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Independent press: Learning from Uma

KANAK MANI DIXIT

Press freedom is in a perilous state today, and the danger lies in self-censorship. The countrywide spread over the past two decades of energetic print and radio journalism is threatened, with the district journalists facing challenges from violence-prone forces. For the most part, these are the militants in the mid-eastern Tarai and Maoist cadre all over. In a society where good experiments tend to be destroyed as soon as they start to succeed, we are witnessing a rollback of free media. If not halted, this journey will take us back to the silence of the Panchayat era, with all attendant political, social and economic ills.

It is not that there are anti-media ordinances and military jackboots in editorial offices, which was King Gyanendra’s way in February 2005. The threat now is more insidious, with the reporters and editors working amidst an infrastructure of impunity and absence of accountability that is more entrenched than ever before. Those whose job it is to write and report are doubly in danger where there is no rule of law, as the Maoists engage reluctantly with open society. Journalism is like a canary sent down the mine shaft, and our editors and reporters are beginning to feel the asphyxiation. Rather than succumb, we are asked to sound the alarm and stand up to anarchy and creeping authoritarianism.

It was much easier to fight the ham-handed autocrat king. With the Maoists in power through the ballot, their cadre feel that they have been justified in their violence and their ´people´s war´, and the leadership does not have the moral strength to disabuse them of the notion. Among genuine Maoist cadre – for they exist amidst the mass of opportunists who have signed up – there is the belief that the journalist stands in the way of change. They have been taught that journalism can never be independent and must be part of the effort to fight a class war as directed by the party.

Five journalists around the country presently face credible death threats, and the sense of insecurity in the districts is much more palpable than in Kathmandu Valley. A senior editor was recently asked pointedly and ominously, "How long do we have to suffer this indignity of criticism. Tell us, kati samma sahera basne hamilay?"

As per their politico-military training, Maoists workers as a whole continue to regard those who disagree with them as the enemy, and the critic can variously be labeled feudal, anti-people, anti-national. The leadership has done little to change this self-serving mindset, and so cadres everywhere feel confident in exhibiting hostility. If a sense of fear can be created leading to self-censorship, then regardless of what this does to the image of the party it can be useful for developing a pliant society. But the matter may spiral out of even Maoist control, for the party´s attitude towards media is being internalized by violent groups in the mid-western Tarai and elsewhere.

Amidst the violence-puja that has overtaken the country, who we had thought represented ‘civil society’ are yet to awake to the dangers, the business community seeks accommodation amidst rampant extortion, and the state administration and security mechanisms are subdued by the extremist sloganeering of Maoist leaders and ministers. For now, the journalist, human rights defender, local politician and activist stand at the frontline on behalf of the citizenry, vulnerable amidst daily threats and intimidations, beatings and attacks. Everyone understands that the attacks on the media are meant to send a message to the rest. Everyone also understands that the fall of free media will be a harbinger of years of unrest, derailment of governance, crash of the economy, and pushback of development.

There is cause for alarm, but there is also some reason for hope. Past experience tells us that if the societal vanguard all over stands firm against the anti-democratic onslaught, the Maoists are ‘political’ enough to pull back. A countrywide stand on press freedom is bound to force the Maoists to convert, if only to ensure their own political longevity. It is unfortunate that the journalist has to serve as guinea pig for the purpose.

A death in Janakpur
There is unplanned sophistication in the way the media is challenged today, as surely there is no central directive that the journalist be hounded, bashed up or murdered. But the party workers are groomed to be violent, and in large parts they are hardly acting on ideology or principle, but on the basis of competition for spoils locally, or clan and even family-based friction.

When an attack on a journalist makes news, the party makes full use of plausible deniability even while benefiting from the fear that is established. The strategic response is to first vehemently deny the party’s involvement, then to claim that the culprits are in fact ex-Maoists, to follow with the suggestion that the accused are party workers acting outside of high command directives. If the clamor still does not subside, promise an in-house investigation, and in the last resort go through the motions of expulsion from the party. Never speak of rule of law, and try your best to sabotage police investigation and court process.

In early January, radio and print journalist Uma Singh was murdered brutally in Janakpur. There is every indication that her life was snuffed out because – unprotected by the cover of national and international attention that her seniors in the capital receive – she chose to speak up. She was on a trajectory towards national recognition. Similarly unprotected and killed recently in the line of duty were journalists Birendra Shah and JP Joshi. In each case, there has been local level Maoist involvement of one form or another.

