Gagging the Press

Kathmandu is the regional hub for freedom and expression today but it wasn't always so. One of the strictest media censorship was after king Gyanendra’s 1 February coup which was followed by an ordinance that significantly restricted media freedom, particularly during and after the state of emergency that ended in April 2005.

Here is an excerpt of an editorial 20 years ago this week forewarning the king that such a move would backfire, as it did less than a year later. From issue #249 27 May - 2 June 2005:

If it had to be done, the intelligent way to do February First would have been to build domestic consensus, bring political parties in as a block, build bridges, assuage the international community, and work with a free media as an ally. That is the way to fight fascism. But by patterning their repression on Maoist tactics, our rulers have shown the same sloppy desperation as the enemy they are supposedly fighting…

… Elsewhere, we see the same petty-minded, counter-productive techniques to intimidate the media. The ministry's threats to close down Rishi Dhamala's Reporter's Club, an important forum for independent public debate, is just one example of this ham-handedness. It doesn't work in this day and age, this belief that you can shackle journalists. Power must come from popular legitimacy, not by cloaking yourself in sycophantic propaganda of pseudo-events on state media. 

When lies fly, telling the truth is the media's minimum responsibility.  Protecting the credibility and independence of media is one of the ways to protect legitimacy. But they never learn. The draft media ordinance seeks to give the royal seal of approval and permanence to the harsh restrictions already in place, making it more difficult to tell the truth.

In his acceptance speech on receiving this year's UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, Chinese journalist Cheng Yizhong thanked the state for its stupidity in jailing him and turning him into a hero.

For archived material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: nepalitimes.com