It's that time of the year, folks, when the dastardly captains of Nepal's private-sector media don their more-Nepali-than-thou hat and start singing the chorus of "Let's denounce the foreigners amidst us" ditty.

Last year, it was The Himalayan Times' turn.

[At that time, because of my Nepali Times columns, I willingly and with-eyes-wide-open made a few enemies at Kantipur Publications and elsewhere by pointing out the
sheer absurdity of the Nepal Media Society's charges against THT. A year later,
thank God, THT is still in the market as one of the many newspapers available to readers.]

This year, the stage seems to have moved against Nepal-1 TV Channel.

And the whole thing is pathetic.

I mean, these guys, these supposed protectors of Nepali media, cannot prove a single damn thing against Nepal-1 in a court of law. They obviously have no shred of verifiable evidence against the offending TV Channel.

And so what do they do?

In a grand Nepali cultural tradition, they resort to the cheapest tricks: hurling accusations, allegations, rumours before coming together to gang up against
Nepal-1.

Meantime, didn't someone in Europe, to the joy of these media hoodlums, recently say that Nepal's ranks almost last in press freedom? Or was in intra-press freedom?

http://www.kantipuronline.com/nepali/kolnews.php?&nid=30144

http://www.kantipuronline.com/nepali/kolnews.php?&nid=30143


oohi
ashu

Nirman,

If you -- as a Nepali -- travel to India these days, to the major cities and hang out
with 20 to 30-something Indian professionals in banking, media, general business, IT, the arts, the movies and social activism (to name a few fields), what takes you by surprise -- as it did to me -- is an amazingly high level of of self-confidence they
display -- individually and collectively -- about themselves and India's growing
importance in the world.

India, the new India, has kept on revising its press laws to welcome more and more foreign investment from anyone who's interested.

This news item is from 2002, but there have been further changes in the directions of attracting foreigners to invest in its media sector.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2002/jun/25print.htm

Coming back to Nepal 1:

In a country where we can't even control the Maoists from beaming their propaganda material through certifiably illegal "suitacase FM radio stations", this whole Nepal-1 stuff shows how insecure and khattam we are when we are reduced to hurling these charges against Nepal-1 for doing this and that, without the balls to fight it out in an arena where business disputes of this serious a nature should be settled: a court of law -- either in Nepal or in India.

oohi
ashu

hey ashu,
I don't think that Nepal ma mudda halera NEpal 1 le manchha...aani...
if india ma mudda halyo bhane hamile jitchha..so lets forget the topics
of the mudda and all..But they sure are not paying taxes our country
owes...

and for the things about indians...I m not personally against them
They sure have high calibre and all...But if they have high calibre
that doesn't mean that they can do anything to our country as if they
are big brothers or so...they first have to respect our country's law
and order and our people if they want respect from us...I don't think u
personally have travvelled to india by train..else u would know how they treat us..

I don't think its the media cartel that's raising the issue. Its the sanchar mantralaya of shri panch ko sarkar that has issued a paripatra (whitepaper?) on this. It's how things work in Nepal. Seems like Sanchar and Artha-Banijya mantralayas are having a communication problem. It will be resolved in the minitry level soon, but the Nepali media cartel will keep on raising this issue, like it did regarding the Himalayan Times (a minister irrseponsibely raised the issue, and our ultra-nationalist journalists got a nice "nationalist issue". ). And the insecure Nepali media people are taking this a step further. I won't be surprised if a mob of ultra-nationalist, angry youth vandalize the Nepal-1 office in Kathmnadu. Then, Indian governmnet will issue a statement condemning the action, then HMG will issue anothers tatement saying, everything is fine, NEpal-1 is a nepali channel and the Sanchar Sachib or whoever issued that Paripatra will be transferred to Samanya Prasasan. The media people will keep on raisng the issue and Nepal -1 will silence them by either broadcasting something sensational on the Kathmandu Post (and it's ownership) or some other media, quid-pro-quo! and everyone will be quiet.

