I have strong objections to today (March 2)'s main picture that appeared in The Himalayan Times. It is spread on a four column that shows disfigured close-up bodies of dead Maoists. I have already written to The Editor giving him a piece of my mind. Please join me in lodging individual protests. Here's a copy of my letter:

Dear Sir,
The main picture on The Himalayan Times dated March 2, 2005 was of really bad taste and showed how an established media house like yours can stoop so low at this juncture by being so insensitive.
You as a responsible media should have been well aware of the negative effects such vulgar coverage of the ongoing conflict could have on the society. True, the picture may have depicted the current state of the nation but we don't deserve to see close-up disfigured dead bodies on your front page early in the morning. More than that, what are you going to answer to the psychology of young children who have seen that picture? Believe me, I am starting to get the feeling that such an act only shows that the visual editors in your media house have as cheap mentality as the price of your newspaper. In any way, it surely did not deserve four columns of your valuable space.
In the initial days of the conflict, I remember most media houses used to resort to such erroneous acts. Some journalists, including me, were part of all that. But we were all rookies then. I had not hoped that a reputed institution like yours would fail to learn from that past.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Royal Nepal Army, that had reservations over an India based Nepali TV showing bodies of its dead soldiers in Krishnabhir, will not object to your picture because you have glorified their operations. But we must remember that dead bodies, either of the Royal Nepal Army or the Maoists, doesn't glorify but demoralize the people's psychology to move on with our lives despite the current state of the state. I, as a reader, demand an immediate public apology from your newspaper.
Take this straight: Your efforts to have printed such a gluttonous picture does not prove to the government, in King Gyanendra's own words, that you stand "for peace" rather than "the terrorists". It only shows you have become a pathetic coward by falling prey to such cheap publicity.

it might be the other way too. It wants the world to see the atrocities committed by the RNA. By Gyanendra.

atrocities by RNA??? Hmm...another maoist brewing. Did u even care to think that those dead might be maoists( who did the same to the fellow Nepalese) not innocent citizens?

I mean I am fed up with these childish statements, seriously.

Name tells who's childish.


of course, for me the maoist rebels are as innocent as the RNA foot soldiers. Both are poor.

paade...
shut ur fu...kin mouth.... rubbish crap.... its good 50 moaist shot dead.. and i will party.. if they will eliminate the whole rotton headed moist

Those maoists were planting bombs ( yes, BOMBS damnitt !!)and felling trees on the highway to obstruct the movement of vehicles FFS!!! I say good riddance! Those terrorists have made our life a living hell.

To glorify death in the present times will only escalate the ongoing conflict. And THT's move has only promoted this. Didn't we see that the entire country minus Kathmandu was screwed to a standstill after February 1 untill the Maoists called off their blockade?
What sort of messages are such gory pictures supposed to give to the public? That it's party time in Kathmandu because a few more Maoists have been shot dead by the army? What happens if similar number of our soilders are shot dead somewhere else the next time... Hide the facts from the same papers that glorify the death of the Maoists? It's like hiding our heads on the sands like ostritches when we find ourselves in crisis. Grow up, widen your vision: Your Nepal isn't just Kathmandu. We desperately need peace but military solution doesn't seem to be the right answer right now. Glorifying Maoists death just because we view them as "terrorists" who bomb our highways isn't the right available solution.

at least i party.. 50 maoist shot dead.... they are nothing but some currupted headed ppl who never got chance to loot nation's property...
had they ever had good intention they whould have caught criminal and give pressure to the govt to punish them thru law and order.......
moobaadi are man eater wild animal.... i dont see any difference between bin laaden and maoist.. both killed innocent ppl

I saw the cover picture of the deads in THT. Yeah, it sure is gory. I think its not about who is right or wrong because this whole situation does not have black and white answers nor causes leading to the present civil conflict. Rather its about journalistic values and ethics. It's about being responsible about the message that the picture imparts and the impact it will have on the public of all ages. And further, it's about respect to the individual deads, whoever they are and for whatever ideology they died for. And media is supposed to be the neutral body and not convey its leaning, however implicitly.

HM

Isn't publishing/telecasting such gory pictures against the universal media ethics? I mean, I don't know much about print journalism, but is there any rule or regulations agains that or is it just a generally accepted norm among the journalists? (Rat-a-tat, that question is directed at you. Please enlighten me.)

Most of the foreign television media (read: broadcast television channels - not cable television) don't broadcast such images of bloodshed, and when it is really necessary to do so, they air a disclaimer or a warning before doing so. Seeing such gory images of violence could be extremely disturbing to some readers. I think, in Nepal anything goes. Including unedited airing of hiphop songs with F words on the FM radio.