Impacts of mass media in youths

Youths and mass communication – both of these subjects can be well explained in relation to the pace of development. Be it the enlightened thinkers or the layman, youth are the agent of change in everyone's perspective. Mass communication likewise is the yardstick to gauge the degree of development. More the numbers and varieties of mass media more the area is likely to be prospered, in other words. Mass communication as such in any way exerts a massive impact in the human life.

Since the entire society and life is influenced by the communication, its impacts on youth cannot be denied either. They are in fact even more influenced since they crave strongly to build affinity with those devises. The thought crisis engendered with age and sentiments itself propels them towards this direction.

Blessed with audio visual techniques, television stands way ahead to every other mass media, the impacts of which might be negative as well as positive. There is no dearth of people who have kindled progress in their life by dint of these. Whereas on the other part we have begun to hear many people saying" television has propelled him out of gear" Now the question to the fore is how to distinguish negative from positive. How to weed out the negative if any and if positive, how not to forfeit it?

Forwarding the questions here need answers as well to be addressed. We but can well dig the answers if we give our thoughts at least once to it. The facts which degrade our physical, mental, personal and social life should be abandoned. And if they exert any positive impact, then of course, they need to be well confessed.

Nowadays, people describing the impacts as negatives refer it as the agents of westernization for which youths are equally blamed along with the media itself. Positive thinkers on the other hand confess it as the way to modernization. It nonetheless seems to be more judicial and objective to define the impacts as directly guided by the notions and views of consumers, in a larger scale. Even from this perspective, the negative upshots have but governed the today's urban society. And of course, this is a matter of vexation to the positive thinkers at par with those wishing the involvement of youths in social welfare.

The youths in fact had to pilot the mass media as per their need and demand of time. To the contrary, these youths, they are evidently suspected to have been stagnated in the paths shown by them. This is of course not good news in any way. To minimize this, on the one hand youth need to mobilize their thoughts and skill ands on the other the programs that prove friendly for the full fledged improvements should be escalated, significantly.

(Thanks to Shruti Kadariya for translation. It is written some 3 years ago.)

Provisions for Press Freedom in Constitutions of South Asian Countries

(For your kind information to those who want to know legal provisions about media in SA constitutions, I have posted it.)

NEPAL

12. Right to Freedom:

(3) Every citizen shall have the following freedoms:

(a) Freedom of opinion and expression;

Provided that,

(1) nothing in sub-clause (a) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of Nepal, or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes, religion or communities, or on any act of defamation, contempt of court or incitement to an offence; or on any act which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.

15. Right Regarding Publication, Broadcasting and Press: (1) No publication and broadcasting or printing of any news items, editorial, article, writings or other readings, audio-visual materials, by any means including electronic publication, broadcasting and press, shall be censored.

Provided that nothing shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty or integrity of Nepal, or which may jeopardise the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities; or on any act of sedition, defamation, contempt of court or incitement to an offence; or on any act which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.

(2) No radio, television, online or any other types of digital or electronic means, press or any other communication media shall be closed, seized or be cancelled the registration because of publishing and broadcasting or printing any material by such means of audio, audio-visual or electronic equipments.

(3) No newspaper, periodical or press shall be closed, seized or be cancelled the registration for printing and publishing any news items, articles, editorial, writings or other reading materials.

(4) No communication means including press, electronic broadcasting and telephone shall be obstructed except in accordance with law.

INDIA

Right to Freedom

19. (1) All citizens shall have the right—

(a) to freedom of speech and expression;

BHUTAN

Article 7

Fundamental Rights

1. All persons shall have the right to life, liberty and security of person and shall not be deprived of such rights except in accordance with the due process of law.

2. A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech, opinion and expression.

3. A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to information.

4. A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. No person shall be compelled to belong to another faith by means of coercion or inducement.

5. There shall be freedom of the press, radio and television and other forms of dissemination of information, including electronic.

BANGALADESH

39. Freedom of thought and conscience, and of speech.

(1) Freedom or thought and conscience is guaranteed.

(2) Subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence-

(a) the right of every citizen of freedom of speech and expression; and freedom of the press, are guaranteed

MALDIVES

Freedom of expression

27. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and the freedom to communicate opinions and expression in a manner that is not contrary to any tenet of Islam.

Freedom of the media

28. Everyone has the right to freedom of the press, and other means of communication, including the right to espouse, disseminate and publish news, information, views and ideas. No person shall be compelled to disclose the source of any information that is espoused, disseminated or published by that person.

