Nepali Media: A Brief History
Although the institutional history of Nepali press could be traced back to 1851 when Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana installed a printing press (the Giddhe Press), or in 1901 when the state-owned newspaper, the Gorkhapatra, was launched, its practical history begins in the 1950s, after the fall of Ranas, when several pioneering journalists took to publishing newspapers in a transitional democracy. Thirty years after the royal takeover of 1960 represented a repressive press system. During this time, press enjoyed limited rights and lobbied, to some extent, for a multiparty democracy that could guarantee press freedom. After the Restoration of democracy in 1990 a drastic change came in the Nepali Media particularly in the private sector. Liberal provision and guarantee of press freedom enshrined in the constitution opened up avenues for the private sector to involve on media sector. The 1990's democracy yielded by the People's Movement also established rights and freedom of the press. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1990) formally guaranteed the freedom of press and publication.
The 1990 Constitution of Nepal says-No news/articles shall be censored, provided that nothing shall prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom, or which may jeopardize 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 an any act which may be contrary to decent public behavior or morality. No press shall be closed or seized for printing any news item, article or other reading material. The registration of newspaper or periodicals shall not be cancelled merely for publishing any news item, article or other reading material (Article 13). And, according to Article 16 of the Constitution, every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance: provided that nothing in this Article shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
During Maoist Insurgency: and King's Direct Rule:Unfortunately, however, journalism and civil liberties were subjected to victim not only to the government machinery, but also to the violent Maoist insurgency forces in the recent years.During the first State of Emergency (26 Nov 2001-29 Aug 2002), eight journalists were assassinated, six of them by the security forces and two by the rebels. And more than 150 were arrested and tortured in various ways. Nepali journalism suffered a lot while it waged a massive struggle against the King's direct rule. The Nepali press suffered worst form of suppression from the state and also did not remain aloof from the threats, obstructions and violence from the insurgents. The government enforced various restrictive and controversial draconian ordinances that curbed press freedom as the people's right to information despite the fact that the nation's constitution guaranteed full press freedom.Private sector press was subjected to acute censorship and FM radio stations have been totally banned to broadcast news and current affair programs. Newspapers were asked by the government not to print any material on security operation or Maoist insurgency without scrutinizing the facts from the Army. Most newspapers outside Kathmandu have suffered intimidation or arbitrary suspension at the order of District authorities. Nearly 50 percent of local publications were closed down owing to unfavorable conditions created by the State. Due to prohibition on news and news-based programs over private radio stations and strict censorship even on TV channels, several media managements either closed or curtailed programs and relieved staff members. As a result, many journalists have become joblessPeople were completely deprived from right to information and other civil rights such as right to free movement inside the country and freedom of expression and of opinion.Following the February 1 Royal takeover and the imposition of State of Emergency for the second time since 2001, journalists repeatedly faced arbitrary arrests, detention and interrogation. Many journalists were re-arrested even after the Court’s order for their release.
After Restoration of Democracy in 2006:
Despite a historic year for Nepali politics, the country's media faced significant harassment and obstruction; however it contributed enough in bringing the country back to democratic path being a part of the 2006 April Uprising. Ever following the restoration of democracy and signing up of Comprehensive Peace Accord between the Nepali government and CPN (Maoist), a rebel force, Nepali media and media workers did not witness a sigh of relief and respite from the brutal attacks and blatant violation of press freedom perpetrated by the state, CPN (Maoist) including other agitating parties. During the period from April 25, 2006 to April 12, 2008 after the democracy, altogether 676 journalists and media workers (266 in 2064 BS and 410 in 2065) experienced various incidents of press freedom violation. Likewise, three journalists were killed during this period.
The promulgation of Right to Information Act-2064, Working Journalist Act-2064 (Second Amendment) and constitutional guarantee of freedom of press and expression in the Interim Constitution-2064 have been the remarkable achievements yielded in Nepali press.
During the Terai movement launched by Terai-based various agitating parties and groups, Nepali media witnessed another setback as it was manipulated and numerous incidents of attack and atrocity in the series of political confrontation and clash erupted in the Tarai region In short, there is still need for Nepali Media to wage struggle for their professional and physical safety as well as to establish freedom of press and of expression in Nepal.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Federation of Nepalese Journalist and its provision in constitution
FNJ History:"INFORMATION, SECURITY AND FREEDOM FOR PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM"
Federation of Nepali Journalists : Past and Present
Federation of Nepali Journalists is an umbrella organization that represents all professional journalists in Nepal. It was established on March 29, 1956 (Chaitra 16, 2012 BS) with the name 'Nepal Journalist Association'. Its Founder President was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai who was the then Editor of 'Nepal Pukar Weekly'.
If we trace further back, another organization with a similar name was formed under the Chairmanship of Satyanarayan Shrestha way back in Jestha 2008. This was nothing but the result of the newly-developed democratic environment after the establishment of democracy in 1951 (2007 BS), when professional journalism in Nepal was still in its nascent stage. But this association did not get any continuity. Therefore, March 29, 1956 (Chaitra 16, 2012) is regarded as the official date of FNJ's inception. No activity, on the part of the association formed in 2008 BS, can be seen from 2008 to 2012 BS. This testifies its inactiveness. So, the historical account here concerns with the association that was born in 1956. 2012 BS.
Immediately after its establishment, FNJ started organizing different programs throughout the kingdom in order to consolidate and promote and professional journalism strengthen the foundation of embryonic democracy in Nepal. It was conscious of the grave role it had to play for the upliftment of Nepalese society.
A team from the central committee was sent to visit Europe and USSR in 2013 BS. This was the first ever official visit by Nepalese journalists to foreign countries. And this was very fruitful. This ushered in a new age in the history of Nepalese journalism by initiating close ties at the international level. Towards the end of 2013 BS, Dataram Sharma was elected as the second president of FNJ, who continued in office for two successive years. And then Mr Gopal Das Shrestha were elected as a president of 2015 BC. for two years.
Nepalese Journalism faced a brief threat in Poush 2017 (1961) when democracy was usurped. Many active journalists were arrested and put behind the bars. Among the high profile ones were Fatte Bahadur Singh, Tarini Prasad Koirala, Ramesh Nath Pande and Gopal Prasad Bhatta. Reputed dailies of those days were shuttred. Thus, Nepalese Journalism came to a standstill at this point and became severely handicapped. It had to pass through a considerably long and dark phase before the atmos phere for publications could be restored.
Fatte Bahadur Singh was elected as the president of FNJ in 2018 B.S. Then followed Pashupati Dev Pandey in 2023, Manindra Raj Shrestha in 2025 and Gopal Das Shrestha in 2027. In the mean time, a more liberal Press Policy was declared by the government and an important progress was made by establishing the Press Council. FNJ had played the role of a catalyst in accomplishing these historic feats. Then, Gokarna Raj Pande in 2030 BS, Indu Kant Sharma in 2033 BS and Manju Ratna Shakya in 2035 BS were elected for the coveted post of FNJ's President. During this period, though FNJ played a constructive role in establishing the Press Council and contributed a great deal to the promotion of journalism in association with different press commissions, it could take no concrete steps to maintain press freedom , which was curbed after the abolition of multi-party system in 2017 BS.
A score of events during this dark phase clearly manifest the sycophancy of the Federation in the subsequent years. The leadership became more a follower of the autocratic rulers than a critic. This betrayed the feelings and aspirations of many serious media people in a sense, FNJ failed to represent the journalists at this point. Especially, after 2036 BS FNJ was badly affected by holiganism (Mandale Prabritti) Thus, the people who were in favor of professional and disciplined journalism gradually drifted away from the federation. The federation did not seem active during the period though it was headed by Nirmal Kumar Aryal in 2039 BS and again by Manju Ratna Shakya in 2042 BS. However, some senior journalists made relentless effort to identify FNJ as the apex media organisation in Nepal. In this course, a national level convention of journalists was held in 2043 at Thapathali branch of Rotaray Club. But, unfortunately, the police interfered with the convention. Some participants were severely wounded and some others were arrested. Neverthless, this congregation declared the two preceding leaderships of FNJ to be illegitimate and reorganised it under the Presidentship of Mani Raj Upadhyaya. It decided to lead the then ongoing struggle for press freedom. Two -third of the professional journalists were in favour of the FNJ headed by Mr. Upadhyaya-- they had strong support and belief in his leadership. Still, the rulers of those days did not recognize the essence of the Federation. Gobind Biyogi succeeded Mr. Upadhyaya in 2045 and continued upto Chaitra 8, 2049. FNJ extended its strong support to the popular mass movement in 2046 BS, (1990) since it (March, 1993) thought the restoration of democracy was an inevitable precondition for the freedom of the press.
FNJ did all it could to give a momentum to the popular movement. It not only strongly defied the attacks on press but also actively diversified the movement. It also played a remarkable role in drafting the present constitution.
In the sixteenth General Assembly of the Federation, held on Chaitra 9, 2049 BS, (March, 1993) in Biratnagar, Hom Nath Dahal was elected the President. He was succeeded by Harihar Birahi Baishakh 16, 2052 BS (May, 1996) in the seventeenth General Assembly held in Jhapa.
TRANSITION INTO A FEDERATION After the restoration of democracy, journalism field in Nepal found a completely new dimension. Accordingly its responsibility also increased along with the changed political situation.
Journalists could now organize themselves on the basis of subjects, principles etc. They were now endowed with an open environment. Different media and journalism related organisations began to spawn. With this, a necessity was felt for bringing all these organisations and media personnel under a single national umbrella. The number of journalists too had increased manifold after the restoration of democracy. District level branches of the Association (it was yet to evolve formally as a federation) were extensively established throughout the country. Later, it was thought that the time had finally come to develop the then Nepal Journalists Association into a Federation. The Central Committee introduced the concept of a Federation into the constitution of the Association. The Association was officially announced the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) on Ashad 11, 2053 (June, 1996) at the presence of some of its founder members. All these were accomplished during the presidentship of Harihar Birahi. He is, therefore, regarded as the first President of the FNJ as it in recogniged today. changed Federation.
The annual meeting held in Dharan on Jestha 28 and 29 of 2053 BS endorsed the constitution of the Federation. Kishore Nepal was elected as the President of FNJ in its 18th General Assembly held on Bhadra 30, 2054 BS. Likewise, the 19th General Assembly held on 9 Mangshir 2056 BS had elected Suresh Acharya as the President. The author had the privilege of succeeding Mr Acharya after the 20th general Assembly held in May, 2002.
FNJ now has a 45 year old history and over the years it has passed through many ups and downs. But now it has evolved as a strong organization. So much so that its member branches have reached 60 and over 3500 journalists are now actively associated with it. It has already built its own office building in The Media Village established in joint cooperation with the Press Council. The process of building the offices of its district branches is on. This proves that FNJ is no more a commonplace NGO.
