22 August, Kathmandu. Political parties have been publishing mouthpieces to communicate their ideas, philosophy, policies, etc. It has become a practice for parties to resort to mouthpieces to vigorously promote the work they did when they were in power.
Nepali Congress is ahead of others in the history of mouthpiece publication. The party that makes mouthpiece publication effective is CPN-UML.
The then Maoist Center surpassed other parties in publishing mouthpieces immediately after the war and peace process.
Even the so-called mainstream parties used to publish mouthpieces, even the small party Jan Morcha Nepal did not lag behind in publishing mouthpieces.
In addition to publishing mouthpieces, the parties also launched printed and electronic media that showed favoritism to their party. When the print media was effective, parties propagated their philosophy, policies, and activities through newspapers.
As the audience, sources and readers moved from print media to electronic media, the parties made the mouthpiece electronic media. Audiences and sources that have gone from print to radio and TV have recently been focused on digital media. The number of people who receive information, news, and entertainment through online, social media and other means of communication is increasing.
The mouthpiece, which was once a medium for the parties to disseminate their policies, has become a medium for the government's propaganda for some time now. In the past, the parties that prioritized the publication of mouthpieces have gradually retreated from this task.
The ruling party RSVP, which has four years of party history, has now started publishing its mouthpiece. The party central committee has already decided to publish an independent monthly digital magazine from October. But according to spokesperson Jagdish Kharel, the party is still under consideration whether to publish a digital magazine or not.
Even before the deadline set for the implementation of the said decision, RSVP has started running a daily news bulletin. Rima Biswakarma, MP and former journalist, has been reading the news bulletin late in the evening every day for the past three days. The news has been broadcasted from the Facebook page of RSVP.
RSWP has informed that a separate team has been formed to prepare broadcast material. The RSWP clarified that the news bulletin was broadcast with the aim of informing about the work done by the government in rescue, relief and rehabilitation in the flood-affected areas. Pramod Neupane, head of the organization department, says that the news bulletin was broadcast mainly for the party's work to support the government's work and for the well-wishers of the RSVP.
The first day's news bulletin was viewed 1.3 million times. 12 lakh on the second day and 6 lakh 27 thousand have watched the Sunday evening news bulletin so far.
Compared to the news bulletin of the first day (last Friday), the time period of the second and third day has been reduced. On the first day 5 minutes 25 seconds, on the second day 3 minutes 55 seconds and on the third day 2 minutes 54 seconds, the news has been finished.
Arguments for and against the RSVP started broadcasting daily news bulletin. Why did RASPA adopt this method when the government's decision and activities are broadcasted by the government media with the main priority? There are those who comment that.
There are also those who comment that the path taken by RSVP is suitable for truthful news. Also, there are those who object that the policy maker has become a journalist.
The social network created by the RSVP as a means of broadcasting news has been heated by this topic. On the Facebook page of RSVP, there are people who say that 'the party did a great job' regarding the news bulletin, to those who say that it is ironic that the government does not trust other media.
The number of positive and negative comments about news bulletin broadcasting is the same. The arguments of those who welcome the action of the RASWPA are, 'Such a program was essential to search for the truth and bring the reality to the public at a time when confusion and misinformation are confusing the society.'
Dissatisfied with the fact that the government has created a separate mechanism for its propaganda, social media users have suggested to the RASWP, "This wrong practice should be corrected by the RASWP." To subject the representative of the sovereign people who make a law to such a cheap and propaganda machine is a mockery of the dignity of the legislator. It is even more ironic that the ruling party, which runs a powerful government, distrusts other media and takes this step.
Another social media user suggests that Raswapa has caught the rhythm of UML. You can see it without believing it.
RSWP claims that the government should broadcast a news bulletin for the purpose of informing the general public about the relief, rescue, reconstruction and other activities for the victims of the August 10th flood.
However, other media outlets are still publishing and broadcasting the work done in relief, rescue, reconstruction etc. RSVP did not broadcast news faster than other media. Online, TV and social media content is broadcasted in the news bulletin of RSWP.
When a question was raised about the broadcasting of the news by Raswapa, the head of the organization department, Neupane, gave an answer. Head of Organization Department Neupane claims that RSWP did not run a news bulletin but disseminated information.
Information dissemination is not anyone's 'contract', it is everyone's responsibility. It is the natural religion of the RSWP to defend the government led by the RSWP with facts or to disseminate its work to the masses," Neupane says. "It is also a natural organizational responsibility of the RSWP to inform its members and well-wishers (who are connected to the digital network of the RSWP) in the country and abroad. It was/is not possible to spread the information one by one to all those who are interested and concerned.
Neupane says that the efforts made possible by using their own resources and manpower during the disaster were informed through information. Neupane has clarified that RSVP did not take this step to 'show off' the news broadcaster.
Party spokesperson Jagdish Kharel clarified that the content broadcast for three days was not a news bulletin. Kharel says to Online Khabar, "This is not a news bulletin, it is just a transmission of information." We have broadcasted government functions through notifications. This work does not take much time.
Past practice of word of mouth publishing
Handwritten propaganda materials against the Rana regime were distributed. Nepal Praja Parishad distributed handwritten leaflets on 20th June 1993. Although the propaganda material was not a mouthpiece, it was an anti-Rana propaganda material.
Before the merger of the two Congresses, the Nepali National Congress published 'Yugvani' and the Nepal Democratic Congress published 'Nepal Pukar'. The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) published a manifesto in 2006 through "Fortnightly".
With the end of the Rana regime, the number of mouthpiece publications increased from 2007-2017. After the then King Mahendra banned the party, the party mouthpieces were closed. Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal became official media for the government.
Deshantar, Nepali Patra, Punarjagaran, Tarun, Rashtrapukar etc. were in operation under the patronage of Congress. 'Nepal Pukar', which was published as the mouthpiece of the Congress, was closed after 2054. Although it was decided to republish quarterly from November 2080, it could not be continued.
UML is the party that gives more importance to mouthpiece publication. Those who embraced the communist ideology used to spread the class struggle and the liberation movement as mouthpieces and bulletins during the underground period.
Navayug was continuously promoted by UML as a mouthpiece. Navayug, which started in 2016, was published as a magazine after 2048. Even though Navayug magazine is said to be promoted as a special e-bulletin, no new issue has been published since last December. At one time magazines such as Drishti, Bhabara, and Dizur were popular in the UML.
During the war, Maoists published mouthpieces through war journalists to show their ideas, policies, attacks, resistance against the government, etc. During the war, the mandate was the mouthpiece of the Maoists. In favor of the Maoists, there were weekly magazines such as glorification and public appeals.
To increase their propaganda, Maoists started Radio Janganantantra during the war. After the peace period, the Maoists published newspapers such as Jandisha and Samachar. Magazines like Syntha, Lal Rakshak were also published on the initiative of leaders close to the Maoists. Currently, these magazines are not published. The mouthpieces published by Congress, UML and Maoists in the past through print media are now closed.
The parties who were trying to create an atmosphere in their favor by publishing mouthpieces also misused the government media. After 2047, the parties that came to power have been publishing and broadcasting their own content on government media.
The parties in government used to recruit their workers and promote themselves. In Radio Nepal, event and opinion programs were used to exaggerate the activities of the ruling party by recruiting party workers.
Lilu Dumre is working in the political bureau of Online Khabar.
