Harsha Man Maharjan

THE context of this article is my another article published on 11 April 2020 in Nepali daily, Annapurna Post on the implication of Covid-19 crisis in Nepali media industry. I ended the piece with a note that this implication will depend on the decisions taken by owners of news media and the government, and the victory of humankind over the virus. This week Khulanepal, an online media published six news items from 20 to 24 April 2020 highlighting that Kantipur Publications pressured its staff members to take unpaid leave. However, this case is only the tip of the iceberg, which shows that the pandemic is having a big toll on the media industry.
In early three days, this online published a news story every day. The first news, attributing an anonymous source from the publication, emphasised that the newspaper house had taken a strategy to stop permanent journalists and workers from working. It informed that the publication pressured more than 40 staff members the day before to do so. The second news underscored that the publication continued to force journalists working outside Kathmandu to take such option. The third news stressed the press release issued by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee urging big media houses to revoke the decisions to remove journalists from jobs. Interestingly, the release had not named any organisations, but the news headline shows as if it was directed to Kantipur Publications and Nepal Republic Media. The headline also notified that journalists and unions from Kantipur Publications were planning to start a movement against these decisions.
The online published two news reports on 23 April and one on 24 April. The first news highlighted that journalists in Kantipur Publications feared the virus and losing jobs, and they had shared their views to the management. It also informed that all unions inside the organisation had organised a joint meeting and had decided to start the movement if the management did not revoke their decisions to remove the journalists and pressurise them. Another news emphasised the press release issued by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) on the ‘forced leave’ in Kantipur Publications and on wage problems in other media companies. According to the news, when news about Kantipur Publications became viral and journalists lodged complaints in FNJ, the federation organised a meeting to discuss the issue. The last news highlighted that Kantipur Publications backtracked from the decisions by sending a clarification to FNJ that the publication had denied that it forced journalists to take such leave and stressed that it would keep on providing wages on time.
Though the above discussion might sound as if there is wage problem in one or two media houses, the press release from FNJ clearly shows it is not limited to them. In fact, the release mentioned that Annapurna Media Group, Rajdhani daily and Avenues Television also had similar problems. Therefore, the wage problem prioritised by the online is just the tip of the iceberg.
Readers only see the tip and the huge part remains hidden as Nepali media often discuss everything except their own issues. Many news media might have ignored Kantipur Publications’ case due to two reasons. First, the management passed decisions orally and journalists gave the information to online seeking anonymity. In such situation, only those media that really care about journalists or that have own interests to serve carry news. Many readers might have thought that Khulanepal had its own axe to grind due to the past relationship of some journalists from this online with the publication. Two, media might have shied away from reporting it as they feared that if they did, Kantipur Publications and others might report such injustice, when the former had similar problems inside their own companies. Nevertheless, whatever be the reasons, it is interesting that those who write about every problem, cannot write about their own.
However, the wage-related problem is endemic in Nepali media industry as shown by the reports published by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee in June 2018. The report on broadsheet dailies mentions that the pay scale of some journalists working in these newspapers except in government-owned ones received wages below the pay scale determined by Minimum Wage Fixation Committee. The report did maintain that even in government-owned broadsheets stringers and journalists working in contract did not get the minimum wage as fixed by the committee and the facilities as discussed by Working Journalist Act. Likewise, the report on such condition in television stations mentioned that many journalists working there did not get the minimum wage, and the leave and others facilities according to Working Journalists Act. As this data is old, we might guess this situation might have improved in some media houses. Yet, these two reports show that wage issue is not a new problem that has evolved during Covid crisis, but the crisis has aggravated it.
Managers/owners of news media should not forget that the decision inside media industry also falls under public interest and audiences are interested to know what is going inside this industry. When there are plural means of media, one or another media can carry news related to media industry because when journalists cannot write news themselves about their own problems they can pass information to their colleagues in other media.
No doubt, media industry too will suffer during the pandemic but the media managers/owners must take decisions taking media workers into confidence. There is mistrust between journalists and media owners/managers also because journalists don’t know clearly about the economic health of media companies as these companies except government-owned ones don’t make public their income and expense. During crisis media houses have to give priority to the welfare of media workers. Only when both media owners/managers and media workers unite the industry can overcome this hard time.

(Maharjan is a senior researcher at academic NGO Martin Chautari and writes on issues related to media and technology.)