. It will be resolved in the minitry level = at the ministry level

If you think about it, our govet. is loosing its bargaining power by engaging in such stupid acts. If the govt. was that concerned, its hould ahve sent a private letter to the Nepal-1 owner and should have workecd out an agreement on terms/conditions. By politicizing and sensationalizing it, the govt. will end up getting nothing because now the Indian govt. will come to Nepal-1's rescue. Our govt. might even make it Tax-emempt! and compensate Rs. 1 million for the damages (?).. (Mohd. Mohsin does know how to handle the media :-).

Bhaskar Rajkarnikar, the president of Advertising Association of Nepal, is one man leading the campaign against Nepal -1.

Well, he would do that, wouldn't he?

Why?

Bhaskar expects to launch his own TV Channel called Avenues TV soon. Meantime, any help he can provide, under the banner of this AAN, to kill a competitor (i.e. Nepal-1 Channel) in the name of patriotism and some BS legality, he would do so.

This is how the game is played in Nepal, folks.

Like I said, if Bhaskar & Company have problems with Nepal-1, then, they should gather tehir evidence, involve the court and move ahead.

Else, all these accusation-smeared handwaving (so popular among us Nepalis!) against Nepal-1 merely shows how khattam and jhoor Bhaskar and his ilk really are who don't have the guts to compete in the marketplace.

oohi
ashu

hey aasu:
how is Bangladesh man??? I love your articles in Nepali times...they are great but sometimes are useless stuff too.

i totally agree with you. i do not understand why Nepali folks cannot admit that they fear the competition and be open about it rather than ridiculing the media all the time. I know the channel is useless anyways and wonder who watches it but i think everyone has the right to put their opinion and express what they want, that is the rule of competition and people will appreciate quality work amidst quantity.

just keep posting......i am your greates fan living in this plannet

Bhaskar raj karnikar is the biggest jerk in nepali media ever seen. I mean the man is doing everything just because of his great anti-feminist wife rama singh in the NTV.

And why is he the president of AAN for the nth time, i mean what about other guys there. I hate the nepali mentality of holding information in the tight grip and pretending to be the greatest knowledge guy in the world on the subject.

lets be more honest and open about ourselves abd bhaskar dai...please i am sick of seeing your face in the television ...please quit for once.

Before I come to the topic discussed, I have to say something to this Manav guy.

Manab - I'm appalled at the accusations you are making against Bhaskar in something that you are obviously not educated enough. Your reasoning on why Bhaskar did this or that and his personal life is baseless. Rama Singh is not his wife, you moron. He has a legitimate wife and a daughter he is proud of. So stop making f.u.c.k.i.n.g accusations in a public forum based on rumours.

And may be Bhaskar is the president of AAAN for the 9th time because the members of AAAN see him as a competent leader who can voice their concerns effectively to the government. I don't buy that he has been elected the president of the AAAN for nine consecutive years through foul play. Nepalese people are not dumb just because they are in Nepal.

Now coming to the point of discussion, following is the excerpt from Nepalnews.com's - NEPAL1 Controversy: The Inside Story.

"Since NEPAL1 TV channel has no registered and authorised office or news and programme production unit in Nepal it is solely a foreign channel in Nepali language,? Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) said.

I see no accusation in this government statement except that the government is considering it a non-Nepali channel which it is. And there is definitely some truth to what Ashu is saying regarding Bhaskar politicizing this issue to take out the competition. However, I see benefit not only for him but for the entire Nepal private sector media. Why should the Nepalese ad money be channelled outside of our country? There is nothing wrong in protectionism to some extent - infact, its needed in a struggling economy like ours.

gotu
but how long we need the protection, i mean why can't Npealis show off creativity and compete for heaven's sake.
I am not basing my assumptions on rumors as i know that Ms Singh is his second wife but actually i do not care. if he can get himself another wife, that is fine too,,,, i mean you know if you are handsome enough to attract women..........why not...

i only said stuff because we Nepali do have that mentality, we do not let others come in the forefront because we are scared that we loose our hold and control, that is what is happening in every sector and out govt. is also doing nothing. look at the politicians, they are forever toghtlipped of any good things but they love to ridicule others at every given opportunity.

