CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Koshi Province Participants Highlight Impact of Misinformation on Politics, Women’s Health, and Education

The fourth phase of the Misinformation Landscape Study discussion program was held on January 12, 2023, in Biratnagar, Koshi Province, organized by CMR-Nepal with the objective of increasing awareness of misinformation in the region.

The program was attended by 30 participants, including representatives of political parties, youth, students, health workers, women’s groups, journalists, and social media influencers.

During the program, participants shared their experiences of encountering misinformation in different sectors of the province. Sagar Thapa, a UML leader from Biratnagar Metropolitan City, highlighted how politics and politicians are being misguided due to waves of misinformation during elections and beyond. He noted that misinformation and conspiracy theories in politics and political agendas can have a negative impact on every aspect of Nepali life and society.

A health official pointed out that women are facing significant problems due to misinformation in the province, particularly regarding gender-biased sex selection during pregnancy. Riju Poudel, a health officer, emphasized the importance of combating such misinformation to prevent such harmful practices.

The discussion also highlighted the role of language in spreading misinformation, with concerns raised about its impact on handicapped people. Additionally, a public educator from Biratnagar in Province 1 recalled how a former minister claimed in a television interview that school textbooks had already reached all schools across the country, but he was still waiting for them in his own school, highlighting the prevalence of misinformation even at the highest levels of government.

Finally, some participants emphasized that not all information on social media is fake, and that positive information can also be shared. However, they also stressed the importance of exercising self-control when sharing information on social media to prevent the spread of misinformation.

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Discussions Held in Madhesh Province to Tackle Misinformation

The Misinformation Landscape Study program continued with its third phase, organized in Janakpurdham, the capital of Madhesh Province on January 10, 2023.

The objective of the discussion was to raise awareness about misinformation in the region and identify ways to counter it.

The program had 25 participants, including representatives from political parties, youth, students, farmers, women’s groups, journalists, and social media influencers.

Misleading narratives that discourage women from participating in the electoral system were identified as a prominent issue in Madhesh Province. A Dalit woman respondent stated that social media is often used to defame and discourage women in politics.

Women politicians also reported facing barriers in obtaining first-past-the-post (FPTP) tickets, with misinformation being circulated that they cannot compete with male or economically well-off candidates.

Another misguided narrative identified in the region is the notion of Madhesis vs Pahadis, which has reportedly arisen due to social media and unregistered portals. However, one participant noted that politicians and opinion makers may be behind its promotion for their electoral gains.

Misunderstanding about the country’s constitution and citizenship laws were also identified as issues in Madhesh Province. According to a government attorney who is from the Madhesi community and works in Janakpur District Court, a few influential opinion makers and writers are responsible for creating the narrative that the constitution is discriminatory towards the Madhesi community.

The attorney suggests that if the constitution had been translated into Maithili, distributed widely among the Madhesi communities, and explained clearly, the violent protests that occurred before and after the adoption of the constitution could have been avoided.

The flow of misinformation was also observed to be high during crisis situations, particularly political movements. Civil society representatives noted that such misinformation is often disseminated based on emotions, religion, and threats. Additionally, student participants identified the issue of sharing information without verifying it in the province.

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Misinformation Landscape Discussion in Pokhara, Gandaki Province

On January 3, 2023, CMR-Nepal conducted the second phase of its Misinformation Landscape Study discussion in Pokhara, Gandaki Province. The program was attended by a diverse group of 30 participants, including Province Assembly members, political party representatives, youth, students, farmers, women’s groups, journalists, and social media influencers.

During the discussion, Province Assembly Member Saraswoti Gurung highlighted the harmful effects of stereotypes and victim-blaming tendencies towards women, Dalits, and minorities, and stressed the need to combat misinformation disguised as freedom of speech.

Bimala Bhandari, the Chairperson of the Federation of Nepali Journalists in Kaski District, emphasized the importance of fact-checking information to tackle misinformation, which she described as becoming a daily diet for mobile users.

Teachers and students in the province shared their experiences with social media and recognized the need to read and verify content before sharing it. A public health official based in Pokhara also noted the negative effects of giving personal advice to patients about medicines, treatment, and doctors, which has led to misinformation in the health sector.

Dharma Datta Paudel, an agro-entrepreneur based in Pokhara, highlighted the prevalence of misinformation about seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and subsidies for farmers. He emphasized the need to dispel such misinformation and provide accurate information to farmers.

Overall, the discussion underscored the urgent need for increased awareness and fact-checking to combat the spread of misinformation in the province.

