Kathmandu, August 16
A day after assuming office, newly-appointed Minister for Information, Ram Karki, launched a light-hearted verbal attack (of sorts) on the media in Nepal.
Karki complained that the media has been giving too much space to what he called ‘negative’ news, of late.
The new minister, speaking at a programme that Federation of Nepalese Journalists had organised in his honour on Tuesday, said he gets disappointed while turning on newspapers and magazines first thing in the morning.
He asked each journalist to write at least one good news in a week. “If that’s impossible, write at least one good news in a month.”
Karki said: For example, singer Shambhu Rai recently distributed fruits and Rs 1,000 each to senior citizens in Dhankuta. I was also with singer Rai at the event. But the news about Rai’s good deed did not get enough space. Imagine what the media would have done if we had made some mistake, knowingly or unknowingly. I am not saying that the media should not criticise the government. On the contrary, the media should play the role of a strong opposition while dealing with the government.
Karki acknowledged that many people remember King Prithvi Narayan Shah, pointing that after King Prithvi, it is King Mahendra, who people remember. Then the minister made it clear that people like him had not joined the government to have their photos hung on the walls, referring to the practice of displaying the photos of prime minister at Singhadurbar, the government secretariat.
We have this practice of hanging photos not only of prime ministers, but also of information ministers. Where will we hang the photos after these walls run out of space?
He said: We have this practice of hanging photos not only of prime ministers, but also of information ministers. Where will we hang the photos after these walls run out of space?
Employees of the ministry had no answer to this open question. All they could do was laugh.