OBJECTIVES OF FNJ
i. To organize and unite the journalists working in different fields of mass media throughout the country, and provide them with professional leadership.
ii. To represent the interests of journalists and to preserve their rights.
iii. To develop responsible, accountable and disciplined journalism and thereby respect the principles of press liberty.
iv. To maintain friendly relationship with national and international media organizations and exchange representatives with them.
v. To conduct study, investigation, seminars, trainings, symposium etc. on subjects related to journalism.vi. To take other necessary steps for the betterment of journalism in Nepal.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
After the Nepal Journalists Association adopted the nature of a Federation during Birahi's tenure, its structure too was naturally changed. The federation's constitution 2053 (First amendment, 2057) clearly describes its structure. According to it, President, General secretary, Secretary, Treasurer and 8 members can be elected by all the council members of the General Assembly of the Federation. There is also the provision of electing 3 members from associate members. Five vice-presidents are appointed in accordance with the development zone. The Representative of Central Council of the respective development zones are to elect the vice President. The constitution also lays down the provision of appointing 4 central members by the elected working committee.Along with this, there are 3 categories of members in the FNJ. regular members, associate members and honorary members. Except the honorary members others can vote or be the nominees in the respective process.The branches with general and associate membership can elect the representatives of central council at 5:1 or 20 percent ratio. These are the people who are allowed to take part in the central General Assembly of the Federation.
THE MAIN FUNCTION OF FNJ
FNJalways aspires to accomplish the objectives determined by its constitution. These are the basis of its functions. The foremost function of FNJ is to preserve and promote the freedom of the press in Nepal and to foster journalism as a whole. It also carries out different programs to promote professional journalism and protect the rights and privilleges of all occupational journalists. Maintaining the ethics of journalism is yet another grave responsibility of FNJ. It also conducts trainings in order to enhance the journalistic expertise of media personnel so that they can walk along with the international standard. Other than these, FNJ has always been pioneering in the formulation and implementation of policies related to mass media.
It has already been mentioned that the Federation of Nepali Journalists is the umbrella organization with representation of all sorts of journalists in Nepal. It is worth mentioning that FNJ is not only concerned with journalists, it is also equally attentive to the problems faced the concerned entrepreneurs. It also plays a role in sorting out the disputes in transmission, publicity distribution system, advertisement and so forth.
In a nutshell, FNJ plays the role of a Press Police by ensuring the well-being of the press personnel and also of the press entrpreneurs, by formulating press policies and upholding the principle of an independent press.
It is a matter of pride for the Nepali journalists that nowhere in the whole world exists such an organization that incorporates media men from every background of media-print, electronic and cyber. The development of such an organization that represents all the segments of media on a professional level is certainly a remarkable achievement.
Everyone concerned should be extremely sensitive toward making FNJ a common association for protecting the privileges of all Nepalese media personnel. This attitude will ensure and diversify the existence of FNJ forever.The office of FNJ is situated at Sanchar Gram, Tilganga, Which is near Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.
Main Agenda of FNJ:
Protection of Freedom of press and the freedom expression.
Implementation of working Journalists law
Formation of Right to Information Act
Implementation of code of conduct
Protection of journalists
Formation of new mass communication policy
Mobilization of press for social development
Formation of national Advertisement Policy and Program
Skill development of Journalists
Development of Media village
National policy for the smooth movement and distribution of the press materials and production
Interim constitution guarantees press freedom
The Interim Constitution 2007 of Nepal, under its preamble, has expressed commitment to "full freedom of press, independent of judiciary and concept of rule of law."
The Interim Constitution guarantees freedom of expression to every citizen under Fundamental Rights in Part 3. Article 12 (3) (a) freedom of opinion and expressionb. freedom to assemble peaceable and without armsc. freedom to form political party or organizationsd. freedom to form unions and associationsProvided that, 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 sovereignity and intgrity 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 behavior or morality.
Similarly, the Interim Constitution under Article 15 has guaranteed the following publication, broadcasting and press rights:
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, braodcasting 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 sovereignity 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 bradcasting or printing any material by such mens 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.
27. Right to Information: (1) Every citizen shall have the right to demand or obtain information on any matters of his/her own or of public importance.
Provided that nothing shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
28. Right to privacy: (1) Except on the circumstance as provided by law, the privacy of the person, residence, property, document, statistics, correspondence and character of anyone is inviolable.
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(Previous Constitution)The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 provides for the following fundamental rights and press freedom:-
PART 3
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
11. Right to Equality:
(1) All citizens shall be equal before the law. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.
(2) No discrimination shall be made against any citizen in the application of general laws on grounds of religion (dharma), race (varya), sex (linga), caste (jât), tribe (jâti) or ideological conviction (vaicârik) or any of these.
(3) The State shall not discriminate among citizens on grounds of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe, or ideological conviction or any of these.
Provided that special provisions may be made by law for the protection and advancement of the interests of women, children, the aged or those who are physically or mentally incapacitated or those who belong to a class which is economically, socially or educationally backward.
(4) No person shall, on the basis of caste, be discriminated against as untouchable, be denied access to any public place, or be deprived of the use of public utilities. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable by law.
(5) No discrimination in regard to remuneration shall be made between men and women for the same work.
12. Right to Freedom:
(1) No person shall be deprived of his personal liberty save in accordance with law, and no law shall be made which provides for capital punishment.
(2) All citizens shall have the following freedoms:
(a) freedom of opinion and expression;
(b) freedom to assemble peaceably and without arms;
(c) freedom to form unions and associations;
(d) freedom to move throughout the Kingdom and reside in any part thereof; and
(e) freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, industry, or trade.
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 the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize 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) nothing in sub-clause (b) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty, integrity or law and order situation of the Kingdom of Nepal;
(3) nothing in sub-clause (c) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities, which may instigate violence, or which may be contrary to public morality;
(4) nothing in sub-clause (d) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws which are in the interest of the general public, or which are made to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities;
(5) nothing in sub-clause (e) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose restriction on any act which may be contrary to public health or morality, to confer on the State the exclusive right to undertake specified industries, businesses or services; or to impose any condition or qualification for carrying on any industry, trade, profession or occupation.
13. Press and Publication Right:
(1) No news item, article or any other reading material shall be censored.
Provided that nothing shall prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize 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 against which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.
(2) No press shall be closed or seized for printing any news item, article or other reading material.
(3) The registration of a newspaper or periodical shall not be canceled merely for publishing any news item, article or other reading material.
14. Right Regarding Criminal Justice:
(1) No person shall be punished for an act which was not punishable by law when the act was committed, nor shall any person be subjected to a punishment greater than that prescribed by the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence.
(2) No person shall be prosecuted or punished for the same offence in a court of law more than once.
(3) No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
(4) No person who is detained during investigation or for trial or for any other reason shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, nor shall be given any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Any person so treated shall be compensated in a manner as determined by law.
(5) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest, nor shall be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.
Explanation: For the purpose of this clause, the words "legal practitioner" shall mean any person who is authorised by law to represent any person in any court.
(6) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before a judicial authority within a period of twenty-four hours after such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to such authority, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period except on the order of such authority.
(7) Nothing in clauses (5) and (6) shall apply to a citizen of an enemy state, and nothing in clause (6) shall apply to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.
15. Right against Preventive Detention:
(1) No person shall be held under preventive detention unless there is a sufficient ground of existence of an immediate threat to the sovereignty, integrity or law and order situation of the Kingdom of Nepal.
(2) Any person held under preventive detention shall, if his detention was contrary to law or in bad faith, have the right to be compensated in a manner as prescribed by law.
16. Right to Information:
Every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance;
Provided that nothing in this Article shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
17. Right to Property:
(1) All citizens shall, subject to the existing laws, have the right to acquire, own, sell and otherwise dispose of, property.
(2) The State shall not, except in the public interest, requisition, acquire or create any encumbrance on, the property of any person.
(3) The basis of compensation and procedure for giving compensation for any property requisitioned, acquired or encumbered by the State for in the public interest, shall be as prescribed by law.
18. Cultural and Educational Right:
(1) Each community residing within the Kingdom of Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script and culture.
(2) Each community shall have the right to operate schools up to the primary level in its own mother tongue for imparting education to its children.
19. Right to Religion:
(1) Every person shall have the freedom to profess and practise his own religion as handed down to him from ancient times having due regard to traditional practices;
provided that no person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to another.[3]
(2) Every religious denomination shall have the right to maintain its independent existence and for this purpose to manage and protect its religious places and trusts.
20. Right against Exploitation:
(1) Traffic in human beings, slavery, serfdom or forced labour in any form is prohibited. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable by law;
Provided that nothing herein shall be a bar to providing by law for compulsory service for public purposes.
(2) No minor shall be employed in work in any factory or mine, or be engaged in any other hazardous work.
21. Right against Exile:
No citizen shall be exiled.
22. Right to Privacy:
Except as provided by law, the privacy of the person, house, property, document, correspondence or information of anyone is inviolable.
23. Right to Constitutional Remedy:
The right to proceed in the manner set forth in Article 88 for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed.
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JOURNALIST CODE OF CONDUCT2003 (2060)
Preamble :
Whereas, it is expedient to revise the existing code of conduct by covering all means of mass media and adjusting timely international practices and norms, with a basic objective of safegaurding the freedoms and rights gauranteed by the Consitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 2047 (1990) and making the people well-informed, and making the mass media and the journalists more responsive towards the nation and the society, and avoiding misuses of the same, by protecting the freedom of press by means of making the mass media and the journalists responsible and professional for the development of healthy journalism;
Now, therefore, with the consent of the Nepal Journalist Federation, as well, this Journalist Code of Conduct, 2060 (2003) has been framed and enforced, pursuant to Section 7(b) of the Press Council Act.
1. Title, Commencement and Extension:
(1) This Code of Conduct may be cited as the "Journalist Code of Conduct, 2060 (2003)".
(2) This Code of Conduct shall commence forthwith.
(3) This Code of Conduct shall apply to all journalists and communication media working in the Kingdom of Nepal.
2. Unless the subject or the context otherwise requires, in this Code of Conduct,-
(a) "Journalist" means a media worker related with the profession of journalism such as a chief editor, editor, member of editorial board, correspondent, columnist, photo journalist, press cameraman, cartoonist, program producer and runner, costume, scene and language editor associated with activities such as collection, production, edition and transmission of news materials through communication media of any nature like printing, electronic and on-line means.
(b) "media" includes newspapers, radio and television broadcasts and internet news and thoughtfull on-line services operated in the Kingdom of Nepal.
(c) "Council" means the Press Council-Nepal.
3. The journalist and media shall perform the following duties:
(1) Protection and promotion of press freedom: Being freedom of opinion and expression a basic right of a citizen, to always remain firm, vigilant and alert for its protection and promotion.
(2) Recognition of human rights and international relations: To enhance protection and promotion of democracy, justice, equality peace and international collaboration and fraternity among friendly nations, while at the same time recognizing rights, interests, principles, norms and practices guaranteed by human rights related international instruments.
(3) Safeguard and enforcement of the right to information: To always remain active and dedicated to safeguard the right of the people to be well-informed.
(4) Imparting true and factual informaiton: To impart true, factual, impartial as well as balanced information in order to achive the goal of professional journalism.
(5) Editorial freedom: A journalist should have responsibility and accountability for production and impartation of the materials published-broadcast in the media.
(6) Recognition of right to privacy : To recognize personal and professional secrecy except in cases where it causes adverse impact on the public interest.
(7) High professional practice : To exercise high professional practice in order to carry out responsibility, accountability and reliability, being dedicated to the basic norms and principles of journalism.
(8) Decent behavement: To remain alert for moral, courteous and decent working style and language, while at the same time recognizing social decency in professional practice.
(9) Readiness to rectify errors: Upon information of any error or mistake in publication and broadcast, to rectify such error or mistake as soon as possible, and to give proper place for a refusal or dinial or response, accompanied by evidence, and publish-broadcast the same in clear language.
(10) Social responsibility: Social responsibility shall be to render special assistance through flow of information and opinions in the upliftment and development of the disabled, helpless, incapacitated, children, women and backward class, sector, nationalities and minor communities.
(11) Mutual relationship among journalists and media should be professional, healthy, tempered, courteous and harmonious.
4. The journalist and media shall not carry out the following acts:
(1) Not to undermine national integrity: Not to publish and broadcast any news and opinion that may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the multiethnic, multilingual and multireligious Kingdom of Nepal or jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities or contain act of defamation or contempt of court or be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.
(2) Not to adversely affect social structure : Not to publish and broadcast such deformed and provocative materials as may cause adverse impacts on the social structure and be contrary to professional dignity.
(3) Not to disclose secret source of news: To quote source in presenting any news for the authenticity and reliability of the news; but protecting such secret source being a duty of the journalist, to keep secret the name and identification of such source, except in cases of permission by the source.
(4) Not to use for fulfillment of personal interest: Not to use any information materials, obtained for publication-broadcast of the same, for fulfillment of personal interest.
(5) Not to flow information in a discriminatory manner: Not to flow or impart any news and opinion in such a manner as to discriminate on such grounds as of race, sex, religion, region, language and color.
(6) Not to flow information in a manner to make victim suffer further pain: Not to publish broadcast any news and opinion through the use of language, picture, figure and scene, as well, in such a manner as as to make the victim suffer further pain.
(7) Not to publish name, address and identification of a victim: Not to publish broadcast any news, picture and scene in such a manner as a disclose the name, address and identification of a victim with regard to a sexual crime or social disregard or any hateful event or context.
(8) Not to encourage violence, terrorism and crime: Not to present any news, opinion, picture and scene in a manner to encourage disruption, violence, terrorism and crime and to exaggerate such activity.
(9) Not to publish and broadcast naked scene and picture in a manner to spread out hatred and provocation: Not to publish any hurt, naked and hatred provoking scene and picture in a manner to spread out nakedness and provocation and not to be contextual.
(10) Not to mention name of the person not related with event: In publishing-broadcasting any news related with any event, not to present such news in a manner to undermine dignity or defame character of a relative or intimate person not related with the event, by attaching the name of such relative or person to such event.
(11) Not to publish unfactual news: Not to distort the fact, confuse for undue benefit, and publish a factless remark as news.
(12) Not to present advertisement as news: Neither to present an advertisement as news nor to refute news by way of advertisement; and a communication media shall not generally refute any news published and broadcast in another media.
(13) Not to use without quoting source: In using any news materials communicated by any news agency or media, not to publish or broadcast the same without quoting such original source.
5. Complaint and complaint procedures:
1) A victim may file a complaint with the council against any journalist and media within the time-limit referred to in sub-section (4), accompanied by factual evidence showing violation of the conducts mentioned in this Code of Conduct. If such a complaint is filed and the Council thinks, upon holding general inquiry, that any act has been done in violation of this Code of Conduct, the Council shall send summons, accompanied by a copy of the complaint, to the accused party, requiring that party to make presence along with evidence, if any, showing innocence, generally within seven days or within such time-limit before seven days as the Council may think fit.
2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), if any journalist or media publishes and broadcasts any news in a maner to cause negative impacts directly or indirectly on the public interest and concern. The Council may on its own initiate action against such journalist or media, pursuant to this Code of Conduct.
3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Council may, after general inquiry as to the complaint and before sending the summons to the accused party, give the concerned journalist or media such necessary direction as to immediately refute the news or beg a pardon or send reasonable reply.
4) If a complaint on publication and broadcast of any news by a journalist and media in violation of this Code of Conduct is not filed within fifteen days of publication and broadcast of such news, such a complain shall not lie. If there is any resonable reason for failing to file a complaint within the time-limit, the Council may entertain a complaint at any time.
5) After a written response has been filed with the Council by the accused party under the above mentioned sub-sections or despite that no response is filed within the specified time-limit, the council shall make decision on that matter within twenty days in general.
6) Prior to making a decision pursuant to sub-section (5), the Council may, if it thinks necessary, summon presence of both the complainant and the accused party and hold discussions between them.
7) If the complainant and the accused party reach a compromise and make a joint request in writing for compromise, the Council may execute compromise and settle the dispute.
6. Provision on Decision and Enforcement
If any party is held to have committed a conduct prohibited by clause (b) of Section 3 of this Code of Conduct, the Council shall make decision and take action as follows in a respective manner:-
1) The Council shall order the concerned media to publish and broadcast the decision made on the complaint in such form, place and time as may be specified by the Council.
2) If the accused party does not carry out the order given under sub-section (1), the Council shall make recommendation to the concerned body to suspend the press pass of such party if that party holds such pass.
3) If the accused party does not act under sub-section (1) even after suspension of the press pass pursuant to sub-section (2), the distribution verification committee of the Council shall remove the media of such party from evaluation process.
4) If the party does not observe the decision referred to in sub-section (1) even after removing from the evaluation process pursuant to sub-section (3) above, not assistance shall be provided to such party from the welfare fund of the Council.
5) If the party does not carry out the act directed under sub-section (1) even after cutting out assistance from the welfare fund pursuant to sub-section (4), the Council shall make recommendation to the concerned body to suspend the facilities to be provided by His Majesty's Government, for a certain period.
Provided, however, that the Council may, if it thinks necessary, take both actions referred to in sub-sections (4) and (5) at the same time.
6) The Council shall express regret over the journalist and media failing to carry out any decision of the Council and publish boardcast this matter publicly.
7. Repeal :
The Journalist Code of Conduct, 2055 is hereby repealed.
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The National Broadcasting Act, 1993
Date of Royal Assent and Publication2050.2.27.4 (Wednesday, 9 June 1993)
The Act Amending Some Nepal Acts Relating to Communications, 2057 (2000)
2057.10.18 (Jan. 31, 2001)
Act number 6 of the year 2049 (1993)
An Act made to provide for national broadcasting
Preamble:
Whereas, in order to protect and promote the freedom of expression and the right to be informed guaranteed to the people by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 2047 (1990), and to raise public awareness also through the language of the nation as well as national languages by creating an environment of equality, mutual good faith, and harmony amongst all the tribes, languages, classes, regions and religious denominations by imparting economic, social and cultural activities of the country to the people through the broadcasting system, it is expedient to make legal provisions on the broadcasting , without any obstruction, of the flow of information in order that the general public get informed about impartial as well as authentic news and information taking place at the national and international level, by making the broadcasting media reliable, effective and strong, with the use of modern technology available in the field of information and communications;
Now, therefore, be it enacted by Parliament in the twenty-second year of the reign of His Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.
1. Short title and commencement :
(1) This Act may be cited as the "National Broadcasting Act, 2049 (1993)"
(2) This Act shall come into force forthwith.
2. Definitions : Unless the subject or the context otherwise requires, in this Act, -
(a) "Broadcasting " means the radio communication service to be so sent through signal, sound, image, picture or similar other way that the general public may get information.
(b) "Program" means any kind of program to be broadcast through audio or audio-visual means.
(c) "Frequency modulation broadcasting system" means a broadcasting made for the radio or television technology, by a broadcasting institution through the prescribed channel by using the frequency modulation broadcasting system.
(d) "License" means the broadcasting license to be issued pursuant to Section 6 for broadcasting any program or the license to be issued for broadcasting by establishing the frequency modulation broadcasting system.
(e) "Broadcasting institution" means a person or body corporate having obtained the license to broadcast programs under this Act.
(f) "Satellite" means the satellite placed in the space in order to obtain various broadcasting materials or send them elsewhere.
(g) "Cable" means the technology by which broadcasting materials are sent to various customers, members or consumers by wire from any certain broadcasting station.
(h) "Earth station" means a station to be established in the earth surface in order to exchange broadcasting programs through satellite.
(i) "Broadcaster" means a person reading out a program to be broadcast by a broadcasting institution, and this term also includes a person who composes and edits such program.
(j) "Prescribed” or “as prescribed" means prescribed or as prescribed in the Rules framed under this Act.
3. Supervision and operation of programs relating to broadcasting: His Majesty's Government shall have the powers to formulate policies on supervision and operation of programs relating to broadcasting within the Kingdom of Nepal.
4. Prohibition on broadcasting without license: No one shall broadcast any program without obtaining the license pursuant to this Act.
5. Application for license: Any person or body corporate who intends to broadcast any program by way of satellite, cable or other means of communication or to broadcast any didactic, entertaining and informative programs by establishing the frequency modulation broadcasting system in any place within the Kingdom of Nepal shall submit to His Majesty's Government an application in such format and accompanied by such fee as prescribed.
6. Issuance of license: Upon receipt of an application referred to in Section 5, His Majesty's Government may, holding necessary inquiry into the application, issue the license, in the prescribed format, for broadcasting a program, subject to observance of the prescribed terms.
7. Powers to prevent broadcasting: Taking into account of the nation and national interest, His Majesty's Government may, by a notification published in the Nepal Gazette, prevent any program pertaining to any particular subject, event or area from being broadcast by a broadcasting institution, for a period not exceeding six months at a time.
8. Power to cancel license of broadcasting institution: (1) If any broadcasting institution broadcasts any program in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder, His Majesty's Government may cancel the license obtained by such broadcasting institution.
(2) Prior to cancellation of the license under sub-section (1), His Majesty's Government shall give a reasonable opportunity to such broadcasting institution to defend itself.
9. Special provisions on establishment of earth station: (1) Any person or corporate body, or a native and foreign person or corporate body in joint investment, who intends to broadcast any program by establishing the earth station relating to satellite and cable television, has to submit an application to His Majesty's Government for permission.
(2) Upon receipt of an application referred to in sub-section (1), His Majesty's Government may, if, following necessary inquiry into that application, it deems reasonable to give permission to the applicant to broadcast any program by establishing the earth station relating to satellite and cable television, issue permission, as prescribed, to broadcast the prescribed programs, subject to observance of the prescribed terms.
(3) Other provisions on the establishment of the earth station and broadcasting shall be as prescribed.
10. Broadcasting and distribution fee: If a broadcasting institution intends to distribute and operate any program, the fees to be paid to His Majesty's Government or the prescribed organization and the fees to be collected from the persons or bodies using such program shall be as prescribed.
11. Production and broadcasting of programs: While producing and broadcasting any program, a broadcasting institution has to give priority to the following matters:-
(a) Development-oriented programs such as agriculture, education, industry, commerce, science and technology, health, family planning and forest and environment protection,
(b) Such kinds of programs as to enhance equality, mutual good faith and harmony amongst all the tribes, languages, classes, areas and religious denominations,
(c) Programs that contribute to the upliftment of various languages and cultures of Nepal,
(d) Programs on such subjects as may enhance the national interest and national unity,
(e) Programs on such subjects as may raise national consciousness and moral awareness,
(f) Such kinds of programs as to raise social consciousness and develop democratic values, norms and culture in the people,
(g) Programs on such subjects as may not cause adverse impact on the relations between Nepal and neighboring countries as well as friendly countries,
(h) Programs relating to the foreign policy pursued by the country,
(i) Programs promoting folk songs and folk cultures,
(j) Important activities happening or taking place at the national and international level.
12. Participation of private sector in production and broadcasting of program: In addition to the public sector, the private sector may also be got involved so as to make any programs fair, simple, efficient and effective.
13. Provision of time to foreign broadcasting institution or communication media: If any foreign broadcasting institutions or communication media intend to get any program broadcast by a broadcasting institution, time may be provided to broadcast any didactic, entertaining and informative programs, based on the prescribed standards, without causing any adverse impact on the national interest.
