Nepalese Bloggers, Journalists Defy Media Clampdown by King

According to this article, in February 2005, King Gyandendra of Nepal took power from Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and put ministers under house arrest and censored the free press. This article describes that in spite of the King's measures to suppress free speech, journalists are getting news out via Weblogs, uncensored news is reaching the outside world, and journalists in Nepal are putting themselves at risk.

Mark Glasser describes that "the army had shut the flourishing FM community radio stations and had put censors on TV broadcasts and inside newspaper newsrooms. The king called for a ban on negative reports on his takeover, and at least six more journalists are still in prison there..." The article describes that "even after the King cut off phones, it was possible to use the Internet at embassies and diplomatic missions to communicate with the world."

Kristin Jones, a research associate of the Asian Program at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated "according to all the statements the king has made, the curbs on press freedom are intended to be a temporary measure during the state of emergency... - ...but no one knows how long the assault is going to last, or what damage may be done to the press in the meantime."

According to Gunaraj, news editor for Kantipur Daily, journalists must be cautious because they can punished. He further notes that if the situation remains the way it is, more media houses will be closed down. According to one Nepalese journalist "We can't speak or write against Maoists as well. If we do so, we will be targeted. Several reporters have been assassinated in the last few years because they wrote against Maoists. Now, we can't write against the spirit of the Royal Proclamation. If we do so, we will be jailed." Glaser describes a complex political situation where Maoist insurgents roam the countryside, and eleven different forms of government rule have existed over the past eleven years.

In October 2004, United We Blog was founded by a group of journalists who write for the Kathmandu Post, Kantipur Daily, and Nepal Weekly. Blogging, according to Glasser, has become a more "politically charged outlet" and on February 22nd "the blog devoted the entire day to protest two jailed Iranian bloggers, one of whom was recently sentenced to a 14-year prison term."

As Glaser states, "the point of all this blogging -- in English -- is to bring the plight of the Nepalese to the Western media's attention, which could goad other countries to pressure the king to back down. So far, the news has been spotty, with the media's attention focused more on Iraq and other issues."

One of the reasons that bloggers are getting news out is because of the lack of IT knowledge by government officials. Bloggers recognise that if the government figures out ways to find them, that punishment could be harsh. And according to Glaser, the Internet and blogging are new phenomena in Nepal, with only 300,000 Net users out of a population of 25 million.

Blogger/journalist Wagle describes the current situation in these words "We, the press, are surviving in a crossfire..." According to Glaser, bloggers say that sites such as NepaliPost.com and NewsLookMag.com have been blocked by the king. And as Glaser says, What will happen next is anyone's guess.