The 13th Annual General Assembly of the Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR-Nepal) unanimously elected a new Executive Committee for the next two years. Navin Khatiwada will chair the Committee, which comprises Deputy Chair Shruti Shrestha, Secretary Kanchan Adhikari, Treasurer Himesh Ratna Bajracharya, and Members Sunita Karki, Aneeta Shah, and Durga Khanal. The new Board will serve for the term 2026–27.
Khatiwada succeeds Deepak Aryal, under whom he served as Secretary of the previous Executive Committee. A journalist-turned-book publisher, Khatiwada has previously worked with Radio Kantipur, Kantipur Television, and Republica daily.
Addressing members after his election, Chair Khatiwada reflected on how he had benefitted from CMR-Nepal’s research fellowship program, which supported his master’s research in journalism.
He said: “I now see that misinformation is slowly making its way into fiction and other books our children read. We need to strengthen our fight against misinformation, and I want to see CMR-Nepal expand its already strong work in combating it.”
During the AGM, outgoing Chair Aryal formally handed over responsibilities to Khatiwada and extended his best wishes.
Aryal said: “When I was elected four years ago, I emphasized the need to publish semi-academic books. I am happy to share that we published four quality books during my tenure.”
During Aryal’s leadership, CMR-Nepal published two edited anthologies of research articles—Media and Corruption (in Nepali, 2024) and Nepal’s Misinformation Landscapes (2025). It also published Digital Landscape by Dr. Rishikesh Dahal and the Nepali translation of the renowned German textbook Journalism Handbook.
The AGM opened with remarks from Prof. P. Kharel, Nepal’s first journalism professor and an advisor to CMR-Nepal, who expressed his hope for the continued advancement of media, journalism, and media research initiatives.
The AGM also approved new membership applications from Sabita Acharya, Nasana Bajracharya, Arun Karki, and Kiran Dahal. Acharya is a successful podcaster; Bajracharya, formerly with onlinekhabar.com, is a respected journalism trainer; Karki is a pioneering data journalist and trainer; and Dahal is a journalist with ukaalo.com. All four are currently journalism trainers at the CMR-Nepal Journalism Academy.
The 13th AGM was preceded by the 4th Social Audit Program.
Tilak Pathak re-appointed Executive Director
The newly elected Executive Committee, in its first meeting, re-appointed Tilak Pathak as the Executive Director for its term.
CMR-Nepal’s Executive Director’s term is tied with the term of the Executive Committee allowing the incoming committee to choose the head of secretariat.
Pathak has served as the Executive Director since 2018.