NEPAL: Government's 100 days in the eye of Nepali media

State and privately-owned media disagree on the passing of the 100-day unofficial deadline for resuming democratic process

Nepal News
Thursday, May 12, 2005

AsiaMedia Editor's Note: Nepalnews is operating under the directives of King Gyanendra, and thus cannot publish anything "that goes agains the letter and spirit of the Royal Proclamation."

As the Royal Proclamation of February 1, 2005, completed its 100 days Wednesday, state-owned and private Nepali media appear clearly divided over the performance of the government formed after the royal takeover.

While the state-owned media have given 100 out of 100 to the government’s performance over the past 100 days, the popular private media outlets seem to have opted not to give even the ‘minimum pass marks’- with many of the popular (privately-owned) dailies making no mention of the ‘landmark occasion’.

"Days of discipline and dedication", "improved security, better governance", "growing feeling of security in business communities", "positive development in tourism", "harbinger of better days", "responsible media", "a step towards peace and good governance"- this is how the state-owned print media like The Rising Nepal and Gorkhapatra have described the February 1 royal move and the performance of the subsequent government formed under the chairmanship of His Majesty King Gyanendra in their front-page reports as well as in their special supplements published "on the occasion of the successful completion of 100 days by the government."

However, in stark contrast, most of the popular privately owned dailies seem to have completely ignored the issue as if the government’s performance over the last 100 days merited no assessment or evaluation at all. Nepali broadsheets like Rajdhani, Nepal Samacharpatra, Annapurna Post and leading English language dailies like The Himalayan Times and The Kathmandu Post have steered clear from saying anything about the government’s performance over the past 100 days by practically giving no coverage to it.

Kantipur daily- the country’s leading Nepali language news daily- appears to be the only broadsheet to have given some space for the assessment of the "achievements" and "failures" of the government over the last 100 days. In a report on page 3 of its today’s edition, the daily has dubbed the current government’s 100 days a period of "little hope, much despair." Quoting the second vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers Kirti Nidhi Bista, the daily has said that the activities of the government in the past 100 days have given hope for the restoration of peace and end to terror.

"Before Feb 1, even the capital city was not a safe place. Now people all over the country are beginning to feel peace," the Kantipur report has quoted Bista as saying at a program organised on Wednesday in Kathmandu.

On the other hand, according to the same Kantipur report, major political parties have claimed that there has been no change in the overall situation (of the country) during this period. "They (political parties) say the government is taking one step after another to ruin the democratic system and is going on doing things at its fancy," the report said.

According to the report, even as the capital city and other major urban areas are relatively peaceful, the majority of people around the country are not feeling secure at all and the civil society has not got a hint that the government is exploring possibilities to start peace process with the Maoists.

The Kantipur report further said that within days after the royal move, the ambassadors of the Untied States and India had mentioned that the King had assured them that he would restore democratic system within 100 days. "Though no reactions have come form the ambassadors as yet as to whether the democratisation process has started, there are no signs that such a process has started," the daily reported.

"The King in his [Nepali] New Year message declared to hold municipal elections within the year 2062 BS, but the government has not been able to start homework for the polls," the Kantipur report said, adding, "Even as some senior leaders like Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and CPN (UML) general secretary Madhab Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Deuba who were detained immediately after the Royal Proclamation have now been released (Deuba was again arrested by the Royal Commission for Corruption Control- RCCC- vis-à-vis the alleged irregularities while allotting the contract of Melamchi Drinking Water Project after he failed to respond to a RCCC summon regarding the same and is still under detention), the process of dialogue between the monarch and the parties has not started."

Date Posted: 5/12/2005

NEPAL: Government's 100 days in the eye of Nepali media

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