Pokhara, 1 January | Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Jagdish Kharel, has openly acknowledged significant lapses in the transparency and effectiveness of the government’s public welfare advertisement distribution system. Speaking at an interaction program in Pokhara focused on professionalizing mass communication, Minister Kharel admitted that the annual budget of 300 to 350 million rupees allocated for public welfare advertisements is not reaching its intended recipients. He expressed concern that despite the substantial investment aimed at supporting the media sector, hardworking journalists and institutions consistently producing regular content are often deprived of this state support. The Minister noted that the current distribution is heavily influenced by personal access rather than objective criteria, leading to a situation where the funds are failing to achieve their goal of strengthening professional journalism.
Drawing from his own 25-year career in journalism, including his previous role as an Editor-in-Chief, Minister Kharel described the current media landscape as a “triple threat” of economic, structural, and technological challenges. He pointed out that the rapid expansion of media outlets following the establishment of democracy has ironically created a crisis of sustainability. With nearly 15,000 media entities registered in a country of 30 million people—including 5,000 online portals and 7,000 YouTube channels—the Minister questioned the viability of such a high density of outlets. He observed that the trend of individual journalists operating multiple platforms simultaneously has made professional survival difficult. According to Kharel, the shrinking advertisement market, fueled by a sluggish national economy and low capital expenditure, has left the media industry in a precarious state, as media houses rely primarily on advertising revenue which disappears when industries and businesses struggle.
To address these challenges, Minister Kharel announced that the government is initiating steps to formally recognize and list digital platforms, including online news portals and YouTube channels, as the “New Mainstream Media.” He emphasized that since mobile phones have become the primary medium for news consumption, the state must adapt its policies to include digital journalism while acknowledging the reality that not all 14,000 existing outlets can survive in the long run. The program also featured calls from media advocates, such as the Federation of Nepali Journalists Gandaki President Ramesh Paudel, who urged the government to recognize the media as an industry and establish a dedicated media fund. Minister Kharel concluded by reiterating that restructuring and transformation are the only ways forward for the Nepali media to navigate the current economic and technological shifts.