14. Provision of time to broadcast advertisement: If any person intends to get any advertisement on publicity of any matter broadcast to the general public, time may be provided for broadcasting that advertisement, by collecting the prescribed fee from such person, institution or body.
Provided, however, that the broadcasting of advertisement of substances, such as smoking and liquors, causing harm to the public health shall be discouraged.
15. Prohibition on broadcasting of advertisement: (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 14, no one shall broadcast, or cause to be broadcast, any advertisement of the following matters:-
(a) Matters adversely affecting political parties,
(b) Materials of vulgar type,
(c) Materials with object to oust the elected government by using violent force;
(d) Matters of such a nature as to create unusual fear and terror in the general public,
(e) Matters contrary to the non-aligned foreign policy of Nepal,
(f) Materials misinterpreting disregarding, insulting and devaluing any tribe, language, religion and culture.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), nothing contained in this Section shall be deemed to prevent His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Election Commission, from allowing any political party to give information about matters such as manifesto, program or philosophy of such party, at the time of election.
16. Functions, duties and powers of broadcaster: The functions, duties and powers of the broadcaster shall be as follows: -
(a) To have necessary investigation as to the truth of the information, news, articles or programs received by him and broadcast, or cause to broadcast, them at the specified time,
(b) To edit and broadcast, or cause to be edited and broadcast, the news by being politically neutral,
(c) Not to broadcast, nor cause to be broadcast, such kinds of programs as may undermine public security, moral and social decency,
(d) Not to broadcast, nor cause to be broadcast, any matters recklessly or negligently,
(e) Even if broadcasting is to be made about any debatable matter, to broadcast it by analyzing it from all viewpoints to the extent possible, and without twisting the state of affairs,
(f) Not to collect and broadcast false and illusive news,
(g) To carry out such other functions as specified by the broadcasting institution.
17. Punishment: (1) If any person broadcasts, or causes to be broadcast, any program without obtaining the license of broadcasting institution pursuant to Section 6 or without obtaining permission pursuant to Section 9, such person shall be punished, by order of the prescribed authority, with a fine of a sum equal to the license and permission letter fee and the charge as referred to in Section 10, by recovering such fee and charge ten [1] or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or with both punishments.
(2) If any person broadcasts, or causes to be broadcast, any program in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder or commits, or causes to be committed, any act in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder, the prescribed authority may punish such broadcasting institution, broadcaster or other related person with a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or with both punishments.
18. Appeal: Any person who is not satisfied with any order or punished made or imposed by His Majesty's Government or the prescribed authority may file an appeal to the concerned Appellate Court within thirty-five days.
19. Security of broadcasting institution: If His Majesty's Government thinks that there is a likelihood of any kind of loss or damage to a broadcasting institution because of a riot or unrest, it may arrange for security by sending security force to that place for such period as it may think necessary.
20. Delegation of powers: His Majesty's Government may delegate any or all of the powers conferred on it by this Act to any authority or body.
21. Powers to frame Rules: His Majesty's Government may frame necessary Rules in order to implement the objectives of this Act.
22. Prevalence of prevailing law: The matters contained in this Act shall be governed by this Act, and the other matters shall be governed by the prevailing law.
23. Saving: Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Act, a body corporate fully or partly owned by His Majesty's Government established prior to the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have obtained the license of broadcasting institution under this Act.
[1] Amended by the Act Amending Some Nepal Acts Relating to Communications, 2057 (2000).
Federation of Nepali Journalists : Past and Present
Federation of Nepali Journalists is an umbrella organization that represents all professional journalists in Nepal. It was established on March 29, 1956 (Chaitra 16, 2012 BS) with the name 'Nepal Journalist Association'. Its Founder President was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai who was the then Editor of 'Nepal Pukar Weekly'.
If we trace further back, another organization with a similar name was formed under the Chairmanship of Satyanarayan Shrestha way back in Jestha 2008. This was nothing but the result of the newly-developed democratic environment after the establishment of democracy in 1951 (2007 BS), when professional journalism in Nepal was still in its nascent stage. But this association did not get any continuity. Therefore, March 29, 1956 (Chaitra 16, 2012) is regarded as the official date of FNJ's inception. No activity, on the part of the association formed in 2008 BS, can be seen from 2008 to 2012 BS. This testifies its inactiveness. So, the historical account here concerns with the association that was born in 1956. 2012 BS.
Immediately after its establishment, FNJ started organizing different programs throughout the kingdom in order to consolidate and promote and professional journalism strengthen the foundation of embryonic democracy in Nepal. It was conscious of the grave role it had to play for the upliftment of Nepalese society.
A team from the central committee was sent to visit Europe and USSR in 2013 BS. This was the first ever official visit by Nepalese journalists to foreign countries. And this was very fruitful. This ushered in a new age in the history of Nepalese journalism by initiating close ties at the international level. Towards the end of 2013 BS, Dataram Sharma was elected as the second president of FNJ, who continued in office for two successive years. And then Mr Gopal Das Shrestha were elected as a president of 2015 BC. for two years.
Nepalese Journalism faced a brief threat in Poush 2017 (1961) when democracy was usurped. Many active journalists were arrested and put behind the bars. Among the high profile ones were Fatte Bahadur Singh, Tarini Prasad Koirala, Ramesh Nath Pande and Gopal Prasad Bhatta. Reputed dailies of those days were shuttred. Thus, Nepalese Journalism came to a standstill at this point and became severely handicapped. It had to pass through a considerably long and dark phase before the atmos phere for publications could be restored.
Fatte Bahadur Singh was elected as the president of FNJ in 2018 B.S. Then followed Pashupati Dev Pandey in 2023, Manindra Raj Shrestha in 2025 and Gopal Das Shrestha in 2027. In the mean time, a more liberal Press Policy was declared by the government and an important progress was made by establishing the Press Council. FNJ had played the role of a catalyst in accomplishing these historic feats. Then, Gokarna Raj Pande in 2030 BS, Indu Kant Sharma in 2033 BS and Manju Ratna Shakya in 2035 BS were elected for the coveted post of FNJ's President. During this period, though FNJ played a constructive role in establishing the Press Council and contributed a great deal to the promotion of journalism in association with different press commissions, it could take no concrete steps to maintain press freedom , which was curbed after the abolition of multi-party system in 2017 BS.
A score of events during this dark phase clearly manifest the sycophancy of the Federation in the subsequent years. The leadership became more a follower of the autocratic rulers than a critic. This betrayed the feelings and aspirations of many serious media people in a sense, FNJ failed to represent the journalists at this point. Especially, after 2036 BS FNJ was badly affected by holiganism (Mandale Prabritti) Thus, the people who were in favor of professional and disciplined journalism gradually drifted away from the federation. The federation did not seem active during the period though it was headed by Nirmal Kumar Aryal in 2039 BS and again by Manju Ratna Shakya in 2042 BS. However, some senior journalists made relentless effort to identify FNJ as the apex media organisation in Nepal. In this course, a national level convention of journalists was held in 2043 at Thapathali branch of Rotaray Club. But, unfortunately, the police interfered with the convention. Some participants were severely wounded and some others were arrested. Neverthless, this congregation declared the two preceding leaderships of FNJ to be illegitimate and reorganised it under the Presidentship of Mani Raj Upadhyaya. It decided to lead the then ongoing struggle for press freedom. Two -third of the professional journalists were in favour of the FNJ headed by Mr. Upadhyaya-- they had strong support and belief in his leadership. Still, the rulers of those days did not recognize the essence of the Federation. Gobind Biyogi succeeded Mr. Upadhyaya in 2045 and continued upto Chaitra 8, 2049. FNJ extended its strong support to the popular mass movement in 2046 BS, (1990) since it (March, 1993) thought the restoration of democracy was an inevitable precondition for the freedom of the press.
FNJ did all it could to give a momentum to the popular movement. It not only strongly defied the attacks on press but also actively diversified the movement. It also played a remarkable role in drafting the present constitution.
In the sixteenth General Assembly of the Federation, held on Chaitra 9, 2049 BS, (March, 1993) in Biratnagar, Hom Nath Dahal was elected the President. He was succeeded by Harihar Birahi Baishakh 16, 2052 BS (May, 1996) in the seventeenth General Assembly held in Jhapa.
TRANSITION INTO A FEDERATION After the restoration of democracy, journalism field in Nepal found a completely new dimension. Accordingly its responsibility also increased along with the changed political situation.
Journalists could now organize themselves on the basis of subjects, principles etc. They were now endowed with an open environment. Different media and journalism related organisations began to spawn. With this, a necessity was felt for bringing all these organisations and media personnel under a single national umbrella. The number of journalists too had increased manifold after the restoration of democracy. District level branches of the Association (it was yet to evolve formally as a federation) were extensively established throughout the country. Later, it was thought that the time had finally come to develop the then Nepal Journalists Association into a Federation. The Central Committee introduced the concept of a Federation into the constitution of the Association. The Association was officially announced the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) on Ashad 11, 2053 (June, 1996) at the presence of some of its founder members. All these were accomplished during the presidentship of Harihar Birahi. He is, therefore, regarded as the first President of the FNJ as it in recogniged today. changed Federation.
The annual meeting held in Dharan on Jestha 28 and 29 of 2053 BS endorsed the constitution of the Federation. Kishore Nepal was elected as the President of FNJ in its 18th General Assembly held on Bhadra 30, 2054 BS. Likewise, the 19th General Assembly held on 9 Mangshir 2056 BS had elected Suresh Acharya as the President. The author had the privilege of succeeding Mr Acharya after the 20th general Assembly held in May, 2002.
FNJ now has a 45 year old history and over the years it has passed through many ups and downs. But now it has evolved as a strong organization. So much so that its member branches have reached 60 and over 3500 journalists are now actively associated with it. It has already built its own office building in The Media Village established in joint cooperation with the Press Council. The process of building the offices of its district branches is on. This proves that FNJ is no more a commonplace NGO.
OBJECTIVES OF FNJ
i. To organize and unite the journalists working in different fields of mass media throughout the country, and provide them with professional leadership.
ii. To represent the interests of journalists and to preserve their rights.
iii. To develop responsible, accountable and disciplined journalism and thereby respect the principles of press liberty.
iv. To maintain friendly relationship with national and international media organizations and exchange representatives with them.
v. To conduct study, investigation, seminars, trainings, symposium etc. on subjects related to journalism.vi. To take other necessary steps for the betterment of journalism in Nepal.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
After the Nepal Journalists Association adopted the nature of a Federation during Birahi's tenure, its structure too was naturally changed. The federation's constitution 2053 (First amendment, 2057) clearly describes its structure. According to it, President, General secretary, Secretary, Treasurer and 8 members can be elected by all the council members of the General Assembly of the Federation. There is also the provision of electing 3 members from associate members. Five vice-presidents are appointed in accordance with the development zone. The Representative of Central Council of the respective development zones are to elect the vice President. The constitution also lays down the provision of appointing 4 central members by the elected working committee.Along with this, there are 3 categories of members in the FNJ. regular members, associate members and honorary members. Except the honorary members others can vote or be the nominees in the respective process.The branches with general and associate membership can elect the representatives of central council at 5:1 or 20 percent ratio. These are the people who are allowed to take part in the central General Assembly of the Federation.
