कुन चाहिँ पेशा सबैभन्दा बढी बदनाम छ भनेर केही वर्षगाडि अमेरिकामा एउटा मत-सर्वेक्षण गरेका थिए रे । नैतिक हिसाबले सबैभन्दा कमजोर मानिने वकिल रहेछन् । तर कानुन व्यवसायीहरूपछि सबैभन्दा अलोकप्रिय पत्रकारहरू नै परे ।
शायद नेपालमा पत्रकारहरू त्यति बदनाम नै भइसकेका छैनन् होला, तर हाम्रो सामूहिक चरित्र पनि त्यति आशाजनक छ भन्न सकिँदैन । हाम्रा पाठकहरूले हामी धेरैलाई गैरजिम्मेवार, घमण्डी, अरूलाई नगन्ने, नकारात्मक सोच राख्ने र भ्रष्ट भन्न रुचाउँछन् ।
यसो किन भयो ? यसलाई कसरी बदल्ने ? पत्रकार, पत्रिका र पत्रकारिता पढाउनेले के गर्नुपर्छ ? केही चाहिँ गर्नै पर्छ, किनभने हामीलाई थाहा छ, मिडिया बलिया भए मात्रै हाम्रो देशको लोकतन्त्रको जग बलियो हुन्छ । व्यक्तिगत स्वतन्त्रता र प्रेस स्वतन्त्रता एउटै सिक्काका दुई पाटा हुन् । प्रेस स्वतन्त्रता पत्रकारहरूको मात्र अधिकारको विषय होइन, हामी पत्रकारहरूले त जनताको सुसूचित हुने अधिकारलाई रक्षा मात्र गरेका हौं । हामीले त्यो अधिकार जति इमानदारी साथ पालना गर्छौ । त्यतिकै जनताको शासनलाई बलियो बनाउँछ र मिडियाकै विश्वसनीयता पनि बढ्छ । लोकतन्त्र बलियो भए मात्र विकास, न्याय र शान्तिलाई टेवा पुग्छ ।
स्वतन्त्र पत्रकारितालाई तीनतिरबाट प्रहार भएको अनुभव हामीमाझ छ । सत्ता पक्षबाट त पञ्चायतकालमा प्रजातन्त्रलाई जस्तै प्रेसमाथि पनि अङ्कुश लगाइएको थियो । तर २०४६ सालको प्रजातन्त्रको पुर्नर्बहालीपछि पनि सरकारी समाचारमाध्यमलाई प्रोपोगाण्डाको यन्त्रको रूपमा प्रयोग भयो । राजा ज्ञानेन्द्रको १९ माघको ‘कु’ पछि त झन् हुन्ताको मारमा परेर मिडिया ङ्याँकियो । सिपाहीहरू नै न्यूजरुमभित्र छिरेको यो नेपाली इतिहासमै पहिलो पटक होला । माओवादीहरू निर्वाचित भएर सरकारमा आउँदा पनि नेपालका राष्ट्रियस्तरका पत्रिकाहरू भौतिक कारबाहीमा परे जसरी पहिले जिल्लाका पत्रकारहरू परेका थिए । तर मिडियाले अर्का किसिमको सेन्सरसीप पनि भोग्नुपरको छ, त्यो हो अत्यधिक व्यापारीकरणबाट पत्रपत्रिका, टिभी र रेडियोमा आउने विकृति । धेरै वर्षम्मको प्रजातन्त्र र प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताको अभ्यास भएका मुलुकहरू (जस्तै भारत र अमेरिका) पनि अति-व्यापारीकरणको प्रभावबाट बचेका छैनन् । तेस्रो चुनौती भनेको सेल्फ-सेन्सरसीप हो, जुन अहिले नेपालको मिडियामा व्यापक छ भन्नर्पर्छ । अहिलेको सङ्क्रमणकालमा दण्डहीनताको प्रकोप र विधिको शासन फितलो छ र राजनीतिक तरलताले सरकारविहीन अवस्था छ । यस्तो बेलामा पत्रकारहरू नै निशाना बनेका छन् । राजनीतिको अपराधीकरण र अपराधीहरूको राजनीतिकरणले गर्दा पत्रकारहरूलाई कसले मार्यो, अपहरण गर्यो, धम्क्यायो भन्न सक्ने अवस्था नहुँदा पत्रकारहरूले व्यक्तिगत सुरक्षाको लागि नै सबै तथ्य सम्प्रेषण गर्न चाहँदैनन् । पेशागत जोखिमले समाज नै ग्रस्त भएको बेला यो मिडियालाई मात्र खतरा बढेको पक्कै होइन, तर पत्रकारहरू फ्रन्टलाइनमा परेका चाहिँ हुन् ।
