When Ang Kaji Sherpa, General Secretary of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) accused national media and the Federation of Nepalese Journalists for not bringing into light the movement of Tharus and undivided Far West, the scene turned violent after journalists shouted heftily and forced Sherpa to walk out from Reporters Club. After sometime, I started to see the reason of Sherpa's words and wondered if the allegations against media really was true or not, and if it were, to what extent. Since I, myself am learning the knacks of journalism in The New Paper, the topic became my curiosity. However, after talking to experts and journalists, I came to know that Nepal's national media haven't been inclusive at all—not just to indigenous people.
"In many national dailies, programs, cultures, traditions and issues related to indigenous people are seldom broadcast or published," Sherpa said over a telephone call, citing examples of Shiva Ratri (an auspicious Hindu festival where Lord Shiva is worshipped) and Chaat parva (an auspicious festival of the Terai). "National media overwhelmingly cover Shiva Ratri, the silent streets of Kathmandu during Dashain for free of cost. Yet, when it comes to issues related to indigenous people and their rituals, it seldom is the case, and many times, we've paid sum of around Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 200,000 a day for a broadcast." Sherpa added.
Sherpa argues that what national media are doing is a complete bias. "These 'so called media houses' haven't been friendly to indigenous people even when they comprise of a media's circulation, readership and viewership. Nepal's Population Report 2011 AD, which was published by the Ministry of Health and Population Division shows that while Chettri and Brahmins make only around 28 per cent of the country’s total ethnicity, the remaining fall under other caste groups. "It therefore is essential that media incorporates issues of indigenous people because covering their issues will bring in larger number of circulation, readership and viewership—primarily because indigenous people's population of the country overwhelmingly outnumbers that of Brahmin and Chettris,” Sherpa said.
While Sherpa shouldn't have had publicly alleged media, Prof. P. Kharel, chairman of Nepal Press Institute (NPI) believes that they should have come for a dialouge and then moved ahead. Nevertheless, Kharel believes that the incident was worth a recall—primarily because national media of the country have repeatedly faltered on covering national issues and being inclusive. Kharel said, "It has opened up new horizons for media to retrospect on what it does and what it should do from now on."
"What indigenous people are seeking for their rights aren't wrong at all. It rather is about the moral and ethical stance that media has failed to take notice of," Kharel said adding that many journalists have been superficial to the information they bring and publish. "Normally, journalists simply take what the source said and seldom go to areas from where issues are brought in, bring in peoples plight and so forth."
Kharel argues that it is not just the indigenous people that national media have given less space to—the gap between national media and the nation is too big to bridge. "National media published from Kathmandu have seldom prioritized issues and people that live outside of the valley," Kharel said, adding, "Take for example when budget is passed in the country. For expert opinions, journalists take quotes of scholars that reside within the valley. Yet, we have equally capable scholars beyond Kathmandu whose views are seldom taken a note of."
To Kharel, inclusiveness incorporates content, community, people, sex, age group, subject, topography, geography and professional groups that national media has repeatedly faltered in being inclusive. "If one surfs through any newspaper, of the total pages, half are dedicated to international news stories, and national issues that essentially should find place in a newspaper because of proximity are sidelined." Kharel said. In its failure, Kharel opined that national media have failed to be properly inclusive.
Ajaya Bhadra Khanal, editor of The Himalayan Times, one of the country's leading English newspapers approves Kharel. "There have been faults within the media to bring in inclusive issues." However, Khanal argues that an essential fault lies in journalists who haven't learnt much about media ethics in classrooms. Khanal shared that during media classes, students are taught to respect diversity (a core value of mass media)-a case that seldom is seen in Nepal's national media. Nevertheless, Khanal believes that journalists who are well versed in media ethics have seldom bought out their biases in a news story.
Contrary to Kharel, Khanal, said that Sherpa's words were generalized remarks and not every media fell to his category. "Ang Kaji's words are a generalization and an allegation to mainstream media. However, I don't think that major media have been biased." When queried about if media is really biased to indigenous people and their issues, the Editor said that much depended on a journalist's perspective. "Some media might have consciously been biased to issues of indigenous people and some, unconsciously," Khanal said, adding that to see if a media is biased to their issues, one needs to see a newspaper's editorial line and its content.
While journalism preaches the values of Accuracy, Balance and Credibility, Khanal said that such theories were not always practical and possible. "News stories are a matter of presentation and no matter how hard one tries to push aside their biases, their perspective and personal ideologies unconsciously comes into play to result in differences."
It is in such story angles that Sherpa and Kharel find differences, and in turn, see an urgency for correction. Sherpa believes that national media wears 'dual spectacles' to view and present stories of upper caste people and the indigenous people and seeks justice. "National media needs to be fair and factual and unbiased," Sherpa said, adding that if national media published and broadcast criticized and praised both the strata of people, they'd be happy. "We're not complaining of not coming into limelight. We are just complaining of not being fair and accurate in what media broadcast or print," Sherpa added.