THE MAIN FUNCTION OF FNJ
FNJalways aspires to accomplish the objectives determined by its constitution. These are the basis of its functions. The foremost function of FNJ is to preserve and promote the freedom of the press in Nepal and to foster journalism as a whole. It also carries out different programs to promote professional journalism and protect the rights and privilleges of all occupational journalists. Maintaining the ethics of journalism is yet another grave responsibility of FNJ. It also conducts trainings in order to enhance the journalistic expertise of media personnel so that they can walk along with the international standard. Other than these, FNJ has always been pioneering in the formulation and implementation of policies related to mass media.
It has already been mentioned that the Federation of Nepali Journalists is the umbrella organization with representation of all sorts of journalists in Nepal. It is worth mentioning that FNJ is not only concerned with journalists, it is also equally attentive to the problems faced the concerned entrepreneurs. It also plays a role in sorting out the disputes in transmission, publicity distribution system, advertisement and so forth.
In a nutshell, FNJ plays the role of a Press Police by ensuring the well-being of the press personnel and also of the press entrpreneurs, by formulating press policies and upholding the principle of an independent press.
It is a matter of pride for the Nepali journalists that nowhere in the whole world exists such an organization that incorporates media men from every background of media-print, electronic and cyber. The development of such an organization that represents all the segments of media on a professional level is certainly a remarkable achievement.
Everyone concerned should be extremely sensitive toward making FNJ a common association for protecting the privileges of all Nepalese media personnel. This attitude will ensure and diversify the existence of FNJ forever.The office of FNJ is situated at Sanchar Gram, Tilganga, Which is near Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.
Main Agenda of FNJ:
Protection of Freedom of press and the freedom expression.
Implementation of working Journalists law
Formation of Right to Information Act
Implementation of code of conduct
Protection of journalists
Formation of new mass communication policy
Mobilization of press for social development
Formation of national Advertisement Policy and Program
Skill development of Journalists
Development of Media village
National policy for the smooth movement and distribution of the press materials and production
Interim constitution guarantees press freedom
The Interim Constitution 2007 of Nepal, under its preamble, has expressed commitment to "full freedom of press, independent of judiciary and concept of rule of law."
The Interim Constitution guarantees freedom of expression to every citizen under Fundamental Rights in Part 3. Article 12 (3) (a) freedom of opinion and expressionb. freedom to assemble peaceable and without armsc. freedom to form political party or organizationsd. freedom to form unions and associationsProvided that, 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 sovereignity and intgrity 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 behavior or morality.
Similarly, the Interim Constitution under Article 15 has guaranteed the following publication, broadcasting and press rights:
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, braodcasting 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 sovereignity 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 bradcasting or printing any material by such mens 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.
27. Right to Information: (1) Every citizen shall have the right to demand or obtain information on any matters of his/her own or of public importance.
Provided that nothing shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
28. Right to privacy: (1) Except on the circumstance as provided by law, the privacy of the person, residence, property, document, statistics, correspondence and character of anyone is inviolable.
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(Previous Constitution)The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 provides for the following fundamental rights and press freedom:-
PART 3
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
11. Right to Equality:
(1) All citizens shall be equal before the law. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.
(2) No discrimination shall be made against any citizen in the application of general laws on grounds of religion (dharma), race (varya), sex (linga), caste (jât), tribe (jâti) or ideological conviction (vaicârik) or any of these.
(3) The State shall not discriminate among citizens on grounds of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe, or ideological conviction or any of these.
Provided that special provisions may be made by law for the protection and advancement of the interests of women, children, the aged or those who are physically or mentally incapacitated or those who belong to a class which is economically, socially or educationally backward.
(4) No person shall, on the basis of caste, be discriminated against as untouchable, be denied access to any public place, or be deprived of the use of public utilities. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable by law.
(5) No discrimination in regard to remuneration shall be made between men and women for the same work.
12. Right to Freedom:
(1) No person shall be deprived of his personal liberty save in accordance with law, and no law shall be made which provides for capital punishment.
(2) All citizens shall have the following freedoms:
(a) freedom of opinion and expression;
(b) freedom to assemble peaceably and without arms;
(c) freedom to form unions and associations;
(d) freedom to move throughout the Kingdom and reside in any part thereof; and
(e) freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, industry, or trade.
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 the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize 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) nothing in sub-clause (b) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty, integrity or law and order situation of the Kingdom of Nepal;
(3) nothing in sub-clause (c) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities, which may instigate violence, or which may be contrary to public morality;
(4) nothing in sub-clause (d) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws which are in the interest of the general public, or which are made to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities;
(5) nothing in sub-clause (e) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose restriction on any act which may be contrary to public health or morality, to confer on the State the exclusive right to undertake specified industries, businesses or services; or to impose any condition or qualification for carrying on any industry, trade, profession or occupation.
13. Press and Publication Right:
(1) No news item, article or any other reading material shall be censored.
Provided that nothing shall prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize 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 against which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.
(2) No press shall be closed or seized for printing any news item, article or other reading material.
(3) The registration of a newspaper or periodical shall not be canceled merely for publishing any news item, article or other reading material.
14. Right Regarding Criminal Justice:
(1) No person shall be punished for an act which was not punishable by law when the act was committed, nor shall any person be subjected to a punishment greater than that prescribed by the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence.
(2) No person shall be prosecuted or punished for the same offence in a court of law more than once.
(3) No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
(4) No person who is detained during investigation or for trial or for any other reason shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, nor shall be given any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Any person so treated shall be compensated in a manner as determined by law.
(5) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest, nor shall be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.
Explanation: For the purpose of this clause, the words "legal practitioner" shall mean any person who is authorised by law to represent any person in any court.
(6) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before a judicial authority within a period of twenty-four hours after such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to such authority, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period except on the order of such authority.
(7) Nothing in clauses (5) and (6) shall apply to a citizen of an enemy state, and nothing in clause (6) shall apply to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.
15. Right against Preventive Detention:
(1) No person shall be held under preventive detention unless there is a sufficient ground of existence of an immediate threat to the sovereignty, integrity or law and order situation of the Kingdom of Nepal.
(2) Any person held under preventive detention shall, if his detention was contrary to law or in bad faith, have the right to be compensated in a manner as prescribed by law.
16. Right to Information:
Every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance;
Provided that nothing in this Article shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
17. Right to Property:
(1) All citizens shall, subject to the existing laws, have the right to acquire, own, sell and otherwise dispose of, property.
(2) The State shall not, except in the public interest, requisition, acquire or create any encumbrance on, the property of any person.
(3) The basis of compensation and procedure for giving compensation for any property requisitioned, acquired or encumbered by the State for in the public interest, shall be as prescribed by law.
18. Cultural and Educational Right:
(1) Each community residing within the Kingdom of Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script and culture.
(2) Each community shall have the right to operate schools up to the primary level in its own mother tongue for imparting education to its children.
19. Right to Religion:
(1) Every person shall have the freedom to profess and practise his own religion as handed down to him from ancient times having due regard to traditional practices;
provided that no person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to another.[3]
(2) Every religious denomination shall have the right to maintain its independent existence and for this purpose to manage and protect its religious places and trusts.
20. Right against Exploitation:
(1) Traffic in human beings, slavery, serfdom or forced labour in any form is prohibited. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable by law;
Provided that nothing herein shall be a bar to providing by law for compulsory service for public purposes.
(2) No minor shall be employed in work in any factory or mine, or be engaged in any other hazardous work.
21. Right against Exile:
No citizen shall be exiled.
22. Right to Privacy:
Except as provided by law, the privacy of the person, house, property, document, correspondence or information of anyone is inviolable.
23. Right to Constitutional Remedy:
The right to proceed in the manner set forth in Article 88 for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed.
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JOURNALIST CODE OF CONDUCT2003 (2060)
Preamble :
Whereas, it is expedient to revise the existing code of conduct by covering all means of mass media and adjusting timely international practices and norms, with a basic objective of safegaurding the freedoms and rights gauranteed by the Consitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 2047 (1990) and making the people well-informed, and making the mass media and the journalists more responsive towards the nation and the society, and avoiding misuses of the same, by protecting the freedom of press by means of making the mass media and the journalists responsible and professional for the development of healthy journalism;
Now, therefore, with the consent of the Nepal Journalist Federation, as well, this Journalist Code of Conduct, 2060 (2003) has been framed and enforced, pursuant to Section 7(b) of the Press Council Act.
1. Title, Commencement and Extension:
(1) This Code of Conduct may be cited as the "Journalist Code of Conduct, 2060 (2003)".
(2) This Code of Conduct shall commence forthwith.
(3) This Code of Conduct shall apply to all journalists and communication media working in the Kingdom of Nepal.
2. Unless the subject or the context otherwise requires, in this Code of Conduct,-
(a) "Journalist" means a media worker related with the profession of journalism such as a chief editor, editor, member of editorial board, correspondent, columnist, photo journalist, press cameraman, cartoonist, program producer and runner, costume, scene and language editor associated with activities such as collection, production, edition and transmission of news materials through communication media of any nature like printing, electronic and on-line means.
(b) "media" includes newspapers, radio and television broadcasts and internet news and thoughtfull on-line services operated in the Kingdom of Nepal.
(c) "Council" means the Press Council-Nepal.
3. The journalist and media shall perform the following duties:
(1) Protection and promotion of press freedom: Being freedom of opinion and expression a basic right of a citizen, to always remain firm, vigilant and alert for its protection and promotion.
(2) Recognition of human rights and international relations: To enhance protection and promotion of democracy, justice, equality peace and international collaboration and fraternity among friendly nations, while at the same time recognizing rights, interests, principles, norms and practices guaranteed by human rights related international instruments.
(3) Safeguard and enforcement of the right to information: To always remain active and dedicated to safeguard the right of the people to be well-informed.
(4) Imparting true and factual informaiton: To impart true, factual, impartial as well as balanced information in order to achive the goal of professional journalism.
(5) Editorial freedom: A journalist should have responsibility and accountability for production and impartation of the materials published-broadcast in the media.
(6) Recognition of right to privacy : To recognize personal and professional secrecy except in cases where it causes adverse impact on the public interest.
(7) High professional practice : To exercise high professional practice in order to carry out responsibility, accountability and reliability, being dedicated to the basic norms and principles of journalism.
(8) Decent behavement: To remain alert for moral, courteous and decent working style and language, while at the same time recognizing social decency in professional practice.
(9) Readiness to rectify errors: Upon information of any error or mistake in publication and broadcast, to rectify such error or mistake as soon as possible, and to give proper place for a refusal or dinial or response, accompanied by evidence, and publish-broadcast the same in clear language.
(10) Social responsibility: Social responsibility shall be to render special assistance through flow of information and opinions in the upliftment and development of the disabled, helpless, incapacitated, children, women and backward class, sector, nationalities and minor communities.
(11) Mutual relationship among journalists and media should be professional, healthy, tempered, courteous and harmonious.
4. The journalist and media shall not carry out the following acts:
(1) Not to undermine national integrity: Not to publish and broadcast any news and opinion that may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the multiethnic, multilingual and multireligious Kingdom of Nepal or jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities or contain act of defamation or contempt of court or be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality.
(2) Not to adversely affect social structure : Not to publish and broadcast such deformed and provocative materials as may cause adverse impacts on the social structure and be contrary to professional dignity.
(3) Not to disclose secret source of news: To quote source in presenting any news for the authenticity and reliability of the news; but protecting such secret source being a duty of the journalist, to keep secret the name and identification of such source, except in cases of permission by the source.
(4) Not to use for fulfillment of personal interest: Not to use any information materials, obtained for publication-broadcast of the same, for fulfillment of personal interest.