Lets give people freedom to do what they like (i mean good things again)..and i am sure there will be right people emerging in every sector. It is just that lets stop pulling each others legs because we have the power and wecan use them...right

thanks for the info though, i appreciate it

Jyapu wrote:

"Why should the Nepalese ad money be channelled outside of our country?"

*****

What do you mean?

The largest three ad-placers in Nepali-language media are:

(1) Dabur Nepal, (2) Surya (Tobacco) Nepal and (3) Nepal Lever.

All three have their headquarters in India.
All three get their ad budgets approved from India. In most cases, they have their ads done by agencies in Mumbai or Delhi.
All three have Indian nationals in top positions in their Nepal offices.
All three have "Nepal" in their names to make their work in Nepal easier.
All three have long been providing jobs to many Nepalis at their factories.

The Nepali ad industry is very much dependent on Indian companies for ads.

Unfortunately, it's the Nepali-run companies -- such as Chaudhary's and others -- that are NOTORIOUS for NOT paying their ad bills. And this, alas, has long been the dirty little secret of Nepali-run business community. With a few exceptions, most are
khattam, jhoor and unprofessional and run to the government everytime they want their nose wiped clean.


COMING TO NEPAL-1:

It's conceivable that Nepal-1 TV Channel's sales pitch to companies is that it can,

with its immediate reach from Kumaon in Northwestern India to Tista in Northeastern India (thereby covering all major Nepali-speaking communities of about 50 million or
so people on the subcontinent),

beam ads directly and effectively to so many consumers at competitive prices.

And the result?
Major advertisers are signing up with this TV Channel, thereby giving heart-burns to people like Bhaskar & Company who have no choice but to now start playing the "more-Nepali-than-thou" card by prodding the government to do something, anything to hurt Nepal-1 Channel.

Since Bhaskar & Company have no case and not a single shred of evidence (other than their DESLIKE for Nepal-1), they can't go to court and prove their claims. So, in a grand Nepali tardition, they resort to hurling all these allegations, spreading rumours and casting doubts on the legitimacy of Nepal-1 TWO YEARS -- remember that -- TWO YEARS after Nepal-1 became operational.

I am no fan of Nepal-1 TV Channel.

But as a Nepali who believes that Nepalis can compete with anyone anywhere on merits, I am offended MORE by Bhaskar & Company's cheap tactics than by Nepal-1's inanely stupid TV programs.

After all: If private sector companies, regardless of whether they are Nepal-based or non-Nepal-based, want to spend their own money placing ads on Nepal-1 TV Channel, why should that be anyone else's, least of all Bhaskar & Company's, tauko dukhai in Nepal? What kind of

oohi
ashu

I totally agree to Ashu's notion on the propaganda war Nepali media have launched to attack Nepal 1.This has more to do with the lack of competitional and professional mentality then nationalism.
First, the content of broadcast is something that should be regulated by the ministry of information. The information act of Nepal provides unprecedented authority to the ministry to block any materials that violates the financial rules and regulations of the country. It also has a set of regulations that censors the publication or braodcast of derogatory materials against the sovereignity of Nepal. The news broadcast of major Nepali media seldom have obliged to those rules and regulations. However the ministry has full authority to punish them if they find that their publications or braodcast violate those rules. They have exercised their power with full thrust specially to small scale media house in the past. If corruption and bribery is kept aside, they can still enforce the rules to anybody.
The power and credibilty of a media lies on the quality of programme it delivers to it's audience. It has nothing to do with ultra nationalism. The audiences chose the channel they like and those channel which are popular amongst the audience generate more advertisement and more revenue in the mean time. So the best thing for Nepali TV channels is to produce better, quality programmes.This can only help to their interest.

