"The Press In Nepal Is Not Otherwise Muzzled"

 "The Kantipur incident seems to be an aberration, the result of unusual times when  judgements of those in power go awry. Certainly, the mainstream
 press does not feel the heavy hand of government otherwise" says the much-interviewed editor of Himal, Kanak  Mani Dixit, from Kathmandu.

 
 
"The Press In Nepal Is Not Otherwise Muzzled"

The massacre of the Nepalese royal family has resulted  in considerable focus on the media in Nepal.   The Hoot  talked to  Kanak Mani Dixit, the editor of Himal, the South Asian magazine, and the most frequently interviewed Nepalese journalist through the last fortnight’s crisis, for his take on coverage by the local, Indian and Western media  in his country.  The interview  was conducted via email by  Sevanti Ninan.

 Why have the editors of Kantipur  been arrested  when the government has not  taken cognisance of  numerous local news sheets that have been allegedly publishing  scurrilous or dubious stories?

 It is true, Nepal¿s mainstream press has been providing ready space for the Maoist leadership to place its opinion before the   public. The editor of Kantipur and two of its co-publishers were   taken in for printing an article by the Maoist ideologue Baburam
 Bhattarai. The government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala   claims that it has taken this action because of the extremely sensitive and unstable moment in national life during which it was   printed. Bhattarai¿s article, carried on the editorial page as an   opinion, calls the recent Royal Palace murders the handiwork of   Indian and American intelligence, calls the new King Gyanendra an  Indian stooge, and asks the officers and jawans of the Royal Nepal
 Army to revolt.Clearly, it was foolish for the government to jail the editor and
 publishers. Newspapers and their editors are best left to self-regulate, and the fact that the government had allowed pieces by Maoists to be printed earlier goes against its case. Meanwhile,
 editor Ghimire himself had written an editorial severely criticising the piece by the Maoist leader in the paper the following day.I would only like to add one note of caution to foreign friends who
 are concerned about press freedom in Nepal: this incident seems to be an aberration and the result of unusual times when judgements of those in power go awry. Certainly, the mainstream
 press does not feel the heavy hand of government otherwise, and the press is not otherwise muzzled.
 
 2)  Broadly, how would  you classify the local media in Nepal, and what role does each of these categories play?

 Given Nepal¿s non-colonised status, Nepali language papers are overwhelmingly important in Nepal, and not the English press. The daily broadsheets have expanded reach dramatically in the last decade of press freedom, putting the party-affiliated weekly tabloids in a bit of shade.