”Press freedom is my fight”

Journalists took a lead in the 15 months long struggle for democracy and freedom of expression in Nepal. They refused to lie down and be silent. This resulted not only in the arrest of hundreds of journalists but also spilled over and into their reporting.

By Line Wolf Nielsen

02. May 2006

The 3^rd of May is the International Day of Freedom of Expression. It is also the day when the Nepalese Federation of Journalists (FNJ) will publish its annual report.

In addition to descriptions of last year’s many attacks on freedom of expression, the report also contains a list of arrested journalists. Kanak Mani Dixit is on that list. Ever since King Gyanendra seized power in February 2005, the editor of the Himal South Asian Magazine has had many rides in the back of blue police vans.

At the beginning of April this year Kanak Mani Dixit was arrested and charged with disturbing public order. He had dared to say out loud - on the biggest shopping street in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu - what he often writes in columns and articles: “the King is the main reason for this crisis and he is hindering the media from working freely”. He was released after a few hours.

Three days later, however, he did not have such luck. On the 8^th of April he took to the streets again, ignoring daylong curfews imposed by the Government. He was arrested yet again.

Why does he find it necessary to fight for the right to freely express one self? The answer to this question is delivered by his wife, who carries the handwritten response out of prison.

“In Nepal we have neither democracy nor freedom of expression – and you can’t have one without the other. As a journalist and a democrat this is very much my fight.”

Kanak Mani Dixit got 90 days of detention under the Public Security Act for breaching the curfew and could not participate in celebrating the success of the democratic movement later the same month.

Uniforms in the editorial office

When King Gyanendra put himself in charge, he made sure that all editorial offices the following few weeks were manned by a handful of soldiers. All editorials were screened. On several occasions TV- and radio stations saw their broadcasting equipment confiscated and for six months radio stations were banned from broadcasting anything that could fall into the category of “news”. The stations were only authorized to air entertainment, religious and cultural programmes and music. All independent information regarding the ongoing conflict between Maoist rebels and the royal Nepalese army was strictly prohibited, as was any mention of the deposed political parties.

Unlike the radio stations, the news ban was not imposed on newspapers and TV-stations. This was no coincidence.

In a country where only 48 percent of the adult population can read and where only one percent of the rural population has access to a television, it makes sense to focus especially on radio communications. The FM-stations reach 70 percent of the total population – a much wider penetration than any other media in Nepal.

Gopal Guragain, who is an expert on radio and co-owns Communication Corner, a radio production company, believes that the ban on news had very big implications for the FM radios. Around 500 journalists lost their jobs and especially in the rural districts where newspapers can be weeks in arriving and televisions are rare, it has been difficult for people to keep track of events.

“Radios are the primary source for news in the rural districts and here there’s been a huge vacuum, where people’s right to information has been totally ignored,”Gopal Guragain says.

According to Gopal Guragain the radio stations were not, at first, quite as strong as newspapers and television stations in resisting Government repression – neither in economic terms nor when it came down to fighting for the right to journalistic freedom and the right to information.

“It took quite some time before the radios began fighting back – and it has taken its toll on the number of listeners that no station was brave enough to defy the government ban. Fleeing listeners is a major threat to the very existence of the radios. No listeners no commercials and no income,” says Gopal Guragain.

Offerings in the name of press freedom

However, in May 2005, as the authorities threatened to close down Gopal Guragain's production company, civil disobedience by the radio stations gained momentum. Gopal Guragain and others founded “Save Independent Radio Movement” and began organizing demonstrations and other events.

A visit to Nepal’s most important temple in Hinduism was organized and the Gods were called upon to help in the struggle against the monarch - himself a purported Hindu deity. Throughout the country journalists began to read out news via megaphones.

Eventually the court upheld Communication Corners contentions and was never closed.

Top of the censor list

Nepal tops the list of Reporters Without Borders Censorship list for 2005. The list contains 1006 cases for the year – of which no less than 567 cases where recorded in Nepal. International media organizations have followed the situation closely and have led monitoring missions to Nepal - most recently in March 2006, when 12 international organizations joined forces and expressed “Serious concern over the amount of decrees and ordinances, introduced by authorities so as to intimidate and obstruct media from working.”

Danish International Media Support coordinated this effort, and was strongly supported by the International Federation of Journalists.

The Nepalese authorities and security forces are not the only ones to blame for restricting the freedom of the media. The Maoist rebels have also made life hard, threatening and abducting critical journalists.

Stronger professional sentiments

The crisis seems to have strengthened Nepal’s journalist community. Because of the political turmoil and the harsh working conditions, a stronger sense of professional unity has emerged among media professionals. The Federation of Nepalese journalists has been among the most active in the struggle to regain democracy.

Prateek Pradhan is editor at The Kathmandu Post. According to him, the Nepali media

can take some of the praise for the recent success of the democratic movement in Nepal.

“Countless are the number of threatening telephone calls, countless are the numbers of nights journalists have spent in jail – and yet the media have succeeded in creating a space for real information and debate. The level of knowledge of democratic values has increased and the events in April are the culmination of this increased awareness,” he says forcefully.

Prateek Pradhan is not blind to the fact that there has been a journalistic price to pay.

“We have focused quite a lot on press freedom. It’s been necessary to raise the voice and to concentrate on winning back this right. Without freedom of the press there is no democracy either. Now, hopefully, there will be time for focusing on some of Nepal’s other social and political issues and problems.”

Whether or not the next annual report from FNJ will include a list of arrested journalists will depend on the political developments over the coming months. The will to fight for freedom of expression in Nepal is not lacking.

Line Wolf Nielsen is a Danish journalist, residing in Nepal since July 2004