Indians have taken the world by storms. They have better finances, better investment, better equipments but more then that they have better mentality. And it's our mentality that we have to change if we want to compete with them at home. At abroad we can't, we are ages behind them. Sekhar Kapoor, Meera Sial, Gurindher Chaddha and many others have been competing with the top notches of westerners in Showbiz industry. However for Nepali audience, we can produce better programmes. A competetive mindset will help us rather then with jealousy or hatred.
The only thing we lack is a can do attitude. Wherever I have met Nepalis, they just tend to succumb to the pressure of their own circle. Money is their topmost priority and they cannot come up with some creative ideas, just engrossed in their own effort to earn money by hooks and crooks.We criticize others but we never try ourself and their lies the problem. Lets believe in ourself and our capabilities and try to make something out of it.. There lies the ladder to our succcess.
New User

I really don't care what you all have to say...........But Nepal1 is not a nepali channel.... It is an Indian channel and it really sucks, it is only good for nepalis who have left nepal for hundred of years, not for the people of nepal.
That channel is Indian Propoganda channel, They don';t even have real nepali programs, they speak like everyoen is from Darjeeling, not that I am saying they are not nepali but they are Indians who happen to be Nepali Decendents and that channel should be considered Indian and not Nepali......... I protest against saying that channel is from nepal no it is not, IT is DHoti channel.......

Ashu what do you do in nepal??????? You seem to blabber to much about what the goverment does and doesn't, all I see is you criticize the goverment all the time, can you name some of your deeds towards nepal........
How come you are not talking about what JigmeChikenyLadoChus had to say about nepal, how come he didnt' even hint anything about the refugee problem in nepal from bhutan............. Lets hear from you Dwag, what you have to say, I most of the time disagree with you, and your ideas yo......

To Manav - thanks for clarifying your point but obviously your pervious posting did not reflect on that. Now that you're fingerpointing at Nepali mentality - I want to make a point here. It takes time (long time for that matter) for general public's thinking to change especially in the context of Nepal where a majority of the population are uneducated. And even for those who are educated in Nepal, our schools or colleges don't teach us to think for themselves. While I was in Nepal in 2001, Madan Krishna rightly said in one of the FM Interviews, "Manchhe padhera matra educated huncha bhanne kura ma chahin pattakai biswas gardina". There are many factors involved and I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to say. For example, look at you yourself - how much have you changed since living abroad? You resorted to personal attack on a public forum without even thinking twice about it, and without providing proper reasoning.

To Ashu - I do understand that these companies that you mentioned are Indo-Nepal joint ventures. Totally agree that they are providing jobs to lot of Nepalis. I don't have any problems with them or them willing to place ads in an Indian media channel. And I feel that the government's labelling of Nepal1 TV as a non-Nepali channel is not going to prevent them from placing ads in Nepal1 whose viewership base comprises of the Nepali diaspora that the local Nepali channels are unable to reach. The point is - I don't think the government is making placing ads in a foreign channel illegal. If they did that, then that would be stupid.

By books, Bhaskar and company are totally wrong. They should rather compete with them and show them that they are equally good. And your belief that Nepalis can compete with anyone anywhere on merits is great. But, the reality is different. The Indian companies have more money and expertise that we lack. I don't see how we can compete with Indian companies in this situation. In addition, we are a struggling economy whereas India is years ahead of us. They attract foreign investment in all industries - so let's not even think about competing with India. Let's concentrate on Nepal and making us better in our own grounds first.

I'm sure you are aware that the only way Nepalese channels are making money is through news broadcast. They can't compete shit in the entertainment side when there are likes of Zee, Star and so on. Just for example, I was in Nepal just recently and quite surprised that everybody seems to be glued to watch this serial drama 'Katauti' religiously. No wonder all the Nepalese TV channels have news broadcast. As if competition among the numerous Nepalese channels is not hard enough, you are talking about competing with Indian companies. You are ambitious - no doubt, but be aware of the reality at the same time. Just being ambitious is not going to take you too far at least in Nepal.

