Terrorism, Media and Social Media

Rabin Man Shakya

Boko Haram, a Nigerian Islamic terrorist group is lately grabbing one after another international headlines across the world for its heinous terrorist acts. More than 300 Nigerian school girls were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists recently. Of that number, 276 remain in  Boko Haram's captivity and 53 were able to escape. An additional eight girls were also abducted little later  from a village near Boko Haram's stronghold.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, Boko Haram threatens to sell the nearly 300 teenage school girls. And in another heinous act of terrorism, the Boko Haram terrorists killed as many as 300 people in the town of Gamboru Ngala, on the border with Cameroon. According to news reports, the terrorists fired into crowds of people at a busy market. Earlier this year more than 50 teenage boys were massacred at a government school in the north of Nigeria by  Boko Haram terrorists.

Despite the fact that world pressure on Nigeria is mounting over Nigerian government's  disability and failure to rescue the abducted girls and contain terrorist activities, and despite protests being organized in world capitals demonstrating international solidarity for abducted girls and denouncing the terrorists, the Boko Haram terrorism is taking a disastrous toll on the Nigerian people's lives.

The acts of terrorism and their continuing coverage in the world media have raised the specter that the international media is directly or indirectly helping the notorious terrorists just by covering stories about their sinister and heinous activities. By the same token, terrorists and terrorist groups are widely known to have extensively used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc to disseminate their ideas, messages, and consolidate their power base.

That is why it will not be an exaggeration to assert that terrorism, media and social media may have dangerous and triangular dimensions. Terrorism is not tolerated, no matter where it comes from, and can in no way be justified.

The purpose of terrorism is to create terror and panic among the people. The terrorists can not do this without the help of the media and social media. The more the people freak out, the more successful will be the terrorists. Therefore, the media should be more careful, more balanced and more precisive while covering the terrorist acts. Unnecessary details should not be hyped.

American TV journalist Dan Rather is absolutely right when he says:'True or not, newsrooms covering terrorism everywhere should do what they can to ensure their reports serve the public and not those committing violent acts."

World Press Freedom Index: The Numbers Don't Lie

By Rabin Man Shakya

The World Press Freedom Index: This is how the nations across the world are ranked and extrapolated in terms of press freedom by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a respected non-profit organization based in Paris, France. The World Press Freedom Index, according to RWB, is a reference tool with seven criteria - the level of abuses, the extent of pluralism, media independence, the environment and self-censorship, the legislative framework, transparency and infrastructure.

When it comes to understanding press freedom in countries across the world, the data and ranking released by RWB is of utmost importance. After all, the rankings and numbers extrapolated and released by respected organizations like RWB do not lie. The rankings, palpably, help as warnings and suggestions to the respective governments.

As reported by RWB, Finland tops the World Press Freedom Index for the fourth consecutive year followed by the Netherlands and Norway, whereas at the other end of the index, the last three positions are again held by Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritria.

Nevertheless, the United States is a trail blazer in democratic practices. Likewise, countries like Nepal and India are democratic nations as well.. Therefore, the ranking of the US (46th), India (140th) and Nepal (120th) in the World Press Freedom Index may raise some questions about its practical credibility.

But RWB in this regard clarified:"The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists." RWB went on to say:"The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed."

This trend constitutes a growing threat worldwide and is even endangering freedom of information in countries regarded as democracies, RWB added.   There is no doubt press freedom is a hallmark of democracy. Therefore, where there is no press freedom, there is no democracy either. Therefore, press freedom and democracy have symbiotic ties.

The quintessence of journalism is the news which should be disseminated, published and broadcast in a free, fair and unbiased manner without any restrictions whatsoever. In pluralistic societies, people today depend on the media and social media for the fair and truthful  accounts and details about current events. Free and democratic nations allow the press freedom to report news and views without government meddling. Therefore, it goes without saying that freedom of the press encourages the exchanges of ideas among the citizens and netizens , which is essential for a democracy to work.

Freedom of the press is the right to print, publish and broadcast news, views, facts, ideas and opinions without interference from the government, political parties, private organizations and  business tycoons. This right applies to the print media, including books, newspapers and magazines, and to the electronic media including radio and TV channels as well as to the social media and on-line journalism.

However, the sad reality of press freedom scenario in Nepal is that the government controlled newspapers, radio station and television channel are not in a condition to directly chastise the government for some of its wrong policies and programs, and the private sector newspapers, FMs and TV channels are not capable to speak out against the interests of the tycoons for whom they work. The 'myth' about  journalistic polarization and its politicization and the biasedness seen in the 'mouthpieces' of political parties  are other discrepancies.A number of journalists have been killed in Nepal by government forces, Maoist insurgents and criminal masterminds in the past, and even today many of them still keep receiving threats and intimidation. No wonder, though a democratic country, it will definitely take a long time to enhance Nepal's press freedom ranking.

The Nepalese media fraternity marked the World Press Freedom Day on Saturday (May 3) with a call for greater professional solidarity and guarantee of security for media persons. No doubt, World Press Freedom Day is a solemn occasion for the scribes to strive for raising awareness of the basic principles of press freedom and to remember and pay tributes to those journalists who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the pravda. (truth in Russian).