(5) Not to flow information in a discriminatory manner: Not to flow or impart any news and opinion in such a manner as to discriminate on such grounds as of race, sex, religion, region, language and color.
(6) Not to flow information in a manner to make victim suffer further pain: Not to publish broadcast any news and opinion through the use of language, picture, figure and scene, as well, in such a manner as as to make the victim suffer further pain.
(7) Not to publish name, address and identification of a victim: Not to publish broadcast any news, picture and scene in such a manner as a disclose the name, address and identification of a victim with regard to a sexual crime or social disregard or any hateful event or context.
(8) Not to encourage violence, terrorism and crime: Not to present any news, opinion, picture and scene in a manner to encourage disruption, violence, terrorism and crime and to exaggerate such activity.
(9) Not to publish and broadcast naked scene and picture in a manner to spread out hatred and provocation: Not to publish any hurt, naked and hatred provoking scene and picture in a manner to spread out nakedness and provocation and not to be contextual.
(10) Not to mention name of the person not related with event: In publishing-broadcasting any news related with any event, not to present such news in a manner to undermine dignity or defame character of a relative or intimate person not related with the event, by attaching the name of such relative or person to such event.
(11) Not to publish unfactual news: Not to distort the fact, confuse for undue benefit, and publish a factless remark as news.
(12) Not to present advertisement as news: Neither to present an advertisement as news nor to refute news by way of advertisement; and a communication media shall not generally refute any news published and broadcast in another media.
(13) Not to use without quoting source: In using any news materials communicated by any news agency or media, not to publish or broadcast the same without quoting such original source.
5. Complaint and complaint procedures:
1) A victim may file a complaint with the council against any journalist and media within the time-limit referred to in sub-section (4), accompanied by factual evidence showing violation of the conducts mentioned in this Code of Conduct. If such a complaint is filed and the Council thinks, upon holding general inquiry, that any act has been done in violation of this Code of Conduct, the Council shall send summons, accompanied by a copy of the complaint, to the accused party, requiring that party to make presence along with evidence, if any, showing innocence, generally within seven days or within such time-limit before seven days as the Council may think fit.
2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), if any journalist or media publishes and broadcasts any news in a maner to cause negative impacts directly or indirectly on the public interest and concern. The Council may on its own initiate action against such journalist or media, pursuant to this Code of Conduct.
3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Council may, after general inquiry as to the complaint and before sending the summons to the accused party, give the concerned journalist or media such necessary direction as to immediately refute the news or beg a pardon or send reasonable reply.
4) If a complaint on publication and broadcast of any news by a journalist and media in violation of this Code of Conduct is not filed within fifteen days of publication and broadcast of such news, such a complain shall not lie. If there is any resonable reason for failing to file a complaint within the time-limit, the Council may entertain a complaint at any time.
5) After a written response has been filed with the Council by the accused party under the above mentioned sub-sections or despite that no response is filed within the specified time-limit, the council shall make decision on that matter within twenty days in general.
6) Prior to making a decision pursuant to sub-section (5), the Council may, if it thinks necessary, summon presence of both the complainant and the accused party and hold discussions between them.
7) If the complainant and the accused party reach a compromise and make a joint request in writing for compromise, the Council may execute compromise and settle the dispute.
6. Provision on Decision and Enforcement
If any party is held to have committed a conduct prohibited by clause (b) of Section 3 of this Code of Conduct, the Council shall make decision and take action as follows in a respective manner:-
1) The Council shall order the concerned media to publish and broadcast the decision made on the complaint in such form, place and time as may be specified by the Council.
2) If the accused party does not carry out the order given under sub-section (1), the Council shall make recommendation to the concerned body to suspend the press pass of such party if that party holds such pass.
3) If the accused party does not act under sub-section (1) even after suspension of the press pass pursuant to sub-section (2), the distribution verification committee of the Council shall remove the media of such party from evaluation process.
4) If the party does not observe the decision referred to in sub-section (1) even after removing from the evaluation process pursuant to sub-section (3) above, not assistance shall be provided to such party from the welfare fund of the Council.
5) If the party does not carry out the act directed under sub-section (1) even after cutting out assistance from the welfare fund pursuant to sub-section (4), the Council shall make recommendation to the concerned body to suspend the facilities to be provided by His Majesty's Government, for a certain period.
Provided, however, that the Council may, if it thinks necessary, take both actions referred to in sub-sections (4) and (5) at the same time.
6) The Council shall express regret over the journalist and media failing to carry out any decision of the Council and publish boardcast this matter publicly.
7. Repeal :
The Journalist Code of Conduct, 2055 is hereby repealed.
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The National Broadcasting Act, 1993
Date of Royal Assent and Publication2050.2.27.4 (Wednesday, 9 June 1993)
The Act Amending Some Nepal Acts Relating to Communications, 2057 (2000)
2057.10.18 (Jan. 31, 2001)
Act number 6 of the year 2049 (1993)
An Act made to provide for national broadcasting
Preamble:
Whereas, in order to protect and promote the freedom of expression and the right to be informed guaranteed to the people by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 2047 (1990), and to raise public awareness also through the language of the nation as well as national languages by creating an environment of equality, mutual good faith, and harmony amongst all the tribes, languages, classes, regions and religious denominations by imparting economic, social and cultural activities of the country to the people through the broadcasting system, it is expedient to make legal provisions on the broadcasting , without any obstruction, of the flow of information in order that the general public get informed about impartial as well as authentic news and information taking place at the national and international level, by making the broadcasting media reliable, effective and strong, with the use of modern technology available in the field of information and communications;
Now, therefore, be it enacted by Parliament in the twenty-second year of the reign of His Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.
1. Short title and commencement :
(1) This Act may be cited as the "National Broadcasting Act, 2049 (1993)"
(2) This Act shall come into force forthwith.
2. Definitions : Unless the subject or the context otherwise requires, in this Act, -
(a) "Broadcasting " means the radio communication service to be so sent through signal, sound, image, picture or similar other way that the general public may get information.
(b) "Program" means any kind of program to be broadcast through audio or audio-visual means.
(c) "Frequency modulation broadcasting system" means a broadcasting made for the radio or television technology, by a broadcasting institution through the prescribed channel by using the frequency modulation broadcasting system.
(d) "License" means the broadcasting license to be issued pursuant to Section 6 for broadcasting any program or the license to be issued for broadcasting by establishing the frequency modulation broadcasting system.
(e) "Broadcasting institution" means a person or body corporate having obtained the license to broadcast programs under this Act.
(f) "Satellite" means the satellite placed in the space in order to obtain various broadcasting materials or send them elsewhere.
(g) "Cable" means the technology by which broadcasting materials are sent to various customers, members or consumers by wire from any certain broadcasting station.
(h) "Earth station" means a station to be established in the earth surface in order to exchange broadcasting programs through satellite.
(i) "Broadcaster" means a person reading out a program to be broadcast by a broadcasting institution, and this term also includes a person who composes and edits such program.
(j) "Prescribed” or “as prescribed" means prescribed or as prescribed in the Rules framed under this Act.
3. Supervision and operation of programs relating to broadcasting: His Majesty's Government shall have the powers to formulate policies on supervision and operation of programs relating to broadcasting within the Kingdom of Nepal.
4. Prohibition on broadcasting without license: No one shall broadcast any program without obtaining the license pursuant to this Act.
5. Application for license: Any person or body corporate who intends to broadcast any program by way of satellite, cable or other means of communication or to broadcast any didactic, entertaining and informative programs by establishing the frequency modulation broadcasting system in any place within the Kingdom of Nepal shall submit to His Majesty's Government an application in such format and accompanied by such fee as prescribed.
6. Issuance of license: Upon receipt of an application referred to in Section 5, His Majesty's Government may, holding necessary inquiry into the application, issue the license, in the prescribed format, for broadcasting a program, subject to observance of the prescribed terms.
7. Powers to prevent broadcasting: Taking into account of the nation and national interest, His Majesty's Government may, by a notification published in the Nepal Gazette, prevent any program pertaining to any particular subject, event or area from being broadcast by a broadcasting institution, for a period not exceeding six months at a time.
8. Power to cancel license of broadcasting institution: (1) If any broadcasting institution broadcasts any program in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder, His Majesty's Government may cancel the license obtained by such broadcasting institution.
(2) Prior to cancellation of the license under sub-section (1), His Majesty's Government shall give a reasonable opportunity to such broadcasting institution to defend itself.
9. Special provisions on establishment of earth station: (1) Any person or corporate body, or a native and foreign person or corporate body in joint investment, who intends to broadcast any program by establishing the earth station relating to satellite and cable television, has to submit an application to His Majesty's Government for permission.
(2) Upon receipt of an application referred to in sub-section (1), His Majesty's Government may, if, following necessary inquiry into that application, it deems reasonable to give permission to the applicant to broadcast any program by establishing the earth station relating to satellite and cable television, issue permission, as prescribed, to broadcast the prescribed programs, subject to observance of the prescribed terms.
(3) Other provisions on the establishment of the earth station and broadcasting shall be as prescribed.
10. Broadcasting and distribution fee: If a broadcasting institution intends to distribute and operate any program, the fees to be paid to His Majesty's Government or the prescribed organization and the fees to be collected from the persons or bodies using such program shall be as prescribed.
11. Production and broadcasting of programs: While producing and broadcasting any program, a broadcasting institution has to give priority to the following matters:-
(a) Development-oriented programs such as agriculture, education, industry, commerce, science and technology, health, family planning and forest and environment protection,
(b) Such kinds of programs as to enhance equality, mutual good faith and harmony amongst all the tribes, languages, classes, areas and religious denominations,
(c) Programs that contribute to the upliftment of various languages and cultures of Nepal,
(d) Programs on such subjects as may enhance the national interest and national unity,
(e) Programs on such subjects as may raise national consciousness and moral awareness,
(f) Such kinds of programs as to raise social consciousness and develop democratic values, norms and culture in the people,
(g) Programs on such subjects as may not cause adverse impact on the relations between Nepal and neighboring countries as well as friendly countries,
(h) Programs relating to the foreign policy pursued by the country,
(i) Programs promoting folk songs and folk cultures,
(j) Important activities happening or taking place at the national and international level.
12. Participation of private sector in production and broadcasting of program: In addition to the public sector, the private sector may also be got involved so as to make any programs fair, simple, efficient and effective.
13. Provision of time to foreign broadcasting institution or communication media: If any foreign broadcasting institutions or communication media intend to get any program broadcast by a broadcasting institution, time may be provided to broadcast any didactic, entertaining and informative programs, based on the prescribed standards, without causing any adverse impact on the national interest.
14. Provision of time to broadcast advertisement: If any person intends to get any advertisement on publicity of any matter broadcast to the general public, time may be provided for broadcasting that advertisement, by collecting the prescribed fee from such person, institution or body.
Provided, however, that the broadcasting of advertisement of substances, such as smoking and liquors, causing harm to the public health shall be discouraged.
15. Prohibition on broadcasting of advertisement: (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 14, no one shall broadcast, or cause to be broadcast, any advertisement of the following matters:-
(a) Matters adversely affecting political parties,
(b) Materials of vulgar type,
(c) Materials with object to oust the elected government by using violent force;
(d) Matters of such a nature as to create unusual fear and terror in the general public,
(e) Matters contrary to the non-aligned foreign policy of Nepal,
(f) Materials misinterpreting disregarding, insulting and devaluing any tribe, language, religion and culture.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), nothing contained in this Section shall be deemed to prevent His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Election Commission, from allowing any political party to give information about matters such as manifesto, program or philosophy of such party, at the time of election.
