You can’t see it, if you don’t know it

There is a Danish proverb saying: you can’t see it, if you don’t know it, which applies well to the current critical situation in Nepal. Although intensified clashes between the Maoists and the army in the country, the day to day situation many places appear quite normal and peaceful. But if you listen carefully you can hear there is a difference in the soundscape.

Before the king’s royal coup on February 1st, I used to wake up at six o’clock in the morning to the characteristic jingle of Communication Corner’s news program; in a Nepali milieu, an innovative and very popular news service listened to by almost everyone. In my neighbourhood, most people had their first Nepali tea to this program while news from in- and outside the country was presented. Nowadays, my mornings are quieter; the king’s decision only to allow entertainment to be broadcasted, has set on pause this program as well as any independent radio news program for the time being. No one seems to like listening to entertainment, why almost no FM radios in my neighbourhood are playing these days. Compared to before Feb. 1st, it is believed that less than one quarter today listens to FM radio in this region, although this number not is verified.

New communication patterns

The only FM radio news alternative left is the propaganda service from the king’s mouthpiece: Radio Nepal. People with money and eager to listen to other suppliers of news have the option to buy shortwave radio, and BBC Nepali news service has become a very popular source of information for particularly educated people in urban areas. Purchase of shortwave radios has boomed in Nepal in recent weeks and this tendency seems to continue. However, the large majority of Nepalese: farmers, truck drives, shop keepers, housewives and so forth do not seem to utilize this option, and are, in terms of access to radio news, left with Radio Nepal. Television is likewise controlled by the king, and for many Nepalese are newspapers no alternative due to high levels of illiteracy.

The outcome two months after the royal move is that most people are paralysed and you can start to hear the first effects: rumours. Expressing truth can sometimes become very dangerous in times of censorship, why rumours easy can flourish. Some more fantastic and incredible than others prosper all over, and it is difficult for people to get a true and ample picture of their situation, seen in a larger perspective. People with interests to lit fire to an already fragile situation or with the intention to exaggerate stories with postulates, can easily do so as there is little or no possibility to verify, compare or deny stories.

Community radios affected

In the communities, the role to monitor and reflect the flow of rumours and stories was set to be the community radios. After the introduction of democracy in Nepal in 1990, started numbers of free and innovative media, including community radios, which became a popular media to bring the mushrooming social initiatives at a grassroots level into a public discourse.

A small village close to India in the Terai region of Nepal, Manigram, also rode on the wave of free media, and in 1999 a group of innovative people in the village decided to form a cooperative in order to establish their own community radio – Radio Lumbini – named after Lord Buddha’s birthplace nearby. To a large extent, has the radio succeeded to reflect the different social activities in the communities in its programmes and deeds, but the censorship imposed by the king has put constrains on the radio. A usual active news department converted into an almost deserted room sadly witnesses this fact, just as the sale of radio commercials has decreased to one sixth of previous times. It is not unlikely Radio Lumbini has to reduce its staff in near future, as have many other radio stations all over Nepal.

It is difficult to predict for how long the current state of limbo will continue in Nepal and for how long Radio Lumbini can continue as a source only for entertainment. A new entertainment program is scheduled to be launched to adjust their programs to the current situation, radio drama, where entertainment creatively can be woven into social and political issues. Likewise, more interactions with the listeners will provide guidelines and inspiration as to how Radio Lumbini can keep providing services to its audience. But besides these proactive initiatives, Radio Lumbini’s strategy in the current situation is to wait and see, safeguard within the organisation the values of democracy and freedom of speech, and slowly expand their boundary for expression. Time will tell how slowly and for how long.

The article was published in Radio Lumbini's Annual Assembly Magazine.