Freedom of acquiring and imparting knowledge

29. Everyone has the freedom to acquire and impart knowledge, information and learning.

PAKISTAN

19.

Freedom of speech, etc. Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court,[15][commission of] or incitement to an offence.

AFGANISTAN

Article Thirty- Four
Ch. 2, Art. 13

Freedom of expression is inviolable.

Every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, or illustration or other means, by observing the provisions stated in this Constitution.

Every Afghan has the right to print or publish topics without prior submission to the state authorities in accordance with the law.

Directives related to printing house, radio, television, press, and other mass media, will be regulated by the law.

SRI LANKA

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

10. Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. 

Freedom of Speech, assembly, association, movement, &c.

14. (1) Every citizen is entitled to -

(a) the freedom of speech and expression including publication;

Neutral Condolence

Yes, I have to write something about death of Girija Prasad Koirala (GPK).

Pages of newspapers on Sunday and Monday and programs of all radios and TVs on Saturday and Sunday were filled with appreciation of the late leader. They introduced him as "the greatest leader of the era in Nepal", "the towering freedom fighter", Guardian of the nation" and so on.

However, I personally think that GPK was one of the most criticized politicians in his lifetime. Many people - from laymen to established think-tanks - have blamed him for being autocrat and hypocrite.

It is not unnatural because every personality is blending of strengths and weaknesses. GPK has contributed a lot for establishment of peace, democracy, and liberty in our country. He is mastermind behind today's on-going political transformation. BUT, it is also not lie that he was somehow autocrat. He had many times prioritized his family than his own political party, and the nation. His love for the daughter was uncountable!

Among many critics of Koirala, I found three interesting as well as thoughtful : Gagan Thapa (Youth Leader of Nepali Congress), Khagendra Sangraula (Political writer) and Moda Nath Prasrit (Former UML leader and writer). Thapa, after death of the leader, in a radio interview says, "Person near death forgets selfishness. Despite his previous self-centered actions, Girijababu lying in his deathbed didn't talk about his daughter. Neither he talked about Koirala family, nor about Nepali Congress. He generously suggested Prime Minister and Prachand a to lead the nation. This final act has outweighed all his selfish words and actions. He proved himself a national leader". Sangraula, who hardly appreciates anyone, writes, "His presence on the streets used to be inspiration of courage and strength for us during street movement after Gyanendra's takeover. He was the only tall, credible, and effective guardian able to stare at Gyanendra's Marshall ruling." He further opines, "Statue of Tribhuvan is placed above statues of four martyrs at Sahidgate. That place of respect is now for Girijababu". I, so far, have not got opportunity to know what Prasrit is thinking on him, after his death. If you know something, please share...

Heartfelt condolence to GPK, the great leader as well as the great autocrat.

CWISH to survey on child protection

Diwakar Pyakurel

Kathmandu, 19 March

CWISH, a human-rights organization, is going to conduct a survey on child protection among urban poor women next week.

The organization has planned to conduct 'Study on Child Sexual Abuse: Understanding & Protection Practices among Urban Poor Women' among 200 women from different 10 sites of the Kathmandu valley.  

According to the researcher organization, the outcome of the survey will help assess women's understanding and practice of child protection, service of service-provider agencies and also recommend for effective policies.

In the survey, the women's understanding, and practices on protection of children from abuses will be assessed, according to Writu Bhatta, Program Coordinator of CWISH. The questionnaire of the survey focuses on women's understanding of child sexual abuse (CSA) and protection of children from it. According to Bhatta, 100 of total participants will be already aware of child protection issues, while rests 100 might not be familiar with it. "Therefore it works as a comparative study of their understanding", she says.

For the survey, 10 enumerators are already selected and they are going to begin the research on coming Sunday.

The data collection stage is planned to finish by next Saturday. However, it takes some more time to analyze and present it, the source said.

Get a goal

"A person without a goal is a monkey."

I used to her this saying frequently when I did not know anything about goal, even its literal meaning. That time, I thought it is all lie, because I was not monkey! But when I grew up gradually, I began to realize seriousness and truth contained in this silly statement.

In early teenage, we may have a number of goals, not a single one. We want to be "jack of all". Gradually we begin to realize that our capabilities are limited as the time and space available to our life. We step   by step subtract our goals and reduce it into single one. This seems a logical way for goal setting. (But WAIT – Don't try to reduce even after it is one. Otherwise, it will be zero, and you will be goalless.)

Having too much goal is really a problem. You can not move to east and west at the same time. If you try to do that, you will be pressured by two opposing forces and thus feel trapped and weak in yourself, and both of these two sectors.

