Following her dreams, she joined Kalika FM where she worked for five years. After completing high school Shraddha came to Kathmandu and joined another FM station while looking for a job in TV.[break]
It was only a month in Kathmandu but as luck would have it, a friend informed her about a vacancy at Kantipur Television (KTV) and she applied immediately. “I was extremely happy on being hired, it was as if all my dreams had come true,” she shares. Shradha currently works as a television journalist at KTV.
The Nepal Government issued licenses to privately owned radio and television station 1992 before which Nepal Television, the state run channel, was operating as the sole Nepali channel since1985. Post the first People’s Movement in 1996, there was a significant change in the press freedom in the country and as a result of which Nepal witnessed a surge in privately owned radio and television stations.
KTV, currently, is one of the leading television channels of the country. After over two years of working for this national channel, Shraddha, though shares the same passion for her job, she has learnt that television isn’t all glamour.
“Television isn’t as glamorous as it seems to the public,” she shares. Most youngsters today believe that the only criteria required for joining the visual media is to be physically attractive along with good articulation.
“From reporting to editing and finally broadcasting, it’s a long journey and a tough one,” says Shraddha adding “most of the time people join television thinking the job is only sitting on a comfortable chair and reading the news, but it is a lot more than that and once they learn the real process they are unable to continue.”
True to what she says, it is quite evident that, for the large number of youngsters joining and wanting to join television, there are an equal number of them leaving the job.
Laxman Datt Pant, communication expert at United Nation and media critic agrees with Shraddha. Pant points out that the ever increasing fascination with television amongst the youth is due to the glamour associated with it. “You see these well groomed, confident youngsters talking of issues you hardly know of, it is but natural to want to be like them,” he says. Also, the fact that people identify a face seen on television lures the youth into joining TV. “The public recognition aspect plays a big role,” says Pant adding “who doesn’t want to be famous?”
As for the instability in the job he blames the lack of management insights in these companies. “How many media companies have a human resource department,” he questions. Secondly, he says “Since most broadcast mediums are profit motivated they tend to bend the ethics of journalism. This attitude will not be a problem for those who join the media only for the glamour but for those with interest in journalism it can be very discouraging.”
Navaraj Subedi, 25 is currently on a Nepal tour “in search of interesting stories to tell.” After working for Avenues Television (ATV) for three years as a program producer and presenter, he decided he “needed a change of scene.” He says telling the same stories and meeting the same people was getting very monotonous for him. Since most of the television channels are operated form the capital many journalists feel the urge to quit or at least take a break in their career after a while.
Pant explains, “Getting bored after doing the same sort of things again and again is a natural human tendency and it’s more so among the youth.”
Another reason for the lure towards television is income generation too. Generally television jobs are believed to be one of the highest paying jobs and many youngsters apply for a job in television solely for this reason and upon their expectations not being met, they decide to quit.
“I know of people who want to join the visual media only because they believe there’s a lot of money,” says Sraddha adding “they realize it’s a fallacy once joining and they discontinue their job.”
Navaraj too confesses the lack of financial security as one of his major issue.
Yet another issue that needs to be tackled with regard to a career in television is the gender imbalance. Meet Avima Uprety, 23, a news anchor at ATV who feels that like in every other aspect of our male dominated society, gender biasness prevails in television business too. She felt it the most during the Maoists enforced Kathmandu blockade in 2009.While her office mates were in the eye of the storm and wrote, edited and uploaded the reports that they had collected, she only read them out. “Those days were one of the saddest ones in my life,” she recalls.
“If you are a female you are assigned to do live coverage of Teej from Pahupatinath but reporting form the Constituent Assembly is considered a male’s job,” she says.
Avima although isn’t completely satisfied with her job, has decided to make television her life long career. “Believe me its not easy, little things like having to stop your cough or sneezes during a live broadcast to having to work on the day of Dashain, this is one nerve wrecking job, but at the end of the day when people recognize you as that girl who comes on TV, it’s all worth it,” she says smiling.
She is currently doing her Masters in Human Rights because she believes it will enhance her reporting skills giving her an insight into issues, she otherwise is unaware of. Pant informs that there are more than 50 undergrad courses available related to the sector of Mass Communication and Journalism in Nepal these days. “This is a positive sign,” he says.
The Ministry of Information and Communications enlists a total of 37 license television channels currently; as of today, there are 19 channels running, most of which have programs conducted by young people. With the increasing competition and the participation of more and more media literate youth we can definitely hope for a change in scene and a positive future despite the hurdles.
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