Like the political, constitutional, industrial and social structures of the country, the media sector also needs a deep review, introspection and reform. The flood of ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ has further highlighted the sensitive role of credible, responsible and accountable journalism. In this context, Kantipur has launched the ‘Media Bimarsh’ series to give special space to criticism, critique, review and suggestions. We look forward to the participation of stakeholders and experts in an objective and responsible debate.

It was 13 years ago. I used to work as a reporter on television at ‘Kantipur’. At the request of the reporting coordinator, I had prepared a multimedia roadmap for that television. The roadmap, which I prepared in a few days, included how to establish a relationship with readers in the digital revolution, how to communicate news through multimedia, its challenges, necessary steps to be taken and suggestions. However, there was no further discussion or conversation about it. Perhaps because the internet was not as widely available as it is now, the management did not dare. There were viewers on television, while the digital revolution was also taking place. 

13 years later, the revolution in digital media has had a profound impact on all of us – how to extend the reach of journalism to new readers, viewers and listeners? The digital revolution has also forced us to run on this path. We do not want to become dinosaurs right now. However, the competition among media is in clicks and hits.

The current competition is in who can deliver news faster than accurate news. However, the competition should be on how to make journalism credible, sustainable and effective. Journalism should be independent, responsible and factual. It should play the role of a 'watchdog' of those in power by becoming the voice of the voiceless. There are many challenges as well as opportunities in the revolution brought by digital media. This article will focus on this. 

The impact of social media on Nepali movements 

Comparing the people's movement of 20 years ago and the current Gen-G movement, there is a different experience of reporting. The people's movement of 062/63 was for democracy. Seven political parties and the Maoists led the movement against the rule of King Gyanendra Shah and mobilized the movement. In 062/63, the movement was mobilized through rallies, pamphlets, mobile phones and SMS. 19 people died in the 19-day movement. Newspapers, FM radio and television effectively disseminated its news. Many people read and listened to it.

The Gen-G movement was leaderless. Students and youth were active on social media platforms like TikTok, Discord, X, and Instagram. 

Videos against the lavish lifestyles of the children of political party leaders were trending on social media under the name ‘Nepo Baby’. The call for Gen-G’s protest was made through the social media platform Discord. The main information and preparations for the movement also seem to have been made through social media. On the first day, videos of 19 youths dying from bullet wounds to the chest, head, and other parts of the body reached everyone’s hands via mobile phones within a few minutes. 

TikTok, Facebook, Insta, hashtags, live streaming, and online videos dominated this time’s movement. The protesters seemed to be relying on their own mobile and social platforms to promote the movement. 76 people died in this movement. More than 3,000 were injured. More than 2,300 government and private buildings were vandalized. Distrust of the established political leadership could be seen in the movement. 

The 2062/63 people's movement was for democracy. However, the current movement is aimed at corruption, nepotism and the ban on social media. The ban on social media and the incident on Bhadra 21 of Harisiddhi, Lalitpur, when the vehicle of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Planning of Koshi Province, Ram Bahadur Magar, hit and killed an 11-year-old girl. The then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's comment that the incident was normal added to the anger.

During the 2062/63 people's movement, the then royal government branded the media as the 'eighth party'. Even then, while reporting on the 19-day movement, shots were fired, journalists were injured, and protesters were killed. However, press vehicles were allowed to move and come and go without hindrance.

Especially when they went to Kirtipur to collect news, the locals welcomed the journalists with water. Human rights organizations were observing without interruption. But, that is no longer the case. The protesting party should take this seriously. 

When I was in the field myself to report on this Gen-G movement, I could tell from the mobile phones that were set up there – all the citizen journalists were there to disseminate information. They were live streaming from there even before we sent, edited, and disseminated the information to the media. However, the difference was this – there was fact-checked news content in the media, while unverified and unverified content was also going viral. Such misleading and incorrect content included topics ranging from the death of the former Prime Minister's wife to attacks on the current minister. 

Compared to other protests, journalists found it difficult to collect and disseminate news about the Gen-G movement. Six journalists were injured on the first day of the movement. On the first day, Bhadra 23, there was no environment to move around in the New Baneshwor area until 10 pm. When we were live from there, it was seen that the police and protesters clashed repeatedly until late at night. 

On the second day, the press vehicles were not able to move. Some news organizations, including 'Kantipur Media Group', were targeted for arson and vandalism. Vehicles with press stickers were not able to move. Many journalists had to hide the identity cards of the organizations they worked for and report. The protesters were asking unnecessary questions to the journalists deployed in the field. The press should be allowed to move freely to report on any incident. However, this was not the case in some places. On the second night, it was not possible to go home from New Baneshwor. They were at risk of being attacked anywhere, anytime, and in any way. 

It seems that social media has been used to the maximum extent in the current movement. From calling for the movement to electing the Prime Minister, the call that started on the digital platform Discord  led to a change of power within 30 hours through street protests. 

The use and impact of social media, which has become the main medium of the movement, is certain to increase in the upcoming elections. The recent mayoral election in New York, USA, is the latest example of this. Zohram Mamdani's victory as mayor of New York has shown how a digital-first strategy can influence urban politics. Mamdani used social media to connect directly with voters. He used TikTok, Insta, and X.

His videos were informal, multilingual, and focused on everyday life. Many also liked the content he posted on his own personal social media. His way of explaining the rent crisis while running a marathon, talking to shopkeepers, or discussing their problems with neighbors made him known to everyone. The latest digital revolution has made it easier for users to become brands. They have been able to interact directly with readers. 

