LOGIN DASHBOARD

    News

    2 MIN READ

    Media houses exploit Covid19 crisis to lay off journalists

    The Record, April 22, 2020, Kathmandu

    Media houses exploit Covid19 crisis to lay off journalists

      Share this article

    Many journalists, who have long been overworked and underpaid, have had their salaries scrapped

    (The Record)

    Some of Nepal’s biggest media houses, including Kantipur Media Group and Nepal Republic Media, are using the Covid19 lockdown as an excuse to lay off journalists and non-editorial staff while several others are forcing their staff to work without pay.

    According to the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Nepal Republic Media, the publisher of Nagarik and Republica dailies, has not paid their staff up to six months’ salary.

    “We would like to remind you that the FNJ had recently issued an ultimatum with warnings of protest after [NRM’s] administration failed to address the issue despite our repeated written requests,” FNJ general secretary Ramesh Bista has said in a letter submitted to the Office of the Press Registrar.

    NRM suspended its print editions on 15 April after journalists refused to work without pay. Republica journalists said that they refused to work after the administration informed them about further delays in payment. Nagarik, the media house’s Nepali language publication, is still running after its editors and reporters agreed to continue working without pay.  

    “We refused to work after we felt like the pay problem could go on forever,” a Republica journalist said upon conditions of anonymity.

    KMG, the publisher of Nepal’s largest selling Nepali language daily, Kantipur, has asked a growing number of staff to remain on leave without pay, citing financial duress. According to sources, the media house has told more than four dozen staff, including district reporters who have hardly been earning minimum wages, to stay on unpaid leave. Many of these journalists have continued to work for the publication for the last two decades under very trying circumstances including the 2015 earthquakes. 

    “The publisher is targeting staff that they wanted to fire long ago such as journalists associated with FNJ and labor unions,” a journalist with Kantipur told the Record on conditions of anonymity.

    Some Kantipur journalists have said that they are thinking of going to the labor court. 

    “KMG is doing this with the malicious intention to flush out workers who are unhappy for various reasons including low wages. Citing financial problems to lay people off makes no sense when the publishers are still riding vehicles that are so expensive that you could support workers for years with their price. Moreover, we have hardly seen a month of lockdown. How can they come up with such lame excuses,” said a perturbed Kantipur daily reporter who has been informed to stay on unpaid leave. 

    Revenue details are scarce due to an overall lack of transparent business culture in the country, but the Nepali media have only seen a slight fall in their advertisement revenues so far, although this could get worse amid extensions to the lockdown in coming months, according to media insiders. This makes hundreds of journalists, especially those working with online digital outlets, even more vulnerable to mass layoff. Journalists working with three online media outlets have already reported some delays in payment of salaries.    

    Nepali journalists are undoubtedly on the frontline of the Covid19 crisis. Yet, most have been forced to go into field reporting without masks, gloves or other basic protective gears, and worse, without proper insurance coverage. 

    ::::::::

    Feature image caption: Pioneering photojournalist Usha Tiwari (‘Titikchu’) using her SLR camera on one of the numerous political rallies that were regular features of the days of new democracy in the early 1990s



    author bio photo

    The Record  We are an independent digital publication based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Our stories examine politics, the economy, society, and culture. We look into events both current and past, offering depth, analysis, and perspective. Explore our features, explainers, long reads, multimedia stories, and podcasts. There’s something here for everyone.



    Comments

    Get the best of

    the Record

    Previous Next

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    COVID19

    Explainers

    3 min read

    WHO hasn’t approved any home remedy for COVID-19

    Deepak Adhikari - July 16, 2020

    A message circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger claims that an Indian student from Pondicherry University has found a cure for COVID-19, and the "home remedy" has been approved by World Health Organization (WHO).

    Features

    10 min read

    Once, he destroyed liquor as a social evil. Now, he wants to make wine.

    Nabin Bibhas - February 26, 2021

    Prabes Roka Magar spent 10 years fighting the state but now he’s disillusioned and looking to start a wine factory in Thabang, the heart of the Maoist insurgency.

    Features

    9 min read

    Oli’s keyboard karyakartas

    Roshan Sedhai - January 12, 2021

    The formation of a Cyber Sena to defend Prime Minister Oli’s interests raises the spectre of censorship, trolling, and harassment.

    Features

    5 min read

    The killing of the dead

    Kalpana Jha - June 21, 2020

    The politics of the deaths of individual bodies, social groups, or entire populations has become increasingly normalised

    Features

    8 min read

    They marched against the patriarchy. Then they received rape and death threats.

    Tsering D. Gurung - February 25, 2021

    The attacks on poet Sapana Sanjeevani and leaders of the Women’s March are just one part of a pandemic of online violence against women.

    Opinions

    7 min read

    A looming crisis in farming

    Jagannath Adhikari - September 23, 2020

    Dependence on imported chemical fertilisers has made Nepal’s farmers vulnerable on more than one front

    Perspectives

    5 min read

    Discriminatory citizenship laws continue to disenfranchise Nepalis

    Bimita Gc - April 16, 2021

    Despite constitutional provisions, inaction on supporting laws has meant that individuals are routinely denied citizenship through their mothers.

    Perspectives

    7 min read

    Nepal’s underground economy

    Hari Prasad Shrestha - April 23, 2020

    A shadow economy has been flourishing amid unchecked corruption, money laundering and rampant impunity

    • About
    • Contributors
    • Jobs
    • Contact

    CONNECT WITH US

    © Copyright the Record | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy