Lemp, opined that “for the Kingdom of Nepal where freedom of the press by and large has developed into a remarkable success story since the new constitution of November 1990 entered into force, this would have meant that good governance should also flourish here, however, according to a vast majority of observers, this is clearly not the case”.

Ambassador Lemp further opined that there were certain preconditions before the media prior to expecting positive effects on good governance which included, among others, the ability to access, verify, collect, process and correctly present information; the ability to reach the people; a mechanism for interaction between an informed public and decision makers.

“As far as the situation in Nepal is concerned, it was not difficult to detect substantial deficits in all three requirements just listed above”, added the Ambassador.

The Ambassador apparently wished to warn the Nepali leaders by saying, ” if the common people do not see a possibility or do not really try ‘to be counted’ and listened to in between the elections, good governance probably becomes elusive”.

“‘This is perhaps Nepal’s biggest problem”‘, continued the Ambassador.

This apparently meant that the leaders manning this country outrightly neglected their own voters until the next election came to their doorsteps.

The chief guest stressed the need to establish a sort of mechanism that allowed the people in high places to interact with the men in the grassroots.

According to Ambassador Lemp, the Maoists insurgency greatly benefited from a widespread sense of frustration over endemic corruption in the country. (See second page for Ambassador Lemp’s full text).

(Telegraph adds: We in the Telegraph weekly express our gratitude to Ambassador Lemp who attended the seminar and read out the remarks as the chief guest despite the fact that Ambassador Lemp was in a state of mourning as his mother had left for her heavenly abode the previous evening , 19 December, in Germany. Accept Mr. Ambassador our heartfelt condolence on the sudden and the sad demise of your beloved mother. May the departed soul rest in peace -The entire family of the Telegraph Weekly and Mrs. N.P.Upadhyaya).

Mr. Ajay Ghimire presented his paper on role of media in enhancing good governance in which he said that the media could play the role of a watch-dog by exposing the cases of bad governance. He suggested the media not to sensitize the issue by scandalizing the person based on the symptoms, they should rather concentrate on the issue.

Mr. Ghimire further opined that in promoting good governance the media should focus more on the process of decision making and the processes through which such decisions are implemented.

He however suggested that in order to discharge their duties more effectively, the media agencies must increase their own capacities in order to become independent and proficient.

Professor Sridhar Khatri had chaired the first session.

Likwise, Professor Lal Babu Yadav in his paper maintained that while the government media were controlled by the party in power and tend to produce “biased news and views”, majority of private media were run by individuals, business tycoons and politicians which articulate “private and partisan” news and views and therefore fail to illuminate and enlighten the public-the real consumers.

Mr. Yadav further said that freedom of citizens, a free and responsible press, an independent judiciary and government’s data information are the system which can be perceived to be the key to the enhancement of right to information and make the institutions of governance transparent and accountable.

He however sees the role of media in informing, socializing, communicating and articulating the power of the public and preparing them for social transformation and good governance.

Senior journalist Shrish Rana chaired Mr. Yadav’s session.

Thus ended the Telegraph /FES seminar on good governance.