The sad state of Nepali papers

There are many things you should care about: babies, football matches, the state of your nation, the tax the government imposes on you, the person who is ruling your country, and the quality of articles newspapers in your country publish. Since I do not have babies (phew!), care for football matches only in the world cup (Cameroon supporter, ’06), am not obsessed about the state of my nation because so many people already are, do not pay taxes except those levied on restaurant meals—they are outrageous and I might organize a tea party against them someday, know the ruler and everything there is to know about him, the only thing I really care about is the quality of articles in English newspapers. Republica and Kathmandu post S.U.C.K.

Actually, I am ashamed to be in the country that has those two so-called ‘national dailies’. For most of the part, they do not care for spelling and grammar, their puns are horrible, and what they want to pass on as ‘news’ is truly despicable. In fact eh only parts of the papers I care for are the cartoons, the international pieces, and Prawin dai’s and Sushma di’s articles. They are quite good. Thankfully, there are some other pretty awesome writers in the op-ed section, so I have never felt the need to burn down those papers yet.

When Republica launched recently, I had hopes and dreams about it. I dreamt it would bring out a new era of great responsible reporting and witty writing. Then I realized—the people in Republica are the same old Kathmandu Post people who left for the new paper. It was kind of nice in the beginning, but issue after issue it’s becoming more like the Kathmandu Post, but with a different layout. Uggh.

I bought one of those glossy Nepali magazines today. It was much cheaper than I had expected, but even the shopkeeper was surprised. She kept checking if the cover price was in IC or some other currency. It does have a very good paper, nice pictures, and okay write-ups. Maybe after I finish with my A-Levels, I could write for one of those. They pay by the word, and pay even for those pieces that are not published. It’s like a goldmine for anyone who writes/wants to write. Je dai wrote for one of them, and he says he enjoyed every moment of it. His writing is actually good though, so I am not sure if I can get in there. Still, it is definitely going to be better than Republica or Kathmandu Post.