Gag on Press: Democracy the King's Way

Tilak Pokharel, a reporter in Nepal, recounts the Feb. 1 coup and the challenges journalists are to face in the next six months

By Tilak P. Pokharel
AsiaMedia Contributing Writer

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Kathmandu -- King Gyanendra of Nepal is shown reading out an address to the nation in state-owned television channel. It’s about 10:26 a.m., just four minutes before concluding his half-an-hour long address. "An independent press serves as the medium for raising the level of democratic consciousness. It plays a crucial role in the promotion of national interest," says the king proudly.

"We believe that the press will make effective contributions in ensuring that democratic norms and values inspire our way of life as well as governance. . ." the constitutional monarch continues. When he announces the sacking of the multiparty government later in the address -- for the second time in his less than four years on the throne -- everyone is taken by surprise. Those who are watching Nepal Television or listening to state-owned Radio Nepal are already frowning.

Just as their first class begins, schoolchildren and college students are seen rushing home. Office-goers turn around midway through their commute. It seems like a "tsunami" has hit the country. Armed military men are already seen surrounding the major media houses and army personnel go to the newsrooms of independently-run popular community radio stations (widely known as FM radios) and ask them to suspend broadcasting all news bulletins.

Before the king, who ascended the throne in June 2001 following a bloody palace massacre that saw assassination of nine royalty including King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and Crown Prince Dipendra, wraps up his speech with the customary “May Lord Pashupatinath bless you all!” senior political party leaders, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and many members in his cabinet are arrested or put under house arrest. Communication – terrestrial and mobile phone lines and Internet connections -- are snapped. A while later, state-owned media airs the news: Civil liberties have been suspended and emergency rule is in place.

This is the dawn of a constitutional monarch’s direct rule in this bloodstained Kingdom -- once known as thee Himalayan Shangri-La -- but now a nine-year-old battlefield for government forces and Maoist rebels. Over 11,000 have died in the violence, and the battle still rages on.

That evening, at about eight o'clock, I happened to pick up an intercom phone call from the receptionist. "Hello," the familiar voice said. "Here is the Sir waiting to see the final copy of the newspaper being published tomorrow..." I wondered who the "Sir" was. "Editor?" I asked. "No. The [Royal Nepalese] Army Sir."

Yes, it was an army officer, our virtual editor.

That was how the things moved ahead in newsrooms for a few days after the royal proclamation. Later, the army left the duty of (self) censorship to the usual editorial team, a clandestine system that still operates now.

In the absence of telephone lines and the Internet, officials from the UN Office in Kathmandu, foreign diplomatic missions, political party leaders and other individuals had to rush to the media houses to hand in their statements on the latest developments in Nepal, all of whom described it as a "setback to democracy."

The Information Ministry Directives

The Information Ministry, on Feb. 3, published a notice that "considering the nation and the national interest, His Majesty’s Government has banned for six months any interview, article, news, notice, view or personal opinion that goes the letter and spirit of the Royal Proclamation Feb. 1, 2005 and that directly or indirectly supports destruction and terrorism."

On Feb. 7, district authorities in the western town of Nepalgunj issued 12-point "Media Dos and DONTs" that, among other things, said, "Nothing should be published that would be against the Royal Family and the Royal Proclamation of February 1; It is alright to mention losses suffered by the Maoists in actions by security forces but don’t publish information on accidental civilian losses other than what is mentioned in the statement issued by the government; It is alright to publish information on civilian losses caused by the Maoists; Compulsorily make available, free of cost, one copy of publications for monitoring to the monitoring committee. . ."

Three weeks later, on Feb. 24, after sensing that the media dared to crawl out of the woodwork slowly, the king invited editors of eight broadsheet national dailies and two Internet news portals to his palace and tried to justify his move before them. "It’s my belief that if the press were responsible and didn’t in any way strengthen the hands of terrorism, they should be free to write anything," the king told them. "The Fourth Estate has a very constructive role to play in furthering democracy and strengthening our peace efforts."

Threats and Arrests

The same day, the chief of the Kathmandu district administration, Baman Prasad Neupane, grilled editors of three vernacular weeklies -- Sanghu, Haank and Prakash -- for leaving editorial space blank in protest of the press censorship. A day before, editors of two other dailies -- Bimarsha and Deshantar -- had been grilled. On March 4, Neupane threatened the editor of Budhabar weekly, Surya Thapa, that his paper would be closed, he would be fined (1000 rupees, or $14) imprisoned if the same protest was repeated.

Nobody knows how much democracy has been strengthened in the wake of the royal proclamation. But one thing is sure: Press freedom and freedom of expression -- the pillars of a functioning democracy -- have been largely curtailed, not strengthened. According to The Kathmandu Post (Feb. 8, 2005), at least 1000 radio journalists are now jobless, and many print and TV journalists are suffering the same fate. With the "complete freedom" to write anything in favour of the king and his cabinet, members of the press are hard-pressed to do their jobs.

The President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Tara Nath Dahal, had to go into hiding for weeks for issuing a hard hitting statement on Feb. 2 condemning the king’s absolute power and censorship on press. He termed the royal move a "coup" against democracy and fundamental right". "The FNJ fully disapproves the historic mega blunder by the king and strongly condemns it." Sources in the UN Headquarters in Kathmandu said he had taken refuge there for several days. On Feb. 4, FNJ General Secretary Bishnu Nisthuri was arrested for issuing a similar statement, which also came down heavily on the government for raiding Dahal’s residence. Nisthuri was released on Feb. 25.

Up until now since the royal move, at least eight journalists have been arrested -- five are still in custody.

Many newspapers published from outside the capital were asked to close down. Janasangharsha daily (Rupandehi) had to stop publications for three days and Kalpristha daily (Nepalgunj) was closed for almost a week.

Kathmandu administrators has already summoned editors of broadsheet national dailies several times. The editor of Nepal’s largest-selling daily, Kantipur, Narayan Wagle, was asked to be present at the District Police Office to face questioning about a news item published on March 15; he was grilled for close to an hour.

Amidst the strict gag on the press, FNJ marked March 16 the "Freedom of Expression Day" by handing over memorandums to the government for early restoration of press freedom.

Reporting Challenges

On March 14, the government news agency, Rastriya Samachar Samiti, sent a news report to media houses, which read, "The Royal Nepalese Army has reported that politburo member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Baburam Bhattarai and his wife (also a top rebel leader) Hishila Yami have been expelled from the party." Though the report had not quoted anybody in the rebel party, most newspapers ran the story on their front pages with much prominence because it was indeed a big story if it were true. News from a responsible government news agency was to be believed, even though Maoist Spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara, calls the allegation a "politics of lie" orchestrated by the government.

Since media houses have been strictly asked not to quote any Maoist and their statements, the press remained silent the following day despite getting Mahara’s statement. Readers remained misinformed on the matter.

Of late, all dailies have started publishing a one-column message in their newspapers that reads, "Complete Press Freedom for Peace and Democracy" alongside a symbolic pen. Perhaps patience for six months -- the Information Minister's timeframe for censorship -- will yield good results for the country. However, if the status quo is to continue for long, one of the biggest achievements of 14 years of democracy in Nepal -- a vibrant press -- will certainly meet an untimely demise.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tilak P. Pokharel is a reporter for the Kathmandu Post in Nepal. You can read one his most recent stories, about mob violence in the western part of the country, here.

 The views expressed above are those of the author and are not necessarily those of AsiaMedia or the UCLA Asia Institute.

Date Posted: 3/17/2005

Printer friendly version