Journalism Digital Revolution and Challenges

The digital revolution in journalism is the change that the internet and recent technology have brought to the way we create news, communicate news, and consume news. Even a daily newspaper now has to deliver news in a flash. 

In print, news was conveyed only through the use of words and pictures. Now that it has come online, reporting can also be done using videos, photos, data, infographics, 360 videos, and animations along with words. Videos have come in reels. The New York Times recently launched a separate page called ‘Watch’ on its mobile apps. It redesigned its mobile app so that readers can read news easily. In order to increase the number of subscribers, it has been providing content on non-news topics, such as how to cook food, various games, etc. Apart from news, it has been providing content on non-news topics, such as how to cook food, and various games. These contents seem to be successful in increasing the number of subscribers and engaging visitors to the site. 

On the one hand, the number of users on social media is increasing day by day. At the beginning of October, there were 5.66 billion social media users worldwide. This means that more than 2 out of 3 people on earth now use social media every month. 

According to a statistic, there are 17.315 million Facebook users in Nepal, of which 67 percent are in the 18-34 age group. On the other hand, there is also an increase in citizen journalists and content creators on Facebook, X and TikTok. Citizen journalists are ordinary people who collect and report news. They often use their smartphones and the internet to provide information about topics that are ignored by the mainstream media. Content creators prepare content for social media. Fresh and eyewitness accounts of the events they present are important. However, in such a situation, the general reader should not only distinguish between social media and media organizations, but also between content creators and journalists. For example, if a journalist is a content creator, the content creator may not be a journalist. This common knowledge needs to be among the general reader, viewers and listeners. The media is communicating news only after completing certain methods and processes.

Algorithms are now dominating the readers more than news. Algorithms are bringing us the same kind of news. If you look at content on a particular topic on social media, its algorithm starts giving you more content on that topic. 

Algorithms often prioritize content that increases high interaction, so that sensational topics can get more hits than important news. Algorithms can easily spread misinformation. 

Along with this, the revolution brought by AI has also increased the speed of spreading misleading information. Misleading information brought by AI is now considered the biggest challenge. Deepfakes, which are created by mixing human voices and videos, are now challenging. 

The impact of AI 

The impact of AI in journalism is increasing. There is currently an ongoing discussion about how to use it ethically. Various research studies are being conducted. However, not everyone has used AI tools as a substitute for the expertise and judgment of journalists. They emphasize that the use of AI should be subject to human oversight, and established journalistic standards and editing procedures should be followed. We need to be transparent with our readers about this work and the tools used to produce it. If we make significant use of AI-generated content, we need to explain our processes through clear labeling and explanation.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, along with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners, used natural language processing to search through 11.5 million leaked files in the Panama Papers. The new partnership between journalists and machine learning scientists aims to enhance the investigative reporting process in new ways. Many journalists are open to the technology but skeptical of its limitations.

The Washington Post launched an experimental generative AI called Ask the Post AI in November 2024. It has been providing answers to any topic mentioned in news and articles published by the newspaper since 2016. Nepali media can also use such tools. However, more research and practice are needed on this. For this, Nepali media can work on their archives. 

Credibility must be increased

Truth, balance and credibility are the principles of journalism. However, in the current situation, research has shown that readers' trust in the media is decreasing. Instead of the media, readers have started considering social media pages as credible. It is time for all editors, publishers and journalists who take editorial leadership to think about this. This question is not only a question of a news house but of all journalists. This is a scenario not only in Nepal but also around the world. 

The journalism that is currently flourishing in Nepal is limited to three lines or a few lines. News is made by copying Facebook statuses verbatim. This may be fine for breaking stories rather than preparing good and in-depth news. However, information about an event alone is not enough for the reader. We should emphasize the story more than the event. Stories require human empathy, context, expert opinions, field reporting, and not graphs. 

We do not write news based on ‘someone said something’ alone. We need to fact-check ‘what he said’ and ‘the information given’. Generally, if we are writing news about someone, it is the duty of journalism to also include their opinion. It is necessary to get their opinion by phone, email or in person. 

When preparing a news story on human trafficking and its political influence for ‘Hundred Reports’, an organization that does investigative journalism, the editor sent me to interview a person related to the news who was in a jail in a district outside Kathmandu. All media outlets can use this practice. 

Our journalism must remain independent of political parties, their sister organizations, NGOs, donors, and foreign missions. Editorial independence is necessary in an organization above publishers and advertisements. To communicate good news, journalists and editors need continuous training and resources. 

It is not that everyone always likes the media. It should be the voice of the voiceless. The stand taken by the media should be based on facts. 

Recently, Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network (NIMJIN) has been training journalists in investigative journalism and conducting interactions in school classrooms to see how young people understand journalism. Youth and students complain that the media did not give them the content they wanted. 

Their complaints are justified because for the last 20 years, we have been making news about the same leaders. They were in the headlines. They were on the main page. We gave them space. Bit reporters were assigned to each party. However, there was little youth-student-centered reporting. There were no reporters who understood the desires, issues, and preferences of the youth.

Therefore, they stopped reading, watching, and listening to the media and focused on social media. They were attracted to Facebook and TikTok pages and their content rather than mainstream media and started believing in them. What is understood from the words of the youth and students is that the media should be able to connect with them. We should only distribute content by understanding what kind of content they like and how they like to tell that news.