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Discussion on Misinformation Landscape in Lumbini Province

On January 3, 2023, CMR-Nepal organized a discussion in Butwal, Lumbini Province, to address the issue of misinformation in the region.

The event was attended by 54 people, including Province Assembly members, political party representatives, youth, students, farmers, business community, women’s groups, journalists, and social media influencers. The participants shared their personal experiences with misinformation in various forms of media.

During the discussion, Province Assembly Member Bhoj Prasad Shrestha highlighted the challenges faced by the public in identifying accurate information in the information era.

He emphasized that misinformation and disinformation are especially prevalent during elections and can have negative impacts on civil society and political institutions. He called for action against those involved in disseminating misinformation.

Advocate Deepa Sunar pointed out that the law prohibits the dissemination of misinformation and called for its effective implementation to combat this problem.

Jamuna Nepali, the General Secretary of Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) in Rupandehi District, emphasized the need to tackle misinformation targeting lower castes in the area. She explained that the use of derogatory remarks and their representation in society also constitutes misinformation.

The student and youth participants in the program emphasized that social media is a common platform for the spread of misinformation, often taking the form of parody, humor, and satire. They stressed the need for media literacy at the school and college level to combat this issue.

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Roundtables on ‘Misinformation & Its Impact on Democracy’ held in 7 provinces

CMR-Nepal with support from the International Republican Insitute (IRI) Nepal organized provincial roundtables on ‘Misinformation and Its Impact on Democracy’ in all 7 provinces of Nepal in June 2022.

Nepal had held Local Level Elections on May 13, 2022 during which CMR-Nepal monitored the misinformation on social media and media through it’s regular monitoring system of Nepal Fact Check and also with seven provincial monitors for a month leading to the election date. The objectives of the roundtables were to sensitize stakeholders on misinformation, share monitoring report, share misinformation experience, and discuss on mitigation strategies.

A total of 266 people, 27.5% of them females, representating government (11.7%), parliament (9.4%), civil society (34.6%), and media (44.4%) participated in the roundtables held in Butwal, Pokhara, Surkhet, Dhangadi, Janakpur, Biratnagar and Hetauda from June 11 to 30.

CMR-Nepal’s Tilak Pathak, Bhuwan KC and Umesh Shrestha were resource people during the roundtables that included sessions on introduction to misinformation, its impact on democracy, preliminary report presentation on provincial misinformation and media monitoring during local elections, and ways to counter misinformation.

In the discussions, the representatives from different political parties in the provinces were of the view that misinformation had weakened the pillars of democracy. They said politicians were mostly targeted during the election, and misleading information is abundant in the press and social media.

Even the provincial ministers expressed their concern about misinformation. They pointed out the tendency to spread disinformation in a planned manner to oppose or to favour. The participants were of the view that democracy could only be strengthened if the information integrity is maintained.

Some politicians said that if the media can give information/news to the public in full compliance with the journalist code of conduct and political personalities exchange information in a self-disciplined manner, there will be no need to make a law on control of false information.

Civil society activists were of the opinion that the misinformation was spread by elite groups and high profiles. And general people receive such information in a distorted form. They emphasized the need to take action against those involved in dissemination of disinformation and launch a campaign on media literacy.

Participant journalists were of the opinion that social media posed a significant threat to misinformation. They pointed out that the general people could not differentiate between the information they received from news-media and social media.

Journalists working in the province also pointed out the problem of receiving directives to cover news stories from the central office based on misinformation through social media. They even outline some of the underlying issues in journalism where journalists are guided by the crowd and viral information. The participants in the discussion series were of the common understanding that media literacy could be a means to tackle misinformation.

It emerged that misinformation is already experienced and/or conceived as a big problem at the provincial levels. The participants shared personal experiences with misinformation and generally stressed on the need of action to mitigate misinformation.

There is high level of interest in understanding misinformation among stakeholders as the participants, including concerned ministers as well as MPs and others stressed need to take misinformation orientation further down to the grassroot levels.

Based on suggestions during the roundtables and observations from resource persons, CMR-Nepal identified following action for future:

  1. Take misinformation orientation to stakeholders (especially government, policymakers, media, and journalists) as well as citizens (especially youth and vulnerable population).
  2. Development and wide distribution of resource materials on misinformation.
  3. Programs on media and information literary (MIL) for the public.
  4. Continuous misinformation monitoring at national, provincial and local levels.
  5. Fact-checking initiatives to become wider and reach more population.
  6. Support provincial government to formulate policies to mitigate misinformation.
CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

New book on media in province launched

The Center for Media Research- Nepal launched Pradesh Ma Media (प्रदेशमा मिडिया or Media in Province) in a program organized in Kathmandu on May 2 marking the World Press Freedom Day 2022.