When asked about the thrashing of media workers in the newsroom of one media house, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal makes light of it, pointing out that no one in fact died. When Uma Singh was murdered, he cites the example of South Africa where, he says, so many more had died in the post-conflict transitional phase than in Nepal. Nepali journalists do protest too much, he seemed to say, and in an address to the nation just the other day he demanded ´positive coverage´. This is a primitive understanding of the role of media, reminiscent of the Panchayat era, which was jettisoned by the rest of society in 1990. When the Lalitpur district administration released on bail the two leaders of a Maoist gang that had beaten up journalists, the party greeted them like victors, with flowers and vermilion. Meanwhile, the minister of information accused journalists of denigrating Nepali nationalism before the world, implying that the Maoists are the sole custodians of national honor and sovereignty.

One would expect a democratically elected government to rush to investigate attacks on journalists, the media being the bellwether of social distress. But the government happens to be led by a party whose leaders in internal conclaves expound on the need to destroy before building anew. Before the representatives of the Western world, Prime Minister Dahal is eloquent in his defense of press freedom and pluralism, and certainly the leadership will sign on any dotted line to underline its commitment. But listen to what Mr. Dahal tells his cadre: that journalism has no purpose but to serve ‘the people’, as defined by the party of course.

For all these reasons, the government is less than half-hearted in investigations of attacks on media, and bestirs itself only when the Federation of Nepalese Journalists is able to generate a powerful campaign for press freedom and security for journalists. Against such a backdrop, given the importance of a transformed Maoist party that abandons violence, the only way out is to stay the course of independent journalism and force the Maoists to accept the world’s definition of free media.

The outside world
The journalism that reaches our citizenry is overwhelmingly in the Nepali language, and the editors and reporters themselves are not savvy in English. This is one reason the vibrancy of the media landscape is not appreciated enough by the outside world, and so the perception of threat is also one step removed. The urgency felt by the journalist does not transfer easily to the donor and diplomat, who have such inordinate influence over Nepali society. But it is also true that the Nepali media has not been concentrating on international outreach, because our universe is our national landscape. The battle for pluralism and free media, after all, is not fought so as to make us look good to others, but for the sake of freedom, political stability and socio-economic progress within Nepal.

Those who would pass prescriptions on Nepal´s road to lasting peace and democracy need to know that there can be no peace without democracy. And there are no ´Asian values´ versions of democracy and press freedom: both must be absolute. Also, there has to be better appreciation of the fact that Nepal´s citizenry is already experienced in the pluralistic state, and through the People’s Movement of April 2006 indicated its deep understanding of the link between democracy and peace.

And this people’s understanding is what impels journalists today to challenge the Maoists’ comprehension of ‘new Nepal’. We know to be careful not to push the ex-rebels against the wall of international condemnation, but to pull them – unwillingly for the most part, it seems – into the democratic mainstream as a party that did come to power through the ballot. This is where the countrywide network of journalists confronts the countrywide network of Maoist cadre today. One holds the pen, the other the baton.

Amidst obscure yet widespread threats, the journalist is asked to remain brave and principled. All over the country, we have journalists like the late Uma Singh. In her dedication, courage and professionalism, she represents the strides journalism has taken since 1990, using the fundamental freedoms to bring pluralism to the people. Never ending, this path to journalistic independence and professionalism is a continuous journey, and Uma Singh understood the dangers amidst the all-pervading impunity. She knew that she worked in the most dangerous part of the country, but she would not remain silent. She knew that independent journalism was important for the radio-listeners and newspaper readers she served. Uma Singh died alone and amidst horrific cruelty, a fighter for democracy.

Nepal is a country of deep injustices but its citizens have a long history of civil behavior. There are things that remain to be done, but let no one believe that we can proceed in the absence of full-fledged democracy. No ´Asian values´ compromises can be made. The adversary of press freedom hides behind the wall of deniability, which must be brought down. For, if the mast of journalism falls, so will the other pillars of society in quick succession, and that is the path back to authoritarianism. And we had thought we had been there, done that.

Published on 2009-02-02 21:40:09

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