Nepal Now: On the Move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the Move
How Nepal’s future journalists will do things differently
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Welcome to Nepal Now. My name is Marty Logan. I’m back after a long break – thanks for joining me. Today we’re doing something different. On Aug 21st I was at St. Xavier’s College in Kathmandu, talking with journalism students about podcasting. Actually, I tried to keep the talking part to a minimum — our main task was to create this episode that you’re listening to now. The theme of the session was: When you’re a journalist, how will you do journalism differently?
I was impressed with the ideas expressed by the students, who are between 18 and 22 years old, and still have three years of studies to complete. On the positive side, one noted the growing accessibility of global news, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. But others pointed out faults of Nepal’s media, including the lack of female talk show hosts and the concentration of media in the capital, Kathmandu.
They also offered many suggestions for improving the industry. One shared her passion for becoming a voice for the voiceless, another of covering stories about minority communities, and a third would aim to tackle fake news and misinformation. More than one student believes it’s important to divert the current focus of Nepal’s journalism from politics to other aspects of society. Other approaches, like storytelling and citizen journalism, were also offered as new directions.
A quick note to say that the sound is more echo-y than usual today because we recorded in a classroom at the college. I forgot to record the questions during the session so I added them afterwards.
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Thanks as always to Nikunja Nepal for advice and inspiration.
Music: amaretto needs ice ... by urmymuse (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/57996 Ft: Apoxode
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Music by audionautix.com.
Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.
