| Bhatatata... |
Posted
on 20-Oct-01 06:50 AM
I appreciate the efforts made by Nepali news web sites, particularly Kantipur Online and Nepalnews, that instantly provides us news about our country and can be logged on from any part of the world. However, despite being an ardent follower of news on both of these sites, I have started wondering if Nepalnews is really worth its value for quality and credible news. Here's some of the things that I found:
(a) Most of the news are "stolen" and later rehashed by Nepalnews from Kantipur Online. If you've ever noticed, it is usually earlier in the day and faster that news are uploaded on Kantipur Online than Nepalnews. However, the same news quickly appears towards the evening in Nepalnews - all rehashed and with a fresh look to seem as original.
I was talking to a Mercantile technician placing my specific views about this and then he remarked this way: "Kantipur Online kalle po hercha ra? News ta Nepalnews mai jasari hale pani kalle thaan paucha ra???" But really, what bugged me was that his comments clearly showed that Nepalnews is actually rejoicing on the efforts put forward by Kantipur journos (no matter what bad image some of them might be holding as we've discussed on this site for long). I feel this practice is totally unfair - does large business organizations be practicing this?
(b) Kantipur Online has a larger network of journos all across Nepal, no doubt. Hence, I always feel that Kantipur Online news related to outside Kathmandu holds more truth. However, as in case (a), Nepalnews seems to be reporting news about quadruplets or any other thing that has happened outside KTM. And the interesting thing is Nepalnews reports the news attributing "hospital sources" or "officials"...Here's one example of a news in Rolpa that Kantipur Online reported yesterday afternoon.
Prisoners escape after digging tunnel in Rolpa jail
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Oct 19 - At least three prisoners, all convicted of murder, managed to escape early Friday morning at around 3:30 a.m. by digging a tunnel from a jail in Rolpa district, our reports say.
Our correspondent Kashi Ram Dangi, quotes Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahesh Bikram Shah as saying that the prisoners escaped after borrowing a 14 feet long and one and half feet wide tunnel from their cell. The prison was built on damp soil.
The escaped prisoners have been identified as Guman Singh Pun of Bhabang VDC, Dor Bahadur Pun of Tewang VDC, both from Rolpa district, and former policemen Kumar Bahadur Khatri of Gorkha district.
Few months ago, Maoist women had managed to escape by digging a similar tunnel in Gurkha district. (sjs)
On the other hand, look at the same news that appeared later in Nepalnews:
3 inmates break jail in Rolpa
Three prisoners fled from a jail in Rolpa after digging a tunnel just before dawn Friday, according to information received from Rolpa.
A police officer in Rolpa district police office said over telephone amomg the three prisoners who escaped, one is a former policeman. He refused to elaborate.
Other details were not available. Police have mounted search to catch the jail breakers.
nepalnews.com yl Oct.19
(c) Even on news related to national issues, I feel Kantipur Online holds better reach as it's been long since they've been practicing journalism in Nepal.
Finally, I don't know the exact figure of journos both these sites might be having (somebody please enlighten me if you know)... but I feel that both these sites are doing a good job. But the frequncy of credibility and fair compilation of news varies a lot, as i've noticed. Really, as a reader, we all would benefit more if both Mercantile and Kantipur merged their news sites - this would mean more reporters and better news for us to read. But the way they're working at present is not what I believe should be going in in the field of journalism. Maybe someone from Kantipur or Nepalnews could also comment on this.
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