However, it does not mean that a successful person is restricted to one profession .In fact, multi-professional people have also achieved great success with great satisfaction all over the world. Ronald Reagan was a successful politician and a popular actor at the same time. In Nepal too, BP Koirala is one of the most acknowledged leader as well as story writer. However, you need to have strength to maintain balance between and among such professions. It will be easier if the sectors, though different in one way, are interconnected and provide a common space. One can be journalist and a littérateur at the same time, because both are games of the words and their intersect-ground exists. One can be teacher and leader simultaneously. But, it will be very hard and required exceptionally great effort for him/her to be an athlete-cum-professor. A very narrow, if any, ground exists there sharing quality of both professions.

The more problematic than multiple goals is not having goal at all. And, it is seen in our society that most early youths are in such a circumstance. "M…………, I want to be …... To tell the truth, I don't have any goal so far……. Suggestions please…………..", most of our friends tend to reply in such ways if they are asked to tell the goal of their life. For it, not only youths are responsible. Our social and cultural values do not guide us to determine and attempt for a specific mission in our life. Rather, it tells "whatever you will meet in your future is already assigned to you before birth". Opposing to general Western belief, our culture thinks that fate guides our life, not our actions. Fatalism leads us beyond goal setting orientation.

So what to do? For success in your life, you need to have a goal.  If you have fixed a goal already, try to make it more specific and attainable and initiate your attempts to achieve it. If you are still in confusion about your future, think immediately and decide your goal. But how to find out appropriate and attainable goal?

Setting the goal

Before discussing about how to set a good goal, lets try to define what a good goal is. Great Poet of Nepali literature opines, "Lets take the goal to fly and touch the moon" (Uddesya ke linu udi chhunu Chandra eka. ) It means that our goal should be quite ambiguous and great. However, modern experts opine that our goal should be as specific and attainable as possible.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defines, "A goal or objective is a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development." And www.mygoals.com has defined a good goal as "For our purposes, a good goal is one that is worthy of individual pursuit. And that is so highly subjective, far be it from us to define what your worthy pursuit is…………. A good Goal plan is one that when followed, offers a reasonably high probability of success, given sufficient time."

Here are some tips to find out your goal:

·         Observe and study your own behaviours. What interests you most?

·         Assess your strengths and weaknesses. What do you have? What can you do? Know that your life is for those strengths, so follow them. If possible, try to minimize those weaknesses. If you can't, let it be.

·         Know yourself and think critically. Don't follow blindly what other people say. However, don't hesitate to listen their suggestions.

·         Don't lose your confidence. Be optimist.

Traditional goal-setting wisdom has taught us that a good goal must be a) written, b) challenging, c) believable, d) specific, e) measureable, and f) have a specific deadline." However, this traditional formula is outdated now because of rapid development of technologies.

Even then, it is better to follow 'SMART' formula for a better goal. SMART stands for:

 a) Specific,

b) Measurable,

c) Attainable,

d) Relevant

e) Time-bound.

'Life Skills: A guide book for teenagers' published by UNICEF Nepal suggests thinking on following, when one goal of self:

a)      What do I need to do to attain my goal?

b)      What might be the challenges on the way?

c)       How can I overcome those challenges?

d)      Who can help me?

Our destination shows the way and speed to approach it. Determination of our goal is a basic for what profession should we choose. On the other hand, "who has to reach farther walks faster" – meaning, the person progresses better and more quickly, who has a greater goal. Hurry up so, and get a goal. 

The business strategy

Please read the joke and enjoy.

Childhood Dreams and Decisions

"I want to be a doctor."........"I love teaching"..........."I am born to fly over the sky"........................

Ask a child, who is before or in early teenage, about his/her goal, you can find differing answers from time to time. Their dreams in this age have been easily influenced by external factors like, time, place, family background, and friend circle. Because of multiple wishes, it will be hard for him/her to achieve anything.However, if children are encouraged to set their goals and dreams in proper way, their desires can be made specific and thus attainable.

Yes, children do not have sufficiently developed intelligences - and they can not take in mind every aspect in decision making. Therefore, they are so unstable in decision making that they can be easily shifted from one to another decision frequently. 

However, early teenagers are DEVELOPING intelligences and decision making skills. And thus they can think of some apparent (if not all) aspects of the issue. On the other hand, the decision they make are products of their psychological and intellectual interest. They are combinations of their heart and mind. They are their inner wishes. But, they might not be goals. They can turn them into goals, if they find proper guidance from adults.

