Journalism informs people about meat being sold or bought; however, journalism itself is no meat on sale. Journalists supply facts, data and opinion to their audiences, who in turn, have to process out a meaning to use in their decision-making activities. Journalism mostly informs its recipients about everyday conflicts around and among people. While it demonstrates those who quarrel among themselves, it does not become a participant in the quarrel. This is the nature of journalism.
A media entity can enjoy a legal provision of selling its space to advertisers so that both media entrepreneurship as well as journalism can be viable. If one attempts to trivialize journalism into sponsored publicity, with little regard for vital public concerns, this practice no longer gives a true sense of journalism. This is simply what the universal understanding of journalism is.
Journalism, of course, is a service to people like in any other sector. But its unique features must be mastered, internalized and genuinely pursued by those who vow to take it up. Without financial resources, neither social work nor commerce can go on. This truth applies to the field of journalism as well. This is where a moral role of journalism is to be sought the most because of possible vulnerabilities.
Amidst vulnerabilities, a proactive moral role of journalism is sought in Nepal’s peace process. Despite its financial scarcity, Nepal’s national mass media have done their best to inform people on current affairs, definitely, including the ongoing peace process.
Some may differ from this idea of ‘ongoing peace process’ due to their informal belief that peace process has already reached a logical conclusion following the dissolution of the former Maoist rebels’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the formation of the democratically elected government, though the former rebels, elected as the third force, have preferred to remain outside of it. The truth is that the peace process has not reached a logical conclusion yet because Nepal is still governed by the Interim Constitution while the Constituent Assembly has been elected for the second time as the first one failed to complete the mission of producing a new republican and federal constitution as per the mandate of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Interim Constitution.
Besides, Nepal’s peace process stakeholders, supported by the international community, have unanimously accepted the provision of transforming the armed conflict through a new constitution to be drafted by the Constituent Assembly. This transformation of the armed conflict has been envisioned in the CPA as the political, socio-economic and cultural transformation of the Nepali society over-ruled by autocracy and oligarchies so far. At least, so long as the new constitution in the form of primary peacebuilding tool is not declared, it would not be officially reasonable to say that the peace process is over. In addition, all the major peace process stakeholders have time and again reiterated the term ‘transition period’. This also proves that the goal of the peace process will be reached when the new constitution, with a vision and mission to restructure Nepal inclusively, comes into practice. In this context, journalism’s moral role implies that it needs to whole-heartedly work in favor of the state restructuring and inclusive democracy while the whole country is going through a paradigm shift, i.e., from the monolithic monarchial system to a pluralistic republican system.
Various factors may have contributed to media’s inability to provide comprehensive, critical and analytical coverage of the peace agreement components. Mostly, event and incident-based stories have appeared while investigative and substantial information dissemination has become a collective lack. Mindfulness, as the Buddha states, is always necessary to mobilize our mind towards the public good. The moral role of Nepal’s journalism in the ongoing peace process is mainly required in making use of the vital ingredients contained in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement 2006: political, socio-economic and cultural transformation and state restructuring. How substantially have the Nepali media grasped and covered these ingredients of the peace process so as to discourage status quoism? If our mission is to create public opinion for status quoism, will our peace process bring us any opportunity for overall transformation and state restructuring without which the causes and effects of the armed conflict are not addressed? Why are we creating much debate about decorating the skin of the matter?