Maoists for more media control

The Maoists have been hostile to the liberal media which has become very strong over the last decade in Nepal. Now that they are the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, there are legitimate doubts over their intentions to rein the free press. Not so long ago, there was a Maoist communication minister who hired their supporters in the state-controlled media and expelled others. And now this doesn't come as a surprise:

 “Senior Maoist leader Mohan Baidya on Friday said the Maoist party is against both the current 'liberal' model of media as well as the communist model, and wants to develop a third model – probably a mixed version of communist and democratic models.

Baidya, who is also in-charge of Maoist Central Department of Publicity and Broadcast, hinted that the Maoists' soon-to-be-formed government would develop the third model because of failure of the present model to serve people's interest.

However, he did not elaborate how that model would define the media sector and how much freedom the country's media would enjoy in future. He clearly hinted that liberal and monopolistic media would not be entertained.”

-eKantipur

Maoist has become a threat to Kantipur, Nepal’s largest and most influential media house, which had, ironically, played the crucial role to bring the Maoists to the mainstream earlier.

“Prachanda's speech at Tundikhel last Friday reinforced apprehensions about their commitment to basic freedoms. He may not like Kantipur because Kantipur does not like him and his party. If he wants to complain about coverage, he should send letters to the editor. But he has no right to threaten and warn anyone.”

-Nepali Times

Also see my previous post here in NowPublic.

Pressuring the Press

Addressing a public rally in the heart of Kathmandu last week, Maoist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal declared, "We will no longer tolerate criticism as we have been elected by the people." In a tirade against Kantipur Publications he added, "They continuously criticised us before the CA elections, but now we have become the largest party." Applause greeted Dahal as he advised journalists from other newspapers to think twice before writing anything against the Maoists....

What puzzled me about this exchange was not why Dahal said what he did. Perhaps he was playing to the gallery. Perhaps he remains drunk on his party's victory. Perhaps he was testing the limit of what he could say in public. Whatever the case may be, since Dahal's party is on record for murdering and harassing journalists, I found his speech irresponsibly frightening. The FNJ's response was, as usual, tepid and mechanical.

What I found puzzling was why these young people, in their teens and early 20s 8211; the very generation that has seen, experienced and benefited from the free Nepali press since 1990 8211; welcomed Dahal's remarks with such zeal. It's tempting to dismiss them as brainwashed Maoist cadres. But could it be that those who captain the FNJ and other donor-funded media entities are so used to reacting to the Maoists over the same issues, that they forget how poor a job they've been doing to remind the public why press freedom matters in the first place?

- Nepali Times