| ashu |
Posted
on 05-Nov-01 06:06 AM
Thanks all for your views on the earlier thread.
I especially enjoyed Biswo's, BP's and Janjati's comments.
The issue is indeed complex.
For the sake of clarity, however,
let me do this simple Q and A analysis.
Disagreements welcome!!
*******************
For the record, there is NO personal "fie-da" of any kind for me re: this new
newspaper, though I do know a fair number of people involved in it :-)
OK.
Let our Q and A session begin.
Subject: A new -- PARTLY Indian-financed English newspaper in town.
1. What does this mean for ALL newspapers in town?
More competition, more scramble for media talents,
ad revenues and for subscribers/readers like you and me.
2. What does this mean for the already-hired NEPALI media talents?
More opportunities for employment.
More opportunities to earn more competitive salaries.
More opportunities for exposure to newer, more technologically-oriented
ways of working.
More opportunities to be exposed to and learn from other talented
colleagues.
In summary: With this new entrant in the media sector, on the part of the media talents, the chances of better professional development are likely to be high.
3. What does this new newspaper mean for advertizers?
Increasing choice re: in which paper to put in their ads.
Can now negotiate with all more with all other newspapers re: ad rates
and, thus, taking advantage of more choices, are now more able to
drive down their ad expenses.
4. What does this mean for the Nepal government?
Another tax-paying corporate citizen!! And which government does
not want more tax-paying corporations?
5. What does this mean for subscribers/readers like you and me?
More variety, more quality, more depth, more color in terms of news
coverage, feature articles, departments, photography and even Web s
ites!.
Plus, newspapers usually try to lure subscribers by offering gifts like radios, watches, and what not . . . so their marketing game can be a lot of fun for you and me!!
(A marketing advice I am giving away for free: If Janjati issues are heretofore neglected, and as there is a sizeable janjati readership of English articles, then it
is in the interest of the newspaper for its marketing manager to alert his/her colleagues at the editorial desks to beef up the janjati coverage as a way to attract underserved readers!!) On another note, one of the backers of this newspaper, after all, is: Ravin Lama, if that means anything!!
6.What does this newspaper mean for critics like P. Kharel and Khagendra Sangraula and others?
Another publication in which to get their original or translated writings out to MORE readers in Nepal and even India!! And which writer would not want more
readers?
7.What if people like you and me -- readers and subscribers -- do NOT like this
newspaper for whatever reason?
Well, we have the option to NOT to spend our time and money to purchase/read this newspaper!! It's as simple as that.
8.What if the advertizers do NOT like this newspaper for whatever reason?
Then they will take their ads elsewhere, and let the newspaper go bankrupt at its
own cost. After all, the investors, Indians or others, do NOT have an infinite access to money, and, being rational, they sure would like to keep their advertizers/subscribers happy by competing on grounds of broad quality
and NOT of narrow-Indian partisanship.
9. What if ordinary Nepalis get 'brainwashed' by whatever 'propaganda' of this Indians-backed newspaper? What happens then to our sense of nationalism,
our Gorkhali swa.bhee.maan, our, our . . . patriotism?
Well, ordinary Nepalis have been watching Zee TV and all the other Indian TV Channels (powefull visuall media!) without, so far, trading their Nepali citizenship cards for Indian nagarik.ta. They have also been reading Indian newspapers (Dinman, India Today, Times of India, Nava Bharat Times and so on) without
any discernible loss of love of their country.
And so, based on the evidence of these past reading/viewing habits of ordinary Nepalis, it seems reasonable to conclude that this new Indian-backed newspaper in Kathmandu will not adversely affect Nepali rastriya.ta. If it does, then that only proves that our sense of rastriya.ta is so weak anyway that a newspaper can destroy it . . . and, if so, we are probably better off without such a weak rastriya.ta.
10. In future, should Nepal allow Chinese, American, Korean, Russian, British investors to come to Nepal, partner with Nepalis and spend their money to start similar media or OTHER manufacturing or service businesses in Nepal?
YES. YES. And YES.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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