16. Functions, duties and powers of broadcaster: The functions, duties and powers of the broadcaster shall be as follows: -
(a) To have necessary investigation as to the truth of the information, news, articles or programs received by him and broadcast, or cause to broadcast, them at the specified time,
(b) To edit and broadcast, or cause to be edited and broadcast, the news by being politically neutral,
(c) Not to broadcast, nor cause to be broadcast, such kinds of programs as may undermine public security, moral and social decency,
(d) Not to broadcast, nor cause to be broadcast, any matters recklessly or negligently,
(e) Even if broadcasting is to be made about any debatable matter, to broadcast it by analyzing it from all viewpoints to the extent possible, and without twisting the state of affairs,
(f) Not to collect and broadcast false and illusive news,
(g) To carry out such other functions as specified by the broadcasting institution.
17. Punishment: (1) If any person broadcasts, or causes to be broadcast, any program without obtaining the license of broadcasting institution pursuant to Section 6 or without obtaining permission pursuant to Section 9, such person shall be punished, by order of the prescribed authority, with a fine of a sum equal to the license and permission letter fee and the charge as referred to in Section 10, by recovering such fee and charge ten [1] or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or with both punishments.
(2) If any person broadcasts, or causes to be broadcast, any program in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder or commits, or causes to be committed, any act in contravention of this Act or the Rules framed hereunder, the prescribed authority may punish such broadcasting institution, broadcaster or other related person with a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or with both punishments.
18. Appeal: Any person who is not satisfied with any order or punished made or imposed by His Majesty's Government or the prescribed authority may file an appeal to the concerned Appellate Court within thirty-five days.
19. Security of broadcasting institution: If His Majesty's Government thinks that there is a likelihood of any kind of loss or damage to a broadcasting institution because of a riot or unrest, it may arrange for security by sending security force to that place for such period as it may think necessary.
20. Delegation of powers: His Majesty's Government may delegate any or all of the powers conferred on it by this Act to any authority or body.
21. Powers to frame Rules: His Majesty's Government may frame necessary Rules in order to implement the objectives of this Act.
22. Prevalence of prevailing law: The matters contained in this Act shall be governed by this Act, and the other matters shall be governed by the prevailing law.
23. Saving: Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Act, a body corporate fully or partly owned by His Majesty's Government established prior to the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have obtained the license of broadcasting institution under this Act.
[1] Amended by the Act Amending Some Nepal Acts Relating to Communications, 2057 (2000).
Monday, April 13, 2009
communication theory
Communication Framework
There is much discussion in the academic world of communication as to what actually constitutes communication. Currently, many definitions of communication are used in order to conceptualize the processes by which people navigate and assign meaning. Communication is also understood at the exchanging of understanding.
Other commentators suggest that a ritual process of communication exists, one not artificially divorceable from a particular historical and social context.
Communication stands so deeply rooted in human behaviors and the structures of society that scholars have difficulty thinking of it while excluding social or behavioral events. Because communication theory remains a relatively young field of inquiry and integrates itself with other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, and sociology, one probably cannot yet expect a consensus conceptualization of communication across disciplines.
Currently, there is no paradigm from which communication scholars may work. One of the issues facing scholars is the possibility that establishing a communication metatheory will negate their research and stifle the broad body of knowledge in which communication functions.
Communication theory framework
It is helpful to examine communication and communication theory through one of the following viewpoints:
Mechanistic: This view considers communication to be a perfect transaction of a message from the sender to the receiver. (as seen in the diagram above)
Psychological: This view considers communication as the act of sending a message to a receiver, and the feelings and thoughts of the receiver upon interpreting the message.
Social Constructionist (Symbolic Interactionist): This view considers communication to be the product of the interactants sharing and creating meaning.
Systemic: This view considers communication to be the new messages created via “through-put”, or what happens as the message is being interpreted and re-interpreted as it travels through people.
Mapping the theoretical landscape
A discipline gets defined in large part by its theoretical structure. Communication studies often borrow theories from other social sciences. This theoretical variation makes it difficult to come to terms with the field as a whole. That said, some common taxonomies exist that serve to divide up the range of communication research. Two common mappings involve contexts and assumptions.
Contexts
Many authors and researchers divide communication by what they sometimes called "contexts" or "levels", but which more often represent institutional histories. The study of communication in the US, while occurring within departments of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology (among others), generally developed from schools of rhetoric and from schools of journalism. While many of these have become "departments of communication", they often retain their historical roots, adhering largely to theories from speech communication in the former case, and from mass media in the latter. The great divide between speech communication and mass communication becomes complicated by a number of smaller sub-areas of communication research, including intercultural and international communication, small group communication, communication technology, policy and legal studies of communication, telecommunication, and work done under a variety of other labels. Some of these departments take a largely social-scientific perspective, others tend more heavily toward the humanities, and still others gear themselves more toward production and professional preparation.
These "levels" of communication provide some way of grouping communication theories, but inevitably, some theories and concepts leak from one area to another, or fail to find a home at all.
Defining Communication Theories
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive Dissonance Theory argues that the experience of dissonance (or incompatible beliefs and actions) is aversive and people are highly motivated to avoid it. In their efforts to avoid feelings of dissonance, people will avoid hearing views that oppose their own, change their beliefs to match their actions, and seek reassurance after making a difficult decision.
Communication Accommodation Theory
This theoretical perspective examines the underlying motivations and consequences of what happens when two speakers shift their communication styles. Communication Accommodation theorists argue that during communication, people will try to accommodate or adjust their style of speaking to others. This is done in two ways: divergence and convergence. Groups with strong ethnic or racial pride often use divergence to highlight group identity. Convergence occurs when there is a strong need for social approval, frequently from powerless individuals.
Coordinated Management of Meaning
Theorists in Coordinated Management of Meaning believe that in conversation, people co-create meaning by attaining some coherence and coordination. Coherence occurs when stories are told, and coordination exists when stories are lived. CMM focuses on the relationship between an individual and his or her society. Through a hierarchical structure, individuals come to organize the meaning of literally hundreds of messages received throughout a day.
Cultivation Analysis
This theory argues that television (and other media) plays an extremely important role in how people view their world. According to Cultivation Analysis, in modern Culture most people get much of their information in a mediated fashion rather than through direct experience. Thus, mediated sources can shape people’s sense of reality. This is especially the case with regard to violence, according to the theory. Cultivation Analysis posits that heavy television viewing cultivates a sense of the world that is more violent and scarier than is actually warranted.
Cultural Approach to Organizations
The Cultural Approach contends that people are like animals who are suspended in webs that they created. Theorists in this tradition argue that an organization’s culture is composed of shared symbols, each of which has a unique meaning. Organizational stories, rituals, and rites of passage are examples of what constitutes the culture of an organization.
Cultural Studies
Theorists in cultural studies maintain that the media represents ideologies of the dominant class in a society. Because media are controlled by corporations, the information presented to the public is necessarily influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influence and how power plays a role in the interpretation of culture.
Dramatism
This theoretical position compares life to a drama. As in dramatic action, life requires an actor, a scene, an act, some means for the action to take place, and a purpose. A rhetorical critic can understand a speaker’s motives by analyzing these elements. Further, Dramatism argues that purging guilt is the ultimate motive, and rhetors can be successful when they provide their audiences with a means for purging their guilt and a sense of identification with the rhetor.
Expectancy Violations Theory
Expectancy Violation Theory examines how nonverbal messages are structured. The theory advances that when communicative norms are violated, the violation may be perceived either favorably or unfavorably, depending on the perception that the receiver has of the violator. Violating another’s expectations may be a strategy used over that of conforming to another’s expectations.
Face-Negotiation TheoryFace
Negotiation Theory is concerned with how people in individualistic and collectivistic cultures negotiate face in conflict situations. The theory is based on face management, which describes how people from different cultures manage conflict negotiation in order to maintain face. Self-face and other-face concerns explain the conflict negotiation between people from various cultures.
Groupthink
The groupthink phenomenon occurs when highly cohesive groups fail to consider alternatives that may effectively resolve group dilemmas. Groupthink theorists contend that group members frequently think similarly and are reluctant to share unpopular or dissimilar ideas with others. When this occurs, groups prematurely make decisions, some of which can have lasting consequences.
Muted Group Theory
Muted Group Theory maintains that language serves men better than women (and perhaps European Americans better than African Americans or other groups). This is the case because the variety of experiences of European American men are named clearly in language, whereas the experiences of other groups (such as women) are not. Due to this problem with language, women appear less articulate than men in public settings. As women have similar experiences, this situation should change.
The Narrative Paradigm
This theory argues that humans are storytelling animals. The Narrative Paradigm proposes a narrative logic to replace the traditional logic of argument. Narrative logic, or the logic of good reasons, suggests that people judge the credibility of speakers by whether their stories hang together clearly (coherence and whether their stories ring true (fidelity). The Narrative Paradigm allows for a democratic judgment of speakers because no one has to be trained in oratory and persuasion to make judgments based on coherence and fidelity.
Organizational Information Theory
This Theory argues that the main activity of organizations is the process of making sense of equivocal information. Organizational members accomplish this sense-making process through enactment, selection, and retention of information. Organizations are successful to the extent that they are able to reduce equivocality through these means.
Relational Dialectics Theory
Relational Dialectics suggests that relational life is always in process. People in relationships continually feel the pull-push of conflicting desires. Basically, people wish to have both autonomy and connection, openness and protective-ness, and novelty and predictability. As people communicate in relationships, they attempt to reconcile these conflicting desires, but they never eliminate their needs for both of the opposing pairs.
The Rhetoric
Rhetorical theory is based on the available means of persuasion. That is, a speaker who is interested in persuading his or her audience should consider three rhetorical proofs: logical, emotional, and ethical. Audiences are key to effective persuasion as well. Rhetorical syllogism, requiring audiences to supply missing pieces of a speech, are also used in persuasion.
Social Exchange Theory
This theoretical position argues that the major force in interpersonal relationships is the satisfaction of both people’s self-interest. Theorists in Social Exchange posit that self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing and that it can actually enhance relationships. The Social Exchange approach views interpersonal exchange posit that self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing and that it can actually enhance relationships. The Social Exchange approach views interpersonal exchanges as analogous to economic exchanges where people are satisfied when they receive a fair return on their expenditures.
Social Penetration Theory
This theory maintains that interpersonal relationships evolve in some gradual and predictable fashion. Penetration theorists believe that self-disclosure is the primary way that superficial relationships progress to intimate relationships. Although self-disclosure can lead to more intimate relationships, it can also leave one or more persons vulnerable.
Spiral of Silence Theory
Theorists associated with Spiral of Silence Theory argue that due to their enormous power, the mass media have a lasting effect on public opinion. The theory maintains that mass media work simultaneously with Majority public opinion to silence minority beliefs on cultural issues. A fear of isolation prompts those with minority views to examine the beliefs of others. Individuals who fear being socially isolated are prone to conform to what they perceive to be a majority view.
Standpoint Theory
This theory posits that people are situated in specific social standpoints-they occupy different places in the social hierarchy. Because of this, individuals view the social situation from particular vantage points. By necessity, each vantage point provides only a partial understanding of the social whole. Yet, those who occupy the lower rungs of the hierarchy tend to understand the social situation more fully than those at the top. Sometimes, Standpoint Theory is referred to as Feminist Standpoint Theory because of its application to how women’s and men’s standpoint differ.
