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Media and the Nepali public - Survey Assessments of Media Capacity, Credibility and Literacy

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Nepal’s media landscape, both in terms of the number of media outlets and media practitioners, has altered enormously in recent years. Citizens’ access to media is also expanding at a breathtaking pace. Print outlets and electronic media channels both continue to multiply. FM radio stations are now broadcasting programs out of remote districts and villages. While this quantitative growth continues, attention has now shifted to the questions of quality and credibility of Nepal's media. Today, citizens, who comprise majority of the users of media, have also become an indispensable component of media policy and research. However, lacking systematic studies integrating policies, professional practices and audience attributes or habits, few generalizations can be made about the actual state of Nepali media today. The field looks cluttered and chaotic. The lack or paucity of empirical data and timely assessments of the media landscape have burdened the work of identifying priorities and the needed interventions in the capacity development of this sector. As a result, existing capacity building efforts such as training programs for journalists remain haphazard, pointing to need for training materials, toolkits, or standardized manuals. Systematic surveys representative of the national sample have rarely been undertaken in the area of media, and a survey of similar scope and approach incorporating the perceptions and views of the general public specifically towards the media remains non existent. The last systematic, comprehensive survey of the public regarding their views on Nepali media, carried out purely in the interest of the public, for example, was undertaken way back in 1993 (IIDS, 1996). Other few surveys of media representative of the national population since then have mostly been proprietorial focused primarily on serving the interests of private companies, institutions, and markets. Mapping the existing media landscape requires not only a review of past research works but also integrating contemporary perspectives on the nature and state of Nepali media, from both the press and the public, two of the key elements of any democracy. Inputs from the stakeholders and citizens themselves promise a more substantive basis to prioritize media development in the country. We believe that this study holds out greater significance and value at this time of enormous professional renewal and change in the midst of a transforming media landscape and transitional national politics. No substantive reference work has been built on any quantitative; disaggregate assessment of a national sample of journalists and general people. Institutionally, MF-N sees a convergence of interest with the project partners in doing the surveys and in capacity enhancement of media professionals.
This report is organized in eight sections. Section I (Introduction) offers a brief introduction to the study report. Section II (The Media Landscape) reviews the media environment of Nepal in historical terms, its current situation, media laws and their implication to media, capacity development, media credibility and media literacy. Section III (Methods) spells out the objectives, the research design, process, data collection, analysis and limitations. Section IV (Journalists' Survey) and Section V (Public Opinion Survey) analyze data along variables such as demographics, professionalism, media credibility, capacity and literacy. Section VI (SMS Poll) analyzes media credibility data obtained in the form of text messages via repondents' mobile phones. Section VIII (Focus Group Discussions) analyzes the qualitative input gleaned from stakeholders. Finally, Section VIII (Conclusions and Recommendations) highlights the key findings, compares perspectives of journalists with the perspectives of the public, and make recommendations for action.
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