यस्तो परिस्थितिमा हामीले कसरी पत्रकारितालाई बचाउने र राष्ट्रको चौथो अङ्गको रूपमा खडा गर्ने – सङ्क्रमणकालमा राष्ट्रका अरू तीन अङ्गहरू (कार्यपालिका, व्यवस्थापिका र न्यायपालिका) कमजोर हुन्छन्, त्यसबेला मिडियाको भूमिका अझै महत्त्वपुर्ण हुन्छ । तर यस्तै बेला मिडियामा बढी व्यापारीकरण देखियो, सेल्फ-सेन्सरसीप भयो अथवा पत्रकारहरूलाई तालिम पुगेन र स्तरहीन र सनसनीपुर्ण सामग्री मात्र सम्प्रेषण हुन थाल्यो भने लोकतन्त्र नै धरापमा पर्न सक्छ । विकासको सट्टा विनास ल्याउँछ ।
अहिले हाम्रो जस्तो मुलुकमा एउटा नयाँखालको पत्रकारिताको खाँचो छ । पश्चिमा मुलुकहरूका मिडिया-नियमहरू हामीकहाँ सबै सान्दर्भिक हुँदैनन् । तर पुर्वी एसियामा देखिने प्रेसमाथिको दमन र सरकारको गुणगान मात्रै गर्ने मिडिया पनि हामीले भोगिसक्यौँ र त्यो पनि चाहिएको छैन ।
यो नयाँखालको पत्रकारिता कस्तो हुनुपर्ला ? अहिलेको युद्धपछिको समाजमा त पहिले देशलाई हिंसा र द्वन्द्वबाट मुक्त गर्ने खालको रिपोर्टिङ चाहिएको छ । सङ्क्रमणकालमा जहिले पनि र जहाँ पनि समाधानमूलक पत्रकारिता चाहिन्छ, विकसित र राजनीतिक स्थिरता भएको देशको जस्तो पत्रकारिता हामीकहाँ प्रत्युत्पादक हुन्छन् । झगडियाहरूको मात्र समाचार बन्ने, जसले बढी उग्र कुरा गर्यो, जसले बढी करायो, उप्रियो, उसैको कुरा हेडलाइन हुने हो भने हामीकहाँ राजनीतिका झगडा र खिचातानीको कहिल्यै अन्त्य हुँदैन । पत्रकारले मात्र गरेर नेताहरू झगडा गर्न पक्कै छाड्दैनन्, तर अहिले पत्रकारिताले त्यस्तैलाई प्राथमिकता दिएकाले गर्दा मिडिया नै यो समस्या बनेको चाहिँ हो ।
अहिले नेपाली पत्रकारिताको चुनौती र दायित्व जनतालाई नकारात्मक सोच र नैरास्यताबाट माथि उठाउनु र शासक वर्ग र नीतिनिर्माताहरूलाई उत्तरदायी र जिम्मेवारीबोध गराउनु हो । हालका पत्रकारहरूलाई बदल्न गाह्रो होला तर भावी पुस्तालाई हामीले उच्चस्तरको मिडिया र सञ्चारको पढाइ र पत्रकारिताको तालिम दिलाउनुपर्छ ।
अहिले नेपालमा पत्रकारिता “कसरी” गर्ने मात्र होइन कि पत्रकारिता “किन” गर्ने भन्ने कुरा मिडिया पाठ्यक्रममा चाहिएको छ । मलाई पूरा विश्वास छ कि यसले नेपालमा पत्रकारिताको पठनपाठनको प्रवृत्तिले एउटा नयाँ आयाममा प्रवेश गर्नेछ र यसले लोकतन्त्र र समृद्धि पनि ल्याउने छ ।
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I had chances to work and meet with many renowned editors of 1970s. Just look back at them and you will realize what is needed.
The only one character that distinguished them was their belief in democracy and roles and responsibilities as a guardian of freedom of opinions, champions of press freedom, champions of human rights and values, educators, social motivators, role models… Except a very few, they cared about what they wrote, evaluated impact upon the citizens, in changing the course and direction of development, impact upon strengthening democracy etc. Most of them were consistent in their beliefs whether they belonged to government side or oppositions.