Some protectionism is good for a country like us - infact, needed. If Dabur, Surya and Nepal Lever claim to be helping Nepal by providing jobs, I don't see why they would have
problems spending their money in Nepal. As it is, the parent companies of both Dabur and Nepal Lever place enough ads in the many Indian channels that are easily accessible to Nepalese diaspora living in northeastern India. And in the case of Surya tobacco, I doubt if India allows Nepalese tobacco products. I think Surya is just trying to reach the same audience in Nepal as do the other Nepalese channels. I used to have a lot of friends from Sikkim and they always talked about smoking GoldFlakes. Its been a while so I could be wrong here.

So long,
Jyapu

Jyapu -
Great reply.... and i do agree with some of your points. and mind you i am abraod only few months now, so my mind still works as real Nepali right from Nepal, i mean i have been there and been there long to do some of my own analysis and the situation is really getting worse.

I mean the mentality thing...there is so much happenign in our country and 90% is because of our mentality ...that we own nothing to no one..you know what i mean. We are the most self- centered people in the world, we really do not care for our next door neighbour if we gain. There needs to be a lot done in that front.

Besides, i agree that these indo- based comanies are doing something to create jobs and also to create some professionalism in the management sector but they are also making use of our media. I mean you should see the amount they pay for the media work they want to do. They really squeeze everyone in that front. There is so much of rivalry among the media just because of that. Sometimes, I really do not understand whether we should be thankful that these industries should be there or not--seriously.

I really wish that we try to incorporate people from all sectors and learn work on win - win situation that we study all the time - and ultimately that is what is going to work anyways.

But then you should have some good firing system for people like Bhaskar and the lot....last time it was someone else i guess.....so that they think twice before ridiculing people and also that they use their little energy andcapacity in actually being creative and working out a situation that is good for all parties.

so long
manab

Jyapu wrote:

"By books, Bhaskar and company are totally wrong. They should rather compete with them and show them that they are equally good."

Good point.

***********
Jyapu wrote:

"I'm sure you are aware that the only way Nepalese channels are making money is through news broadcast."


Well, first, let's get the economics right.

Gathering news is a very expensive process. Most media organisations, including those in Nepal, in fact LOSE money on news broadcasts.

That is why, they try to make up by having a strong business team that goes out to get the ads and looks into other sources of revenue (i.e. ways of selling the news-content in some innovative way) to pay for the cost of gathering news. If news alone were able to make money, most media houses in Nepal would just be that: 24-hour news channels.

A case in point is Nepalnews.com, which has, right from the beginning, never made money for Mercantile, which subsidises the site by selling computers.

And so, unless there is a heavy government subsidy, as in the case of Nepal TV and Radio Nepal, (or some kind of 'support from charitable foundations and private donations', NPR in the US is an example of this; or a TV tax like they have in England) commercial ad is the lifeblood of all media organisations.

That is why, almost all media wars boil down to competitions for additional ad
revenue.

In this case, given Nepal's stagnating ad market, I wouldn't be surprised if India-based
Nepal-1 Channel is eating other Nepali TV Channels' lunch -- making the latter
desperate to play the "more-Nepali-than-thou" card, with Bhaskar as the
ringleader.

I hope Bhaskar sees the absurdity of his accusations, and backs off to look for ways to beat Nepal-1 through some other means that highlight his business smarts.

*********

Jyapu wrote:

"Some protectionism is good for a country like us - infact, needed."


I used to believe that when I was in high school.

Now, I just smile at a remark like that, knowing how much work there remains to be done to disabuse otherwise reasonable people of this notion . :-)

But that's for another time.

oohi
ashu





**********


Some protectionism is good for a country like us - infact, needed.

Well Aasu:

How can you say that the business Nepal 1 gets will not affect other medias in any ways. I mean there are handfuls of medias in Nepal (like you ointed out) who are the main sponsors or space buyers in Nepalese media and they are same people who even Npeal 1 is after for getting ads. The ads in Nepal 1 are the same that plays in any other stations and so it does affect to other medias.

