Is Nepal prepared to safeguard its Sovereign Sky?

Nav Raj Pokharel

Contingent upon multifaceted human features, the journalism sector worldwide has reciprocated with the changes the world has achieved in technology, socioeconomic and sociopolitical stadium.

Development in Journalism sector truly reflected the progress human has achieved so far. Britain was the first country to start television service in 1930s with primitive innovations of the work of Zworykin and his team. Soon the need of electronic form of mass communication was realized a must in many countries in the world. Electronic media furbished itself with new technologies and innovations made in communication sector whenever the new technology was developed.

To disseminate the news whilst it is breaking, developing, or updating, the electronic media stands at the top now. Equipped with advanced technology, the media has claimed its rightful place in the drawing rooms of billions of households across the world and is able to mould the minds of millions with inoculate media effects through innumerable programs, reality shows and interactive programs.

More than newsy techniques of a team of researchers, reporters, copy editors and dexterous editors, the role of technology have become an inevitable essence to the media, within a few decade of its birth. The septuagenarian media has now diversified as new industry that identifies, locates, gathers, processes, localizes, adds value, repackages and sells the information to the consumers. Millions of entrepreneurs worldwide have opted to the media industry as lucrative source of generating both the power and the profit. People believe on media for speaking truth.
The media is powerful because it endeavors to tell the hidden truth of public concerns fearlessly. Information is power in the knowledge-based society today. The more organize the media with secreted information; the more powerful the media is regarded. Holding the information of public interest for some time, the media can hold the change in public. And releasing the vital information, the media can catalyze the pace of change taking shape. Powerful is media, for it can bring about the change at will. Besides its power, the industry has also generated employment to the millions of people worldwide. However, the global recession, profit-earning motive of the private entrepreneurs and neo-political situation embarked on in some countries have forced many journalists to freelancers and displaced many more from the jobs worldwide. Thus, the career in the media is gradually becoming less preferred and saturated. Private entrepreneurs of the media industry have cut down the jobs and stopped investing capital for advanced technologies.
Electronic media in developing countries suffer from frugal management of recourses. Both the government and private media entrepreneurs in developing countries prefer to run the industry with consumer media gadgets like handi-cams for video gathering, adobe premiers and so others for nonlinear editing, cheaper range of video cassettes and video decks for linear editing and use of non professional players for the transmission of terrestrial and satellite video signals. Lack of proper support system has further forced the media houses to run the television shows that are obsolete in present context, and in reciprocation, spawn nominal number of viewers. Unlike the other forms of media, television is the most expressive one. That is why the aphorism, “if you can’t run a television, run a radio” is more popular among media entrepreneurs in developing countries. Cutting down the budget for technology and skilled manpower eventually cuts down the standard of television. No media houses in today’s cutthroat competition can win the confidence of its target audience if they compromise with the quality production of news, views and infotainment programs. Televisions in poor countries suffer from lack of investment.
Technology advancement has surpassed nanotechnology. Very shortly, computers with Pico processor will be available in the market that can process data ten times faster than the Nanoprocessor, hundred times faster than microprocessor. Optical fiber lines connected every country and continent have propelled the flow of information at the speed of light. Broadband connectivity will be available in cell phones even in developing countries. Technology is becoming more dominant in all human activities. And media is no exception. Fast developing technologies employed in communication sectors will inevitably influence ours’ and reshape the understanding of new generation. The media that fails to see the technology-induced changes will collapse within in a couple of year. Every channel is specialized channel these days. The News Beat of traditional media has become a channel now. What the area of agriculture, sports, science, business, health, technology, fashion, religion, entertainment, cartoon and so on used to be the beat in traditional electronic media yesterday have become a separate and specialized channels to attract and influence the target audiences today.

With increasing number of literate and educated people in Nepal and elsewhere for that reason every year, foreign language is no more a barrier to watch the foreign specialized channels proliferated in the sky that have quality and professionalism in its videos and contents.

The competition tomorrow is going to be tougher for both the pubic and private media entrepreneurs. The media that hesitate to embrace the taste of people and technology are sure to lag behind in the race tomorrow.

With faster reach to every corner of the globe, the media that are prepared to embrace the changes ushered by technology will rule over the sky. A sovereign county tomorrow will be the country that has less media encroachment over its sky.

Is Nepal prepared to safeguard its sovereign sky from encroachment of media signals, new technology- induced strategy of hegemony? Therefore, the public and private Media Houses in Nepal should be prepared to face the media challenges the country is going to face within a couple of years. And, to change the future, the media should start changing its present.

2008-10-27 07:26:07