MEDIA: Outspoken, Not Any More. Pros Concerned

All those rights— freedom of press, speech and expression, to assemble peacefully, to privacy and against preventive detention-- enjoyed profusely but seldom responsibly for over a decade, are gone. With a single royal proclamation, the country is back to the Panchayat-like days. Harold Lasswell would not have been happier with the full display of his communicative construct in Nepal today: Who says what to whom via what means with what effect? It is becoming hard to tell truth from half-truth, lies and propaganda. Increasingly, specially on the Internet, the who is anonymous, and thewhat a ringing “what?” With disinformation on the rise, truth becoming even more illusive, and a feedback impossible, the effects could hardly be constructive. The once-outspoken Kathmandu newspapers have all gone bland. International journalists’ groups, such as the IFJ, RSF and CPJ are concerned with the safety of their Nepali colleagues. CPJ notes, “journalists are now in danger of the kind of heightened abuse by security forces that marked Nepal's last state of emergency.”

• King and army shut down independent press, CPJ, Feb 03/