The most important part, the leaders adhered to certain undeclared ethics and moral characters. They lead the group in defining so many aspects of our life which we take granted today.
Do we have those type of leaders today who could lead the change that you propose?
Good Article. But, there is one thing I don’t understand. Why is the article in Nepali? Isn’t Nepali Times an English magazine ?
Totally agree.
Can you believe some of the following “news” being headlines in two national dailies?
– A nepali claiming he proved Einstein/Newton wrong. The kid was just a highschool student, who didn’t even know what the theorems were.
– A national newspaper claiming that an engineer in Nepal have devised a new system of airplane, that runs with ‘brain’. He was asking for govt financial help in patenting his method:)
- A national daily running news on a traffic accident commited by a Nepali in the states. I didn’t know it was a headline worthy news.
– A national weekly running a headline news about a young NRN girl being a porn star. It even gave the website of where the porn video could be watched.
These are just some samples from the last week. The quality of articles in national dailies have become pathetic, so pathetic that except for few, other columnists are jotting down what is often worthless and repetitive slogans. Some days ago, I was reading an article where the columnist mentions a scene from Chinese classic, To Live, without any context, and he misunderstood the satire behind a scene (where the communist leader tells a boy that even a small amount of iron he produced would help make bullets and liberate Taiwan) that he was mentioning. Nepali readers deserve a lot better than what these clowns offer so far.
Kunda may I ask you a big favour please? Can you translate this article into English so that fellow citizens who are slow reading in Nepali can participate in enjoying reading it.
The cartoon demonstrates that journalist is about to be guillotined?
Timely article Kunda dai. Our media give overwhelmingly excessive space to the politicians and their dirty old tricks, while ignoring pertinent social issues. Living in Europe for some years, I am surprised how differently our journalists treat news stories.
Cases of murders, suicides, mental illness in communities; lack of professionalism from health practitioners, sub-standard public services, problems at schools, environmental issues etc. are always given foremost priority in Western media. Except for important policy issues, what politicians talk hardly become news. Ours are full of their repetitive nonsenses. Even senior journalists and respected columnists don’t want to write on apolitical issues.
But I think journalists are not the only problem. Media proprietors and managers lack managerial skills. Most of our media owners want good returns by hooks or crooks. They disregard professionalism; don’t encourage innovation in news gathering, marketing and distribution; keep their family members and relatives in important positions; pay employees incosistently; show bullish behaviours at times; disregard ethics/regulations/guidelines. Our media regulators are corrupt and incompetent. Advertising industry is controlled by few dominant players who don’t have a clue on how media has evolved in the past decade.
Media has flourished so much in the country, and yet our media people have the same mindset as that of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. It couldn’t have been a better time for Naya Patrakarita. Its good that there are pioneers like Kunda to take the lead. Good luck.
I agree with Chandra Gurung’s comment. Most of the Nepali papers are publishing “bakwaas” articles. So called leading magazines and newspapers print news without verifying the sources. What is up with these papers printing almost naked pictures of wanna be models? “Lato desh ma Gaado tannerri” wala journalists are just polluting the minds of young Nepalese. These journalists take “freedom of press” as free pass to write whatever.
” हाम्रा पाठकहरूले हामी धेरैलाई गैरजिम्मेवार, घमण्डी, अरूलाई नगन्ने, नकारात्मक सोच राख्ने र भ्रष्ट भन्न रुचाउँछन् ।”
Describes the Himalkhabarpatrika team quite well.
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There is one young journalist guy who always likes to face camera and is ahead of everyone in showing himself infront of VIPs and in the camera for no reason . I feel ashamed of Nepals Journalism when i see this person. Sometimes i feel this is what Nepals journalism is like. He is ahead of all to show himself and camera man dont either feel like avoiding him ………
On the other hand news in National dailies have become worthless of reading. It makes me feel like there has been no good youngsters replacing the generations. One of the funny thing these days i am facing in National dailies is that when i put my comment against the writer is never published and when i support it never misses. So this means things are really bad in Nepals journalism.
Those who criticise Nepali media please take note:
Opinion polls carried out in the past decade have concluded otherwise: The most trusted institution in Nepal is journalism. Polls have difference of opinion on many issues but they all agree this statement.
Those who are in journalism please take note:
This is not because we did well, but because all others are jokers!