On News, Bad News and Breaking News

By Rabin Man Shakya

Despite a host of components of a newspaper, such as, news, features, articles, columns, photos, editorials, interviews, book reviews, letters to editor, obituaries and so on,  news always was and is still the indispensable and essential item in a newspaper, meaning we can't imagine a newspaper without the news. On an average, 75-80 percent of space of the newspaper contents (except advertisements) is comprised by news.

News is a key and essential part of human life. I would rather skip my morning coffee, but I can't move ahead without my morning paper, many Americans in their 40-50s say. So what is news? When a dog bites a man, it is not a news, but when a man bites a dog, it is a news.

Any incident or accident that interests or affects a large number of people in a community is a news. News is something which some celebs, tycoons and pols as well as organizations and governments want suppressed. News is new and exciting information or a report about something that has happened recently.

However, technological innovations have made great strides in the qualitative development of newspapers. These innovations have unprecedented impact on the news as well. People across the world are talking not just about news, but about the breaking news.

That's because the very essence of news is changing in a world of transparent social media where it must be assumed that 'breaking news' and not just news is all that matters. Today, unlike 10 years ago, social media is a very important source as well as part of news and breaking news. There are a number of cases where  the source of breaking news happened to be the social media sites, and not the mainstream media outlets.

If today any important information or news is intentionally skipped  or ignored by the mainstream media because of vested interest, pressure or bias, that piece of information or news is immediately out in the social media sites rendering the old saying about news "News is what the newspapers print and radio and TV broadcast" as irrelevant and outdated.

There were many cases when a number of news triggered panic among the people, but we should remember it's not the stupid news which causes people to freak out but the catastrophe or accident itself. A news story just details about what (what, who, why, where, when and How= five Ws and one H) happened. So news does its thing regardless of anything. News just tries to satiate the 'ravenousness' or 'curiosity' of the people about some incidents, accidents or catastrophies.

In journalism, sadly enough, a bad news is a good news.That is why today  more than ever sex, rape, crime, violence - all are news. Good news about someone seldom gets past the door but bad news will travel a thousand leagues away. The old saying "Bad news travels fast like a bad shilling" rings true too. 

And this is also true that in a world ravenous for scoops, journalists and reporters do anything to become first to break the news. They simply forget that being first to break the news is not as important as being true and correct. 

Pulitzer Prize, Snowden and Press Freedom in the US

Rabin Man Shakya

The United States is a great democratic nation which has always been the trail blazer in field of democracy, human rights and press freedom. But lately there has, unfortunately, been some setbacks in the field of press freedom in the US. According to details published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) in 2014, the US has fallen to 46th in the ranking of the press freedom index faring worse than countries like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Surinam, Botswana, Ghana, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovenia, El Salvador etc.

Roger Shuler, an Alabama blogger was forced to remove blog posts in order to be freed from a US jail. Jeremy Hammond was jailed for 10 years after hacking into the website of private intelligence company Stratfor, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

But the decision of the Pulitzer Prize Committee to honour two newspapers that revealed government secrets about spying by the National Security Agency - The Washington Post and The Guardian - with the Pulitzer Prize for public service was yet another feather in US journalism's cap.

Meanwhile, the Guardian, in one of its news stories published April 14, 2014 mentioned:"The Guardian and The Washington Post have been awarded the highest accolade in US journalism, winning the Pulitzer prize for their groundbreaking articles on National Security Agency's surveillance activities based on the leaks of Edward Snowden."

The Guardian news story went on to say:"In the series of articles that ensued, teams of journalists at the Guardian and the Washington Post published the most substantial disclosures of US government secrets since the Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War in 1971."

It is to be noted that Edward Snowden, an American computer specialist, a former CIA operative and former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed classified NSA documents to several media outlets, has been grabbing international headlines continuously since May 2013 up to now.

Snowden, who is currently living in Russia and who has been charged with espionage and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, recently again captured the headlines for (1) asking Vladimir Putin on live TV if Russia also spies on its citizens like the US and for (2) reporting on NSA spying winning the Pulitzer prize.

Meanwhile, venting his reactions to the Pulitzer prize news, Edward Snowden , in a statement recently said: "Today's decision is a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government. We owe it to the efforts of the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation, including the forced destruction of journalistic materials, the inappropriate use of terrorism laws, and so many other means of pressure to get them to stop what the world now recognizes was work of vital public importance."

Snowden  further emphasized that his actions in leaking the documents that formed the basis of the reporting "would have been meaningless without the dedication, passion and skill of these newspapers."

Celebration of New Year 2071 BS in Portland

Rabin Man Shakya
Advisor, Nepa Chhen, Portland, Oregon, USA

Every new year brings new optimism, new hopes, enthusiasm, happiness and cheerfulness and it is no different with this New Year 2071 BS. Well, Nepal is a very tiny Himalayan country, territory-wise, of course, but there are different calendars of different ethnic communities in Nepal.

