Nepal's king cracks down on politics and news media Instead of the usual spicy mix of current affairs and politics, the subject of Radio Sagarmatha's talk show on Saturday night was as bland as rice. In fact, the subject was rice: the differences, as explained by a scientist, between golden, wild and other varieties. That was the only topic the independent Nepali FM station felt safe to discuss. "Normally I don't do that kind of program," a 31-year-old journalist at the station said, laughing nervously as a soldier listened. When the soldier - one of six lounging around the station - moved off, the smile fell away. "Our hands are tied," the journalist said. Six days ago Nepal's king ended the country's 15-year experiment with democracy and took power for himself, imposing a state of emergency and suspending a host of civil liberties, including freedom of expression.
[...] All of the community radio stations that sprang up in the 1990's are locked up, playing only music or discussing things like rice. The BBC's popular Nepali news service has been stopped, and Netra K. C., its reporter in the western city of Nepalganj, has been detained, according to human rights activists. Newspapers have been reduced to editorializing about safely banal subjects, like the weather or clean socks, or resorting to metaphor to make their case. "The sudden epidemic of tree-felling along Katmandu's streets is drastic, misguided and not consonant with the needs of the population," began an editorial last week in the weekly Nepali Times. It ended: "Because the damage has been done, can we ask the concerned authority to promptly correct the move and bring back greenery?" The paper's editor, Kunda Dixit, said journalists of his generation had faced similar restrictions before democracy was introduced. They learned then to weigh every word, to write between the lines, he said, but in the intervening years grew accustomed to being free. "I've unlearned how to be guarded," Mr. Dixit said at the end of an interview. "If I've said anything subversive, please take it out." Source: Amy Waldman, The New York Times [requires free registration] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/international/asia/08nepal.html MULTIMEDIA Video: Nepal Bans Criticism of Security Forces <http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/aponline/20050207_Nepal_0b694098580029abc89de63f8aa5dcd1ed1bc15b_APVIDEO.html> [may only be accessible from the main story page] Radio Sagarmatha http://www.radiosagarmatha.org/ Making Waves Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change RADIO SAGARMATHA http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/pdsmakingwaves/sld-1892.html Radio Sagarmatha - Nepal http://www.unites.org/cfapps/WSIS/story.cfm?Sid=11 -- -- = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Via / By / Excerpted / From / Tip from / Thanks to: PressNotes is edited by Matthew Cecil, Assistant Professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Cecil can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Robert Greene can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SPJ PressNotes is an e-mail newsletter produced every business day by the Society of Professional Journalists. It is made possible through a grant from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Send subscription requests or changes to [EMAIL PROTECTED] � info http://members.tripod.com/~media002/disclaimer.htm Due to the nature of email & the WWW, check ALL sources. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> �������������������������������������������������������� Members of the ZESTMedia list exchange news and views about the media in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. Write to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ ====== theZESTcommunity ====================================== [1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/ [2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/ [3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ [4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ [5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ [6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ [7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/ [8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
