Unwavering Public Trust Of Gorkhapatra

Gorkhapatra has remained as a leading means of public information and communication during all vicissitudes of times in Nepal. There are important events happening all the time everywhere. Such events, including crisis and successes in all its forms, are an inseparable part of human life and their dimensions are changing overtime. Gorkhapatra as a pioneering newspaper, has played a special role in covering these events and keeping people aware about them.

In its 123-year history, since its launching on May 6, 1901, Gorkhapatra has covered almost every crucial event that has happened in the annals of Nepal as well as around the world. It has made an exemplary contribution to informing the public through various political, economic and technological changes and transformations.

Gorkhapatra played an important role in raising social, literary and cultural awareness, igniting the unaware public against the autocratic Rana rulers. During and after the fall of the Rana regime, Gorkhapatra served the public by catering to them with objective and factual news.

Although Gorkhapatra was the voice of the nation and worked under government policy, it never gave any ambiguous news to the public. All the information given was fact-checked and was not published for sensationalism.

The journalists never stopped writing news and the corporation kept on publishing the newspaper, even at the time of crisis. Gorkhapatra, has gone through the era of Rana regime, democracy, a coup from late king Mahendra, mass uprising, Maoist insurgency and abolition of monarchy. Even after all these political changes Gorkhapatra has never been challenged by any political forces to stop supplying information to the public during these times.

Internationally, Gorkhapatra has reported on World Wars I and II, the Cold War, the independence of various countries around the world and all other major events. It can be found in the archives that reporters working for Gorkhapatra have recorded all the information regarding such historical events.

Gorkhapatra lived through many changes and challenges throughout its long history of publication. The rich history of Gorkhaptra on reporting and informing the people throughout many political turmoil should be appreciated.

The launching of The Rising Nepal on December 16, 1965, as the nation's first English-language broadsheet also helped to reach a larger international audience. The English daily let the international audience understand what was happening in Nepal.

In recent times, especially after the second people’s movement of 2006, Gorkhapatra has adopted the inclusive mode of informing the public in more than Nepali language. However, with the advancement and spread of information and communication technology, the responsibility of Gorkhapatra 

rose to provide information in a digital and smarter mode.

Gorkhapatra is published without interruption even during abnormal and crisis times, including the mega earthquake of April 2015, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journalists of the publications of Gorkhapatra Corporation, especially the reporters, walked through the ruins of the city after the destruction of infrastructures and so many deaths to write news for the public, even under a shaking office building on the day and in the aftermath of the Gorkha earthquake.

Gorkhapatra didn’t stop to inform the public about the aftershocks of the earthquake every day. This had to be one of the most daring moments for all the staff, working without fear to provide information about the devastation caused by the earthquake to the public.

Similarly, right after the earthquake, there was political turmoil in Madhes which caused a supply crunch, especially in the capital. There was a lack of petroleum products, causing havoc in people’s lives. But the staff of Gorkhapatra walked, cycled or co-lifted each other to come and work so that the public could be informed on what was going on around the country and the world.

Even though load-shedding was a crisis for all the people around the country, Gorkhaptra and its staff kept on working with the use of alternative sources of electricity to write and publish news. The 18-hour-long electricity outage did not stop Gorkhapatra from publishing the newspaper.

The biggest challenge Nepali people had to face probably came in 2020 as a pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis was one of the most challenging junctures because it was different from a political crisis, an earthquake, a landslide or an armed conflict. It affected the lives of everybody, everywhere.

Everybody, everywhere around the world, was at risk because of the unknown, and many precautions were taken for the safety of staff. However, the staff of Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal continued to work and published the newspaper every single day.

While many businesses and media houses closed down or suspended their publications, Gorkhapatra continued to serve its readers. Staff took precautions, and everybody worked hard together to give information every day, even during the pandemic and lockdown.

The untiring hard work of the Gorkhapatra staff should be acknowledged and appreciated. It is the responsibility of any media house to cover any difficult situation and inform the public about what is happening around them. Gorkhapatra fulfilled the commitment it made to the public.

In times of crisis, conflict, and catastrophe, Gorkhapatra continued to serve as the first source of information.

Media needs to work continuously and tirelessly to bring daily news to its readers. Gorkhapatra is widely appreciated for its role. The public is always curious about everyday events in their lives. Any misleading information can have devastating effects on people's lives. Gorkhapatra is trusted for its authentic and credible information and this is the reason why loyal and old readers stick to subscribing to it.

To give information at normal times is easy and something everybody can do at their convenience. But to dig out and provide information in a time of crisis is something different. Not everybody can do that. 

Gorkhapatra has earned rare recognition for continuously working in challenging circumstances to fulfil its responsibility of informing the public.

The political upheavals, natural disasters, pandemic and similar challenges will never stop Gorkhapatra from fulfilling its mission to provide service to the people. On the 123rd year of its publication, Gorkhapatra stands with pride as a trusted source of information and it is high time it promises to be better in the coming days to serve the needs of the new generation of readers.

(Bhusal is a journalist at The Rising Nepal.)