The book provides information about the status and situation of media in seven provinces of Nepal. The data book is based on the secondary sources data from different government and non- government institutions.

The book states that there are 3,120 online news media and 4,789 newspapers enlisted in Press Council Nepal, 880 FM radios and 164 TV stations registered in Department of Information and Communication and 13,077 journalists member of Federation of Nepali Journalists.

Speaking at the event, Professor P Kharel said that integrated data was necessary to understand the state of media at the federal, provincial, and local levels. He said that it was helpful to examine the multilateral dimension of media.

President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Bipul Pokhrel said that data was most important aspect to identify problems and develop plans and strategy. Pokhrel said that the data book could help in the development of policies at the different governing bodies of Nepal.

Pokhrel also outlined the trend where journalists at the local levels have failed to develop critical media content. He accused the local government’s engagement in silencing the press in exchange of advertising.

Jhabindra Bhusal, Chief Administrative Officer of Press Council Nepal said uniformity in the data provided by different government agencies is lacking and emphasized for the need to develop integrated data system. He said that works on digitization of media related data was necessary as Press Council still continues to work in manual system.

Speaking at the occasion, Rewati Sapkota, Communication Registrar of Bagmati Province said that steps has to be taken by the federal government for overall data management and digitization of media related data in Nepal. Sapkota emphasized the need of coordination between the different provinces and federal government with respect to developing an integrated data system.

Chairperson of CMR-Nepal, Trishna Acharya said that book was published with the objective of providing information on integrated data and current status of media in Nepal.

The book at available for free at CMR-Nepal (hard-copy) and in our Research and Publication section to download (soft-copy).

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Trishna Acharya to lead CMR-Nepal

The Annual General Meeting of the Center for Media Research Nepal (CMR-Nepal) on October 31, 2021 unanimously elected the new executive committee with Ms. Trishna Acharya as the chairperson.

She is the first female chairperson of CMR-Nepal and will lead the organization for the next two years.

Ms. Acharya is academic teaching journalism and mass communication at Janata Multiple College in Itahari. Earlier, she was the head of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at Dibya Bhumi Multiple College, Kathmandu.

Ms. Acharya takes over from Mr. Rishikesh Dahal.

The AGM also elected Mr. Deepak Aryal as vice-president, Mr. Navin Khatiwada as secretary, Ms. Shruti Shrestha as treasurer, Mr. Kanchan Adhikari, Mr. Himesh Ratna Bajracharya and Ms. Sunita Karki as Executive Committee members.

Earlier, the AGM also passed an organizational and activities report by Secretary Deepak Aryal and a financial report presented by acting treasurer Shruti Shrestha.

Speaking at the program, Associate Professor at Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Tribhuvan University Dr. Kundan Aryal said that the CMR-Nepal has played a crucial role in the development of media research tradition in Nepal.

Secretary of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Pawan Acharya outlined the need to cooperate between different organizations for the betterment of journalism.

Executive Director of CMR-Nepal Tilak P. Pathak informed about the future projects and activities that are in pipeline. He said that CMR-Nepal would be focusing on need-based programs and activities amid the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on journalists.

The AGM was also attended by the founding chair and former executive director Ujjwal Acharya, former chairperson Bhuwan KC, the editor of Nari monthly Upasana Ghimire, journalism assistant professor Lekhanath Pandey, and members of CMR-Nepal.

CMR-Nepal Admin News & Actitivies

Data-Driven Journalism 2020/21 course launches

Twelve training fellows received the first phase of the Data-Driven Journalism 2020/21 training from December 17 to 22, 2020 in Kathmandu.

The fellows, selected from among 105 applicants, will continue the course in e-learning before they join the final attendance phase in February 2021.

The course is run with support from Interlink Academy, Germany with Claus Hasseling being the principal trainer supported by two CMR-Nepal’s trainers in Kathmandu.

During the first attendance phase, they gained skills in using spreadsheets for calculations and finding trends; various types of data visualizations; tools for acquiring, cleaning, and using data from various data sources.

