Our Journalistic Pledge

The Rising Nepal, the country’s first broadsheet English daily, enters its Diamond Jubilee year today. This is a milestone that the English daily reaches traversing all those years of ups and downs. This is also a moment of pride for all who worked at the pioneer daily in the past and who are now putting their best foot forward to shine its cherished legacy and make it the most trustworthy and responsible media outlet in the country.  

As we pause to reflect on past glory and emerging challenges, we must not fail to recall our pledge outlined in the first editorial of the daily titled ‘About Ourselves.’ TRN’s predecessors were visionary. What ideas they set out in the debut-making editorial, they are unfailingly relevant today. TRN was born at a time when geopolitical scenario was tricky, and sticking to the principles of non-alignment was a necessity for strengthening foreign policy autonomy.  “We intensely believe in the ideals of the United Nations.... Within such a general outlook, we are interested in telling about our own country and the people,” states TRN’s first editorial. Even today geopolitical rivalry is as fierce as it was 59 years ago, with Nepal treading a fine line on foreign policy front. TRN’s importance has grown more than ever before when it comes to articulating nation’s voice in the international arena. 

On this special day, TRN takes the opportunity to make a quick review of the past 59 years and envision a future bearing today's challenges posed by digital and social media in mind. This year stands as a time period for yet better contents befitting a general newspaper that pools together diversity of news and views, reflecting a professional balance between competing views of credible relevance and echoing the thoughts of the times and demands of the climes. The efforts are to continue presenting news reports and opinion articles on national and international developments — a trait handed down by succeeding generations of TRN editorial department since its inception. 

Over the decades, the paper has had its share of peaks and, on occasions, troughs due to oversight and other factors. But its role as a publication for all weathers is that it has not withered on the wayside. Errors, if any, are not intentional but inadvertent because the gatekeeping is done not by robots. News selection — both national and international — demand constant monitoring and evaluation. The treasure of goodwill that we receive on this highly significant day instils an added boost to our confidence, with a promise to not only maintain the paper’s legacy accumulated down the decades but also reiterate a firm commitment that focus will be renewed for taking the daily’s overall contents, format and presentation to appreciable heights. This day marks a desire to continue enriching the newspaper’s steady stride through the challenges ahead in a media-saturated society and diminished advertising revenue. 

As we celebrate our 60-year journey, we want to remind our esteemed readers, well-wishers and advertisers that we have not forgotten our original motto: Pro Bono Publico (for the public good), which was printed along the masthead for many years. We want to renew our commitment – we continue to disseminate factual, truthful and unbiased news and views to the readers – because these are the sacrosanct elements of responsible journalism, which empower citizens to make informed decisions and deepen the values of democracy. Hence the celebration of TRN Day is also an occasion to double down our endeavours to do better and earn readers’ prized appreciation.