News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal A nation rarely produces visionary politicians and statesmen. If a statesman is at all born, he/she gives a new vision and direction and leads the nation to greater prosperity and happiness. In the jungle of politics, numerous actors play the game of power and claim to be leaders or statesmen. But hardly anyone deserves to be acclaimed as a leader, let alone that of the statesman.ClaimsNotorious dictators also claim to be politicians and leaders. Dictator can neither be a leader nor politician. However, dictatorial regime can be a fertile ground for creating good politicians and statesmen. Great politicians and statesmen were born out of the struggle against dictatorship, tyranny and suppression. Its examples are Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Mahatma Gandhi fought colonial rule and underwent tremendous sufferings whereas Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail for fighting against apartheid in South Africa. But they never compromised on their ideals and faith. Thus,...

Yuba Nath Lamsal AFTER the historic peace deal reached between the seven party alliance and the Maoists, the road for lasting peace has been cleared, which has been dubbed as a victory of the people. The people are in a jubilant mood and are celebrating the November 8 historic peace accord.New ChapterWith the historic peace accord, a new chapter has been added to our political history. The political actors, arch foes until a few months ago, have ended their mutual hostility and animosity and joined hands to institutionalize democracy, protect people's rights, and rebuild the nation. It is, indeed, victory of the people as it has set in motion the long-desired peace, stability and democracy. Setting aside the partisan interests and bitter bickering for power and credit, our politicians, coming to this point of history, have demonstrated a prudent political culture for the cause of nation for which they, definitely, deserve applaud and commendation. They have agreed to leave the cont...

Yuba Nath Lamsal No government in the world, perhaps, wants to call itself an undemocratic regime. In rhetoric, all governments or states claim to be democratic and boast of upholding democratic values in principle. So is the case with press freedom and freedom of expression. In practice, however, the press is in the first line of fire from both politicians and the government. This is the conclusion reached by media analysts based on their experiences and research. Hangover Barring a few western democracies, the press comes as a hurdle on the path of ruthless rulers in consolidating their power through varied means. The misuse of authority, public funds and the state machinery in the interest of the party or people in power and in suppressing and marginalising their critics and dissidents has been the rule of the game in authoritarian countries. But the politicians in new and emerging democracies also, very often, suffer from the hangover of the old dictatorial era. Despite their relen...

Yuba Nath Lamsal THE year 2000 has already bidden farewell to us and the Year 2001 has dawned among all of us. We should review the past—both successes and failures—and become hopeful for better and brighter future. Much has been written about the events that marked the Year 2000. The press that writes and informs the people about the global events sometimes remains silent about its own state of affairs and situation. From the perspective of the safety of the journalists and freedom of press, the Year 2000 was not as gloomy as before. However, there is not enough room for jubilation, as well. Let us review and analyse the Year 2000 from the media’s point of view. When reviewing the performance of the press, reports of some international organizations that monitor this sector need to be made the basis of the assessment. Reporters sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Frontiers), a French organization that works for and monitors press freedom in the world, conducted a worldwide survey and re...

Yuba Nath Lamsal HISTORY of Nepalese press is very short compared other nations including our immediate neighbours. Press in Nepal began only about a century and half ago when the then Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana brought Giddhe Press from England. But, journalism in fact, started only a century ago in Nepal with the publication of Gorkhapatra in 1901. If we talk of free press, we need to go only ten years back. It started only after the restoration of democracy in 1990. Quantity The 100 years history of Nepalese press has seen much ups and down and development. In term of quantity, Nepalese press has grown very fast. Hundreds of newspapers including dailies, weeklies, fortnightly, monthlies have been registered in the concerned government agencies but few of them are only being published regularly. Quality of most of these newspapers is poor and far from satisfactory, from the professional point of view. Pre-democracy press had been divided into two categories-pro establishme...