The training fellows for Data-Driven Journalism 2020/21 are:

  1. Mr. Bishnu Tamang, dekhapadhi.com
  2. Ms. Bijeesha Budhathoki, onlinekhabar.com
  3. Mr. Dinesh Luitel, Annapurna Post
  4. Ms. Srijana Khatri, Swasthyakhabar.com
  5. Mr. Rishikesh Dahal, pahilopost.com
  6. Ms. Muna Kunwar, Naya Patrika
  7. Mr. Rewati Sapkota, Bagmati Province Communication Registrar
  8. Ms. Sunita Lohani, barhakhari.com
  9. Mr. Shreeram Paudel, Tribhuvan University
  10. Ms. Nirmala Ghimire, nepallive.com
  11. Mr. Yadav Humagain, Karobar
  12. Mr. Rabiraj Baral, mediakurakani.com
CMR-Nepal Admin Report

’95 percent Nepali internet users exposed to disinformation’

Most Nepali internet users are exposed to disinformation, a survey by the Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR-Nepal) revealed.

The survey results show that 95.5 percent of internet users receive disinformation, largely through social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Nepal Twitter Users Survey 2019 was conducted by CMR-Nepal in November 2019 and results are based on 542 valid responses.

“The results have some fascinating, and probably not so surprising, results,” says CMR-Nepal chairperson Rishikesh Dahal. “This is very concerning as almost all internet users are exposed to some kind of disinformation.”

“This shows there is an urgent need for the stakeholders to devise an effective and multi-layered plan to help citizens distinguish disinformation from valid information.”

Social media major source of disinformation

A huge majority of the respondents, 95.5 percent, said they have seen disinformation online in the last seven days. Those who had not seen disinformation online in a week were just a handful.

And, for most of Nepalis, the main platform where they believe say saw disinformation is YouTube. A total of 85.6 percent said they saw disinformation on YouTube.

This validates claims that ‘YouTubers’ are not only sensationalizing issues but also feeding misguided and fake information to garner more views, thereby earn more.

Facebook and Twitter are not far behind as more than two-thirds said they also saw disinformation on Facebook and more than half saw disinformation on Twitter.

Only 17 percent saw the disinformation on other websites, many of them stating websites like news websites, and very few, less than half-a-percent saw it in newspapers.

There could be a trust factor playing in as people tend to trust newspapers more and probably believe what they see on newspaper are true.

“In Nepal’s context, many surveys conducted by various organizations in the past decade showed mainstream media as a most trustworthy institution, up to 90 percent public ranking media as a trustworthy institution,” says Tilak Pathak who studies public trust on media.

“It’s not that the media does not make mistake. They do make mistakes, but they also correct errors and apologize to the public, thus keeping in the public trust,” says Pathak.

“Therefore, even when there is disinformation in mainstream media, the general public trust it and may have not identified them as disinformation.”

Disinformation: a problem for society

The respondents were also asked whether disinformation is already a problem or will be a problem for our society.

More than two-third (73.6 percent) Twitter users believe that disinformation is already a problem for our society and politics.

A little more than 12 percent think it will create problems in the future and further 11 percent think it may already have been a problem.

In total, 96.5 percent of them think disinformation is or will be a problem for our society.

Only a very few, 1.6 percent, believe it not a problem now and 1.1 percent believe it will not create a problem in the future. Rest either did not reply to the question or blamed mainstream media for disinformation.

Most Nepali Twitter users (86.5 percent) said they are concerned about fake news, misinformation, and disinformation online. Only five percent said they are not concerned while 8.5 percent were neutral.

Government and media are responsible to tackle disinformation

Most Twitter users put media and government as the most responsible agencies to tackle disinformation online. About 40 percent of all respondents put media on the most responsible side whereas 38 percent put the government on the most responsible side.

About 32 percent considered users as most responsible, whereas 30 percent considered platforms as most responsible.

Those considering civil society as most responsible to tackle disinformation online were 22.5 percent. Some, about 9 percent, considered there are other agencies most responsible. Those also choosing others listed educational institutions, influencers, and fact-checkers.

“Fact-checking initiatives are very important in the infodemic era, but equally important are efforts from government, political parties, media, civil society, and society’s opinion leaders to spread critical thinking and information literacy among the citizens,” said Umesh Shrestha, the editor of NepalFactCheck.org, an initiative of CMR-Nepal.

CMR-Nepal’s former chairman Bhuwan KC says disinformation is set to pose a big threat to Nepal’s democracy as it could not only impact upcoming elections but also public debate and understanding of political and social issues.

“Unless we devise a concrete and effective plan to tackle disinformation without impacting people’s freedom, our democracy could suffer a big blow,” KC says.

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To download the results of the Nepal Twitter Users Survey 2019, click here.