For goal setting of a child and a teenager, we need to identify his/her weaknesses or strength. The goal will be achievable only if it is backed up bye what you have and what can you do, not by what you don't have. One can be a good teacher in future, if s/he is quite societal, interactive and friendly in childhood. It will be joke for one who can't draw a picture of self to dream of being a painter!

If we want our little sisters' and brothers' dreams come true, it is our duty to help them recognize their weaknesses, and strengths.  

Happy Women's Day!

"Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all"

With the theme mentioned above, we are celebrating 100th Women's Day. On the occasion, I want to wish all people (not only women), who want to create equality among men and women. 

Still, we people feel that Women's Day is only for women. Further, some even seek for Men's Day. On the other hand, some women and ultra-feminists blame men have been making 364 days MEN'S and leaving this day for women. I think both are untrue and against equality.

We have to understand clearly that this Women's Day and all feminist privileges such as reservation are in existence and practice because present world is patriarchal. Once it will become equal to both men and women, we don't need Women's Day, neither we have to advocate for reservations. Feminism also will die that day.

Therefore, this is better and more appropriate for both men and women to  act for equality with thinking, speaking and doing, as far as possible. And make possible our dream come true! Lets not celebrate Women's Day as the day to blame men, but as an urge to initiate ourselves for equality between these two sexes. Happy Women's Day once again.

DYF gets new secretariat

 Diwakar Pyakurel

Kathmandu, 6^th March

Dynamic Youth Forum (DYF), a youth club network, has elected new secretariat committee for next year.

Annual workshop of DYF, which affiliates more than 10 community and college-base youth clubs, held on Friday and Saturday at Bal Byawasayi School, Kathmandu has elected 13 member committee chaired by Ganga Rai.

Rai was also the president of DYF for last year also. The workshop elected Prasun Shreshtha of Ex-Students' Club, Bipin Shereshtha of Siddhantasheel Youth Club, Bhawana Bhattarai of Gangahiti Youth Club and Ratnamaya Shreshtha of Chetana Youth Club as Vice-President, Secretary, Joint-Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Similarly, the members of newly elected committee are Kyamuna Khatri (Balkot Youth Club), Inchu Danuwar (Domestic Workers' Forum), Rosika Shahi (Student Awareness Society), Anil Katuwal (Siddhantasheel Youth Club) and Sumitra Lamsal (Chetana Youth Club). The secretariat is yet to elect one member from Students' In Social Reform.

All were elected unanimously except Secretary Shershtha, who defeated Mugendra Gautam of Student Awareness Society in voting.

The two-day workshop reviewed activities and programs of last year by the secretariat and its affiliated clubs. It also developed plans of action for each club, according to newly elected secretary Bipin Shereshtha.

Newly elcted President Ganga Rai committed to improve on DYF expansion in the next year. She also acknowledged all helping hands and also requested for help further.

Dynamic Youth Forum was established three years ago as a youth club. Later it has developed itself as a network of various youth clubs working on similar issues. Now DYF has its clubs in three districts of Kathmandu valley.

Inspirations and Ideals

"Which woman is the best inspiration for you?"
In a program organized to celebrate soon-to-come International Women's Day, I face such question.Surely, it is an interesting question, though I couldn't find the answer easier. The focused participants of the program were some school girls, most of them mentioned their mothers or teachers as their inspirations.
I thought for some minutes: Don't I have inspiration from any woman? Or can't or don't I want to acknowledge them? Answers of both questions are "NO" to me. But, why can't I tell them who is my inspiration?

Still I am zeroing in on it. Now, I have some ideas.
No person (I unconsciously wrote here "man" first, but deleted and placed "person" for inclusive language) is perfect. To be ideal is to be perfect, so no person is ideal for me. As many people opine that human beings are made-up of unique mixture of intelligence and stupidity. When I think of any seemingly ideal person, first I want to mention him/her as an inspiration and ideal. Later, however, I remember the ugly truth of human life that no one is faultless. So, I so far haven't mentioned anyone as my single or specific source of inspiration.
It doesn't mean that I don't have any inspirations. Yes, I do have many, and today's m living is guided and influenced by many people. They all are inspiration for me, but they are not solely inspirations. Their motivation to me is only partial. If I just mention names of 2-3 person, it would be injustice for others, I think so.
However, you might argue that among many, there can be some top priorities . Yes, there can be. My weakness appears here. I haven't (tried to) set my priority-list of top inspirations. I am now thinking to do it. When I'll do, I surely share with you, if you don't hesitate to know it!

But, I am feeling sorry to those schoolgirls, who didn't find my answers. I was supposed to be able to answer it, by I couldn't. I apologize with  you, my lovely sisters!