I think in Nepal even ads business in one type of media affects the other, there is cut throat price war going on there and actually media hub (again Bhaskar and Co's media buying company) is the one that sells some of the good spots again.

What i am trying to say is that advertisers who sponsor one program in one media will try to avoid sponsoring another similar program in another media and this definately includes Nepal 1 as well and obviously Mr Bhaskar is scared because he has seen the television prices as he owns the media buying comany and knows which program in which TV is doing good.

Don't you think all this is based on proper research on how much Npeal 1 is getting and how much he will gain if they are out of the competition right now???

When British came to India few hundred years ago, at the beginning
they gave cotton clothes to silks in much cheaper prices than Indians
could manufacture in India. Slowly the local industries in India
evaporated and British got sole right to sale their stuffs. Then the
price went high. Finally, Mahatma Gandhi came with Bycott Andolan
and started making salt to sugar to cotton by themselves. Finally,
colony had to give up.

Well, Ashu's vision seems validity, but we should not remain always
one sided and keep all side neglected. Should be vigilent but with
optimism.

GP

SUCKS

Nepal one finally spoke.....................

"We are an international channel": Nepal 1

Amid controversy regarding its legal and financial status, Nepal 1?a private sector television beamed from the Indian capital?has clarified that it is ?an international channel."

In its public notice carried by two leading dailies in Kathmandu Monday, the television channel has made it clear that Nepal 1 TV is not registered in Nepal and that it is a channel under the TV Live (India) Pvt. Ltd.

?The allegation that Nepal 1 TV does not pay taxes is a fraudulent and imaginary one. The channel functions within the law of the land to the best of our knowledge. We are particular of being law abiding and will always be so in the future,? said general manager of the television.

The notice, however, did not carry the name of general manager of the television channel.

?The allegation that Nepal 1 is using V-SAT service for transmission of news to its head office in Delhi is completely false. Nepal 1 is sending its entire data through courier, air service and internet,? the TV channel said. It further said that since its inception, Nepal 1 has never done any live telecast of any event or incident.

The TV channel was responding to allegations from the Advertising Agencies Association of Nepal (AAAN), which has demanded with the government to ban the transmission of the channel saying that its ?financial, legal and administrative status is not clear.?

Earlier, the Department of Information had issued a circular saying that Nepal 1 was a foreign TV channel and that it should be dealt with accordingly.

In its public notice, the TV channel said ?it is the wish of Nepal 1 TV to present the best picture image of Nepal to the world and in this effort we can claim success. Through our programme, ?Hamro Desh Ramro Desh? (Our Country Beautiful Country), we presented and took the positive aspects of Nepali society before the world. In our new programme, ?Nepal Star,? we are going to present the finest talent from Nepal to the world, which was undiscovered till today,? the TV channel said.

Meanwhile, addressing a function organised in the capital Monday, Minister for Information and Communications Dr Mohammed Mohsin has said his ministry has written to Ministry of Foreign Affairs to raise the issue of the channel with high-level Indian officials. He, however, did not reveal the content of the said letter.

?The channel has posed a challenge to Nepal?s national identity. So, this issue must be considered seriously,? he added.

Nearly two years after the private sector channel is being beamed across the Nepali audience in Nepal and India, critics have raised reservations over its name. ?The Channel should bring about reforms in its name and presentation,? said Taranath Dahal, president of Federation of Nepali Journalists. He, however, said if the government intended to control the editorial content of Nepal 1 television-- that was informing the people of Nepal-- could not be accepted.

Talking to HBC FM, a private radio station based in Kathmandu, Monday, legal counsel of Nepal 1 TV, Birendra Thakur said the pride of Nepal and Nepalis was of paramount importance to Nepal 1 television channel. He, however, urged people not to mix up the issue of advertisement with nationalism. ?In the era of WTO (World Trade Organisation), we must be prepared for competition,? he added. nepalnews.com by Jan 31 05

No more bullshitting on this thread now......