Gorkhapatra's Stop Press and News Story on Sushil Koirala's Demise

Rabin Man Shakya
Former Associate Editor, The Rising Nepal

Nepal's former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala  passed away 12:50 AM Tuesday in Kathmandu due to complications from pneumonia and respiratory failure. He was 78. May his soul rest in peace.

Meanwhile, by publishing the banner headline news on the demise of Koirala, former PM of Nepal and president of the Nepali Congress (GOP of Nepal), the Gorkhapatra national daily has again reminded me of the word "Stop press", something even the world  famous  newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal had abandoned long time ago.

So it turns out that it was only the Gorkhapatra which was able to carry out the news story on Tuesday morning, the day Koirala passed away. All other broadsheet dailies are going to publish the news story on Koirala's death on Wednesday.

It is to be noted that Koirala was a key figure in the adoption of Nepal's new constitution last September, and also was the president of Nepal's largest political party. He was one of the very few honest and uncorrupt  politicians of Nepal.

Speaking of the 'stop press',  the newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal had skipped many important national and international news stories like San Bernardino shooting and Charlie Hebdo massacre to be published not in the following morning but a day after, which made the news stories already too stale.

I remember when the Communist Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari passed away on April 26, 1999, the Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal had practiced the 'stop press' too. Adhikari died on April 26, 1999 at night at about 2 AM. At that time, I used to work at the night desk at The Rising Nepal. As a matter of fact, even at that time, the Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal were the only two broadsheet daily newspapers to break the news about the death of the first democratically-elected Communist Prime Minister of Nepal.

Fifteen years ago, the stop press used to have more relevance than today.That is because digital journalism and social media sites have been frequently breaking the important news lately. So when we at The Rising Nepal and the Gorkhapatra, kind of,  did the stop press for the news story about passing away of Man Mohan Adhikari, it had more relevance than in today's age of social media.

So what is the 'stop press' actually? In short, it means an important news item inserted into a newspaper after the printing has been started. It may also mean the space  regularly allocated for more important news. It is true even 20 or 25 years ago, stop press did not take place very often in the newspapers.

Today more than ever, with the digital journalism and social media sites gaining momentum, use of stop press is very rare in practical journalism. So what was the relevance of the stop press in the newspapers in the past? Why did newspapers sometimes use stop press?

Senior journalists at The Rising Nepal used to tell us there were cases during the period of Panchayat system the printing press literally had to be stopped or delayed and much of the already printed copies had to be discarded causing loss to the Gorkhapatra Corporation in order to give space for royalty news or to correct error on royalty news.

Memorable Moments in Santa Clara

Rabin Man Shakya

(A Nepali journalist in USA)



Portland, Feb 5, (Nepal Oregon News): In December 2015 right after the Christmas holidays, I along with my spouse Naveena Shakya were in Santa Clara. We stayed with Dr Mahendra Man Shakya, a physicist  and his wife Pratibha, my sister-in-law.  Our visit to Santa Clara was very important to us because we could meet Dr Mahendra and Pratibha after 14 years. Oh boy, that's a long time.

Likewise,  Naveena was overwhelmed to meet her childhood friend Dr Roshani Shakya,  her husband Dr Pradip and her mom at Woodland, Sacramento. So, our nine-day journey to California took us not only to Santa Clara but to San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Stanford University etc. Our  walk-through at the capitol building in Sacramento was also very memorable.

Naveena Shakya and Pratibha Shakya at Santa Cruz.

Alcatraz

Dr Mahendra Man Shakya and Dr Rabin Man Shakya at the Capitol in Sacramento, California.

In Sacramento

Dr Pradip Shrestha, Dr Roshani Shakya, Roshani's mom and Naveena Shakya.

Well, it was Dr Mahendra who took us to many interesting places in Santa Clara including the Levi's Stadium, the venue of Super Bowl 50. He generously took us to SF, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Stanford University, Twin Peaks, Shoreline and so on.

Rabin Man Shakya, Naveena Shakya, Pratibha Shakya and Mahendra Man Shakya at Twin Peak.

An evening at Santana Row, Santa Clara: Mahendra Man Shakya, Rabin Man Shakya and Naveena Shakya.

Compared to my extensive travels and trips to the cities of the former USSR and Europe, I have not travelled that much across the United States. Never been to big cities like New York and Boston.  Well, I have been living in Portland, Oregon for over a decade and so far have been able to see  Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Eugene etc and this time, to see Santa  Clara, SF, Santa Cruz, Sacramento etc.

Mahendra Man Shakya and Pratibha Shakya.

Naveena Shakya and Pratibha Shakya.

Santa Clara, no doubt, is a small  city, but it is a fast growing city. One of the distinct things  I noticed in Santa Clara is the preponderance of Indians who according to 2010 US census are 43,889 (37.7 %) of Asians living in Santa Clara. In Santa Clara, you see Indians wherever you go. Also, you see so many Indian restaurants, Indian sweetmeat shops and Indian groceries. And when you go inside these stores, you see they are crowded with the Indians and you feel like you are somewhere  in New Delhi.

Well,  I am pretty  much impressed by my visit to Santa Clara which is located in the center of Silicon valley  and which is home to the headquarters of several high tech juggernauts like Intel and Google. Visiting Santa Clara in the evening especially along the El Camino street and Santana Row reminded me of the bright and sparkling, illuminated streets of European cities.

Rabin Man Shakya on a Google bicycle.

The unforgettable  moments of our journey was  that of a visit to  Golden Gate bridge  of San Francisco. I have seen the Alcatraz prison building in several movies and documentaries but it was the first time I saw it. Alcatraz  today is a public museum which is one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions.

Mahendra Man Shakya, Rabin Man Shakya, Naveena Shakya and Pratibha Shakya at the Golden Bridge in San Fransisco.

Anyone going to San Francisco should not miss to visit Fisherman's Wharf  which is also a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. The Fisherman's Wharf is famous  for being the location of Pier 39, the Canary Shopping Center, Ghirardeli  Square, Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum etc.



We had an opportunity to be at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz. I must admit that our  visit to Santa Clara and other  cities widened my perception about California.