FM radio a propaganda tool for parties?

BY THIRA L. BHUSAL

Published in
The Kathmandu Post
KATHMANDU, Dec 2

Radio Dhading went on air the last week of August. A month later, Radio Loktantra began test transmissions in the same district.

It was clearly competition between the two major political parties in the district - Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN(UML). Former minister and senior UML leader Rajendra Pandey is the chairman of Radio Dhading while central leader of the NC Ram Nath Adhikari was instrumental in establishing Radio Loktantra.

Pandey and Adhikari are among scores of leaders of major political parties who are in a race to operate FM radio. Present and former ministers, parliamentarians, former mayors, and central and district-level political party leaders have directly or indirectly led the operation of FM radio in many districts.

Some of them have registered the radio stations in their own name; others have relatives heading the media outlets. In Solukhumbu, a club formed by UML leaders runs Solu FM. Largely in reaction to that, NC central leader Bal Bahadur KC registered Radio Dudhkoshi in the name of his wife, Rina Upreti KC. Central member of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Bikram Pandey, has been running Kalika FM from Chitwan, Parsa, Butwal and other places.

Former UML mayor of Ratnanagar Municipality Narayan Ban has registered Chitwan FM for operation in the same district. Minister for Education and Sports Pradeep Nepal, a senior UML leader, is one of the promoters of Saptakoshi FM in Sunsari district. Likewise, another UML leader, Rishi Raj Lumsali, is chairman of Shuklaphanta FM in Kanchanpur.

NC parliamentarian Hirdaya Ram Thani is an owner of Radio Bheri FM Surkhet while a UML team runs Bulbule FM in the same district. In Dang, a team comprising former home minister and NC leader Khum Bahadur Khadka runs Indreni FM (Palpalko Sathi). Central leader of NC Jeevan Bahadur Shahi runs Radio Kailash in Humla. Mahendra Kumar Katuwal, district secretary of the NC, is all set to start Halesi FM in Diktel. In Janakpur, central UML leader Ram Chandra Jha and UML parliamentarian Yog Narayan Yadav run Radio Janakpur while NC leader and former mayor Brikhesh Chandra Lal owns Janaki FM. The CPN-Maoist, after joining open politics, made quantum leaps in radio broadcasting.

Maoist parliamentarian Narayan Prasad Sharma runs Radio Madhya Paschim in Dang. Jagat Bahadur Pokharel, who was earlier imprisoned for a year on Maoist-related charges, has bought Radio Paschimanchal, Palpa. Likewise, a Maoist team runs Ganatantra FM in Dharan, which was recently inaugurated by Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara. The RPP has not been far behind in jumping into this bandwagon.

Like Bikram Pandey of RPP, some other leaders of the party are also involved in running FM stations. Former chairman of the RPP youth wing, Pradeep Kumar Uday, is managing director of Star FM in the capital while former minister Rajiv Parajuli of RPP-Nepal is chairman of Radio Birgunj in Parsa.

These are some examples of how politicians have made strategic inroads into the media sector, mainly FM radio. According to Raghu Mainali, coordinator of the Radio Support Center , political parties have taken around 40 FM radio stations into their grip. As politically affiliated and motivated FM stations mushroom across the country, they give rise to a pertinent question: What will be the implications of politicians running FM stations?

"This increasing political dominance in the sector is already destroying the spirit of impartial community media," Mainali said. He fears that such FM stations could become propaganda tools that stifle the people's voice.

Vinaya Kasajoo, head of the high-level media commission, said that if such a trend continues, media would become clearly divided into for and against certain political parties. He also fears that in a politically polarized society radio stations could be misused and journalists working for such radio would be in great danger, especially during election time.

Both Kasajoo and Mainali underlined the need for implementing a specific law, rules and regulations and a code of conduct to regulate the sector. "Only 10 percent of the FM stations registered as community radio meet the criteria if strictly followed," Kasajoo said and added that the environment for FM stations is quite chaotic due to absence of requisite laws and regulations.

NC leader Adhikari, who played a key role in establishing Radio Loktantra, concedes that the political divisions seen among radio operators in several districts underscore the risks ahead. "Radio stations may become tools to provoke disputes between communities and groups in the villages. It's high time we paid enough attention to this," he said.

However, Pandey, chairman of Radio Dhading, claims that political leaders' involvement of itself creates no problem if journalists want to run the stations independently as a common platform for all. "They should present things as they are without going for their own interpretation," he added. Easier said than done. It is hard to believe that such FM stations can play the role of neutral media especially when the politicians are engaged in a pitched battle among themselves.