In economic terms, our country Nepal may be a poverty-stricken country, but in the front of arts and culture, there are reasons for Nepal to be proud of her cultural heritage, ancient arts and architecture. Ethnic diversity is one of the distinctive characteristics of Nepalese nationalism.

Nepalese people, no matter, where they are, like to celebrate Dashain, Tihar, Nepal Sambat and Lhosar festivals. The Bikram Sambat New Year is an official holiday in Nepal, but is not enthusiastically celebrated in Nepal, it is just another  day off for the people, whereas Nepalese across the world celebrate the Bikram Sambat New Year as part of maintaining Nepalese traditions and culture. It is to be noted that different ethnic communities of Nepal celebrate different new years, such as, Nepal Sambat and Lhosar festivals of different communities.

To celebrate the Happy New Year 2071 Bikram Sambat, a pot-luck reception was organized by Nepa Chhen at Neku Singh Memorial Theater, West Coast Hollywood Taekwondo in Portland, Oregon. About 80 people from different walks of life from among the Nepali community attended the reception.

The New Year reception in Portland was a happy confluence of wining and dining as well as lots of music, dance, poetry recitation and other fun (such as bingo game). The live performance on the occasion by a Nepali pop group in Portland was another feather in Nepa Chhen's cap.

The celebration of the New Year 2071 Bikram Sambat in Portland, Oregon by Nepa Chhen is a testimony to the fact that Nepa Chhen serves as a broader platform that accommodates the interests not only of the Newars, but of Nepal as a whole. I have been reiterating that Nepa Chhen should always distance itself from Newar, non-Newar dichotomy, and include everyone like it has been doing.

Actually, Nepa Chhen is the embodiment of Nepalese feelings and emotions. And the pattern of the presence of participants at the New Year's program clearly demonstrates the fact that diversity of the Nepalese ethnic communities in Portland were taken care of.

Media, Social Media Freedom: Turkey in Murky Waters

Rabin Man Shakya

In the months since Turkey has been facing political turbulence, this Muslim-majority nation has found an unlikely foe: the social media. Turkey was without the access to Twitter for 13 days, thanks to the Turkish government ban on it. But the government had to lift its block on access to Twitter Inc recently after the Constitutional Court ruled the ban - imposed by the government in March just ahead of local elections - was unconstitutional.

But Turkey is still without the access to YouTube because the Turkish government had blocked it following an audio recording leaked on YouTube had revealed that top officials in Turkey were plotting to fake an attack against their own country as an excuse to wage war on Syria.

According to the Wall Street Journal (April 4, 2014), "Many Turkish users celebrated Twitter's return by posting pictures lampooning the government for banning it. One widely shared image showed Twitter's blue bird logo being released from a cage cloaked in Turkish colors. But the lifting of the ban may not reverse the damage done to Turkey's international reputation."

No wonder, Turkey ranks 154th among 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) on Feb 12, 2014, just behind war-torn nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Turkey has failed to make progress in its press freedom record. Turkey continues to rank among the "world's biggest prisons for journalists," according to the latest index released by RWB. In Turkey, dozens of journalists have been detained on the pretext of the "fight against terrorism," above all those who cover the Kurdish issue, the RWB report added.

Therefore, the uncertainty in Turkey's journalistic and social media spectrum is far from over, especially when arrogant Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared: "We will not leave this nation at the mercy of YouTube and Facebook. We will take necessary steps in the strongest way."

There is no doubt that the knee-jerk reactions demonstrated by the ruling Turkish officials about the social media is totally inappropriate and unsubstantiated. This is a testimony that Turkey is not serious about the press freedom and freedom of the people to use social media.

US Draws Flak from UN Human Rights Panel over Drone Strikes

Rabin Man Shakya

At a time when the United States and European Union have been chastising and condemning Russia for its 'illegal' takeover of Crimean Peninsula, a United Nations Human Rights Committee has called for more oversight and transparency in the program of targeted drone strikes carried out by the US and recommended the prosecution of all those involved in unlawful killings and torture overseas, particularly, "persons in command positions."

There is no doubt that Russia's takeover of Crimean Peninsula is an outrageous aggression. Russia's President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian nationals in Crimea were in 'jeopardy'. President George Bush before invading Iraq also falsely claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, "In  a report released Thursday, the UN Human Rights Committee, a panel of 18 independent experts from different countries, expressed concern that the US government had not clarified the criteria or legal basis for drone strikes and called for independent oversight of the program. It also drew attention to the limited number of investigations into unlawful killings and the use of torture in overseas operations by the American military and private contractors."(The New York Times, March 28, 2014).

According to the New York Times news story, the panel said the responsibility of those who "provided legal pretexts for manifestly illegal behaviour should also be established" and urged the US government to declassify and release the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the CIA's secret rendition activities.

Well, the history of big fishes swallowing the small ones is not new. Just look at the South Asia only. Sikkim was annexed into India and Tibet was taken over by China. And, yes, look at the US which has been firing deadly missiles into Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and so on.

Therefore, if past precedents are any guide, the big fishes will keep swallowing the small fishes, the big brothers will keep  controlling the lil ones.