KATHMANDU, JANUARY 11
Only 1.9 per cent of the news reports produced by Nepali newspapers and online portals during the federal and provincial elections covered human rights and inclusion issues.
A study on media coverage of polls from the human rights perspective carried out by Media Action Nepal with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives launched yesterday showed this dismal number.
Launching the report, Minister Damodar Bhandari highlighted the need to see the issues of society that the state had failed to see and to bring them to prominence and national attention. He also noted the quantitative and qualitative growth Nepali media had made over the past few decades, but worried that the growth had not been reflected in media content. "Nepali media may be getting tangled in superficial issues and not bringing forth deep analyses as per requirement. The Government of Nepal stands with the media for its development," he added.
Speaking during the event, Laxman Datt Pant, Chairperson of the Media Action Nepal, stated that Nepali media had raised a plethora of issues, albeit limited, as shown by the study, but lacked analysis. "To change that scenario and for media to cover human rights and inclusion issues adequately and properly, the Nepali press needs to change the approach towards covering these issues," he added.
CEDAW Committee Member Bandana Rana lamented that the media used sexist language and portrayed women in a stereotypical way. Women candidates were also presented as weak, emotional and indecisive during and after the polls, and women family members were blamed for their husbands' or sons' decisions.
President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists Bipul Pokhrel praised Media Action Nepal for producing reference materials for educating journalists and also for holding a mirror to journalism, He also showed just how wide an impact media content could have at all levels of society. He noted the need for the press to be accountable and fact-based.
NHRC Commissioner Mihir Thakur urged the media to continue digging up the truth, but not sensationalising the facts. He also highlighted the link between a free press, stable politics and human rights. However, he remarked that the threats to equality and dignity in both media coverage and among media personnel continued unabated and asked all the stakeholders to focus on dealing with them.
The study looked at 7,459 news stories published in 20 media outlets (10 newspapers and 10 online news portals; three broadsheets and three portals from Kathmandu valley and seven broadsheets and seven portals from the provinces) over a period of 16 days (eight days before election day, the polling day on November 20, and seven days after the elections) and found that only 142 stories covered issues of human rights and inclusion.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 12, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
