News, Views In Black & White

Precious as they are, diamonds have an inherent quality retained forever. Public credibility is its acid test. On the enviable feat of having completed 60 years of circulation without any interruption, Nepal’s first English broadsheet and second-oldest existing daily newspaper, The Rising Nepal, merits mention for its sheer staying power with the potential for greater strides ahead.

First things first. Having joined The Rising Nepal (TRN) as a sub-editor in the autumn of 1973, I took a deep interest in what other news publications within and outside Nepal carried. TRN used to be provided with most of the noted daily papers and weeklies, including Samaj, Nepal Times, Naya Samaj, The Commoner, Motherland, Himali Bela, Naya Sandesh, Samikshya, Matribhumi, Nepal Post, Weekly Mirror and a host of others. Newsweek, Times, Reader’s Digest, several Indian English dailies, too, joined the pile.

Most of the editorial staff members’ hands went through whatever was within their reach. Dozens of features agencies and institutional publications used to land at the news desk, which was a hive of free copies of foreign publications, including Britain’s The Guardian and The Economist. Development feature agency services, such as Depthnews, were the staple when a teleprinter went out of order, or the electricity supply took a rude leave. 

Memory lane

TRN’s founder editor was Barun Shumsher Rana, who edited the country’s first English news publication, Nepal Guardian, in 1954 before the magazine folded up. Gokul Prasad Pokharel, Aditya Man Shrestha, Krishna Bhakta Shrestha, Manaranjan Josse, Bharat Dutt Koirala, Madan Regmi, Ram Binod Bhattarai, Bhawani Raj Joshi, Prakash A Raj, Narayan Basnet, and Lal Dhoj Deosa Rai were either in the founder team or joined the paper in its first three years. 

Apart from Rana in TRN, there were only a few in the editorial department on its debut day, like Gokul Prasad Pokharel in the National News Agency (RSS), Aditya Man Shrestha in the Gorkhapatra and Krishna Bhakta Shrestha in the Nepalese Perspective weekly, with some experience in journalism. Stringer and correspondent of several international news outlets, the experienced Shyam Bahadur KC joined the paper as city editor (chief reporter) in 1972.  

There was a high turnout in TRN, apparently because of demand for writing hands in English. Between 1973 and 1990, for instance, at least 20 individuals had migrated to pastures elsewhere. A few were left to run their own papers or join another media organisation. Such mobility speed slowed down in later years, whatever the reason.

At no time were there more than 20 editorial staff members, divided into three news shifts—morning. The pages were a mix of hand composition, monotyped and linotyped texts. After 1981, some pages, including the editorial section, or page 4, were photocomposed, thanks to the introduction of a number of computers that used expensive bromide papers; the front and editorial pages looked better.

As its chief editor in the mid-1990s, I can testify that TRN’s average daily circulation figure stood at 10,500, when literacy was less than 50 per cent of a population of about 20 million. Advertising revenue averaged 25 per cent of the print space. The debut of the private sector broadsheet dailies was only after 1990, while the tabloid-sized dailies were in their dozens in Kathmandu long before TRN’s launch. In less than two weeks of its inauguration, TRN’s circulation soared high, next only to its sister daily, Gorkhapatra.

Things are much different today. The reading class is shrinking in size and intensity in the 2020s. The trend is expected to accelerate in the ensuing decades. Within the next two decades, the situation will be far worse than many might imagine. Risks of a steeper fall in newspaper circulation figures and the consequent shrinkage in revenue collection stare at the printed world. 

Only quality content can stem the downslide. The optimum utilisation of available space catering to prospective readers is a criterion inherently tied to the readership’s interests. The ultimate target of news outlets is catering to the collective interests of reading, listening, and viewing audiences, and not to the exclusive attention of powerful personalities or a celebrity type. The tastes of an audience, rather than the wishes of public figures, should guide the value of news.  Inconsistency and discrepancies are glaring. Demises of district-level political activists, former parliamentarians, NGO activists and family members of noted individuals find their way to the news space. For one such item, however, numerous others are ignored, in a stark display of rank inconsistencies. 

Out of step

Award events make news for one year but get ignored in their next editions. Presentations of ambassadorial credentials to foreign heads of state are covered, only to be ignored the next time in the same country. The story of a Nepali ambassador calling on a Nepali minister in Kathmandu is the height of a professional absurdity.

Direct quotes from award winners and others displaying brilliant performances or committing serious errors are extremely rare in the news items reported by the staff. A critical outlook of the entertainment world would do a whale of good to the concerned sector as well as audiences. No sector is endowed with an everlasting bright side. Lapping up everything information sources say without cross-verification or, at least, a follow-up, is what erodes content credibility and drives readers away.

Fast-developing and running stories, such as voting and scheduled programmes for the day, should not be enforced on readers unless there is deadline pressure on a news reporter. Fillers are expected to offer nuggets of information and items of human interest. Photo opportunity should not be focused on wearing a permanent smile and contrived bonhomie that might impress content sources but not necessarily content receivers.  

An honest, comprehensive self-review for a practical follow-up should bear sweeter fruits and assured readership. As in other news organisations, TRN has its limitations. Mobilising a large network of provincial bureaus, district correspondents and stringers, the oldest existing English daily, now turning 61, can call for more endurance for greater strides. Competition is stiff in an increasingly shrinking market and vast options for advertisers to obtain the best for their money.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)