Structuration Theory
Theorists supporting the structurational perspective argue that groups and organizations create structures, which can be interpreted as an organization’s rules and resources. These structures, in turn, create social systems in an organization. Structuration theorists posit that groups and organizations achieve a life of their own because of the way their members utilize their structures. Power structures guide the decision making taking place in groups and organizations.
Symbolic Interaction TheoryThis theory suggests that people are motivated to act based on the meanings they assign to people, things, and events. Further, meaning is created in the language that people use both with others and in private thought. Language allows people to develop a sense of self and to interact with others in community.
Uncertainly Reduction Theory
Uncertainty Reduction Theory suggests that when strangers meet, their primary focus is on reducing their levels of uncertainty in the situation. Their levels of uncertainty are located in both behavioral and cognitive realms. That is, they may be unsure of how to behave (or how the other person will behave), and they may also be unsure what they think of the other and what the other person thinks of them. Further, people’s uncertainty is both individual level and relational level. People are highly motivated to use communication to reduce their uncertainty according to this theory.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Uses and Gratifications theorists explain why people choose and use certain media forms. The theory emphasizes a limited effect position; that is, the media have a limithe effect on their audiences because audiences are able to exercise control over their media. Uses and Gratifications Theory attempts to answer the following: What do people do with the media?
There is much discussion in the academic world of communication as to what actually constitutes communication. Currently, many definitions of communication are used in order to conceptualize the processes by which people navigate and assign meaning. Communication is also understood at the exchanging of understanding.
Other commentators suggest that a ritual process of communication exists, one not artificially divorceable from a particular historical and social context.
Communication stands so deeply rooted in human behaviors and the structures of society that scholars have difficulty thinking of it while excluding social or behavioral events. Because communication theory remains a relatively young field of inquiry and integrates itself with other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, and sociology, one probably cannot yet expect a consensus conceptualization of communication across disciplines.
Currently, there is no paradigm from which communication scholars may work. One of the issues facing scholars is the possibility that establishing a communication metatheory will negate their research and stifle the broad body of knowledge in which communication functions.
Communication theory framework
It is helpful to examine communication and communication theory through one of the following viewpoints:
Mechanistic: This view considers communication to be a perfect transaction of a message from the sender to the receiver. (as seen in the diagram above)
Psychological: This view considers communication as the act of sending a message to a receiver, and the feelings and thoughts of the receiver upon interpreting the message.
Social Constructionist (Symbolic Interactionist): This view considers communication to be the product of the interactants sharing and creating meaning.
Systemic: This view considers communication to be the new messages created via “through-put”, or what happens as the message is being interpreted and re-interpreted as it travels through people.
Mapping the theoretical landscape
A discipline gets defined in large part by its theoretical structure. Communication studies often borrow theories from other social sciences. This theoretical variation makes it difficult to come to terms with the field as a whole. That said, some common taxonomies exist that serve to divide up the range of communication research. Two common mappings involve contexts and assumptions.
Contexts
Many authors and researchers divide communication by what they sometimes called "contexts" or "levels", but which more often represent institutional histories. The study of communication in the US, while occurring within departments of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology (among others), generally developed from schools of rhetoric and from schools of journalism. While many of these have become "departments of communication", they often retain their historical roots, adhering largely to theories from speech communication in the former case, and from mass media in the latter. The great divide between speech communication and mass communication becomes complicated by a number of smaller sub-areas of communication research, including intercultural and international communication, small group communication, communication technology, policy and legal studies of communication, telecommunication, and work done under a variety of other labels. Some of these departments take a largely social-scientific perspective, others tend more heavily toward the humanities, and still others gear themselves more toward production and professional preparation.
These "levels" of communication provide some way of grouping communication theories, but inevitably, some theories and concepts leak from one area to another, or fail to find a home at all.
Defining Communication Theories
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive Dissonance Theory argues that the experience of dissonance (or incompatible beliefs and actions) is aversive and people are highly motivated to avoid it. In their efforts to avoid feelings of dissonance, people will avoid hearing views that oppose their own, change their beliefs to match their actions, and seek reassurance after making a difficult decision.
Communication Accommodation Theory
This theoretical perspective examines the underlying motivations and consequences of what happens when two speakers shift their communication styles. Communication Accommodation theorists argue that during communication, people will try to accommodate or adjust their style of speaking to others. This is done in two ways: divergence and convergence. Groups with strong ethnic or racial pride often use divergence to highlight group identity. Convergence occurs when there is a strong need for social approval, frequently from powerless individuals.
Coordinated Management of Meaning
Theorists in Coordinated Management of Meaning believe that in conversation, people co-create meaning by attaining some coherence and coordination. Coherence occurs when stories are told, and coordination exists when stories are lived. CMM focuses on the relationship between an individual and his or her society. Through a hierarchical structure, individuals come to organize the meaning of literally hundreds of messages received throughout a day.
Cultivation Analysis
This theory argues that television (and other media) plays an extremely important role in how people view their world. According to Cultivation Analysis, in modern Culture most people get much of their information in a mediated fashion rather than through direct experience. Thus, mediated sources can shape people’s sense of reality. This is especially the case with regard to violence, according to the theory. Cultivation Analysis posits that heavy television viewing cultivates a sense of the world that is more violent and scarier than is actually warranted.
Cultural Approach to Organizations
The Cultural Approach contends that people are like animals who are suspended in webs that they created. Theorists in this tradition argue that an organization’s culture is composed of shared symbols, each of which has a unique meaning. Organizational stories, rituals, and rites of passage are examples of what constitutes the culture of an organization.
Cultural Studies
Theorists in cultural studies maintain that the media represents ideologies of the dominant class in a society. Because media are controlled by corporations, the information presented to the public is necessarily influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influence and how power plays a role in the interpretation of culture.
Dramatism
This theoretical position compares life to a drama. As in dramatic action, life requires an actor, a scene, an act, some means for the action to take place, and a purpose. A rhetorical critic can understand a speaker’s motives by analyzing these elements. Further, Dramatism argues that purging guilt is the ultimate motive, and rhetors can be successful when they provide their audiences with a means for purging their guilt and a sense of identification with the rhetor.
Expectancy Violations Theory
Expectancy Violation Theory examines how nonverbal messages are structured. The theory advances that when communicative norms are violated, the violation may be perceived either favorably or unfavorably, depending on the perception that the receiver has of the violator. Violating another’s expectations may be a strategy used over that of conforming to another’s expectations.
Face-Negotiation TheoryFace
Negotiation Theory is concerned with how people in individualistic and collectivistic cultures negotiate face in conflict situations. The theory is based on face management, which describes how people from different cultures manage conflict negotiation in order to maintain face. Self-face and other-face concerns explain the conflict negotiation between people from various cultures.
Groupthink
The groupthink phenomenon occurs when highly cohesive groups fail to consider alternatives that may effectively resolve group dilemmas. Groupthink theorists contend that group members frequently think similarly and are reluctant to share unpopular or dissimilar ideas with others. When this occurs, groups prematurely make decisions, some of which can have lasting consequences.
Muted Group Theory
Muted Group Theory maintains that language serves men better than women (and perhaps European Americans better than African Americans or other groups). This is the case because the variety of experiences of European American men are named clearly in language, whereas the experiences of other groups (such as women) are not. Due to this problem with language, women appear less articulate than men in public settings. As women have similar experiences, this situation should change.
The Narrative Paradigm
This theory argues that humans are storytelling animals. The Narrative Paradigm proposes a narrative logic to replace the traditional logic of argument. Narrative logic, or the logic of good reasons, suggests that people judge the credibility of speakers by whether their stories hang together clearly (coherence and whether their stories ring true (fidelity). The Narrative Paradigm allows for a democratic judgment of speakers because no one has to be trained in oratory and persuasion to make judgments based on coherence and fidelity.
Organizational Information Theory
This Theory argues that the main activity of organizations is the process of making sense of equivocal information. Organizational members accomplish this sense-making process through enactment, selection, and retention of information. Organizations are successful to the extent that they are able to reduce equivocality through these means.
Relational Dialectics Theory
Relational Dialectics suggests that relational life is always in process. People in relationships continually feel the pull-push of conflicting desires. Basically, people wish to have both autonomy and connection, openness and protective-ness, and novelty and predictability. As people communicate in relationships, they attempt to reconcile these conflicting desires, but they never eliminate their needs for both of the opposing pairs.
The Rhetoric
Rhetorical theory is based on the available means of persuasion. That is, a speaker who is interested in persuading his or her audience should consider three rhetorical proofs: logical, emotional, and ethical. Audiences are key to effective persuasion as well. Rhetorical syllogism, requiring audiences to supply missing pieces of a speech, are also used in persuasion.
Social Exchange Theory
This theoretical position argues that the major force in interpersonal relationships is the satisfaction of both people’s self-interest. Theorists in Social Exchange posit that self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing and that it can actually enhance relationships. The Social Exchange approach views interpersonal exchange posit that self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing and that it can actually enhance relationships. The Social Exchange approach views interpersonal exchanges as analogous to economic exchanges where people are satisfied when they receive a fair return on their expenditures.
Social Penetration Theory
This theory maintains that interpersonal relationships evolve in some gradual and predictable fashion. Penetration theorists believe that self-disclosure is the primary way that superficial relationships progress to intimate relationships. Although self-disclosure can lead to more intimate relationships, it can also leave one or more persons vulnerable.
Spiral of Silence Theory
Theorists associated with Spiral of Silence Theory argue that due to their enormous power, the mass media have a lasting effect on public opinion. The theory maintains that mass media work simultaneously with Majority public opinion to silence minority beliefs on cultural issues. A fear of isolation prompts those with minority views to examine the beliefs of others. Individuals who fear being socially isolated are prone to conform to what they perceive to be a majority view.
Standpoint Theory
This theory posits that people are situated in specific social standpoints-they occupy different places in the social hierarchy. Because of this, individuals view the social situation from particular vantage points. By necessity, each vantage point provides only a partial understanding of the social whole. Yet, those who occupy the lower rungs of the hierarchy tend to understand the social situation more fully than those at the top. Sometimes, Standpoint Theory is referred to as Feminist Standpoint Theory because of its application to how women’s and men’s standpoint differ.
Structuration Theory
Theorists supporting the structurational perspective argue that groups and organizations create structures, which can be interpreted as an organization’s rules and resources. These structures, in turn, create social systems in an organization. Structuration theorists posit that groups and organizations achieve a life of their own because of the way their members utilize their structures. Power structures guide the decision making taking place in groups and organizations.
Symbolic Interaction TheoryThis theory suggests that people are motivated to act based on the meanings they assign to people, things, and events. Further, meaning is created in the language that people use both with others and in private thought. Language allows people to develop a sense of self and to interact with others in community.
Uncertainly Reduction Theory
Uncertainty Reduction Theory suggests that when strangers meet, their primary focus is on reducing their levels of uncertainty in the situation. Their levels of uncertainty are located in both behavioral and cognitive realms. That is, they may be unsure of how to behave (or how the other person will behave), and they may also be unsure what they think of the other and what the other person thinks of them. Further, people’s uncertainty is both individual level and relational level. People are highly motivated to use communication to reduce their uncertainty according to this theory.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Uses and Gratifications theorists explain why people choose and use certain media forms. The theory emphasizes a limited effect position; that is, the media have a limithe effect on their audiences because audiences are able to exercise control over their media. Uses and Gratifications Theory attempts to answer the following: What do people do with the media?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Globalization
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development. Since 1950, for example, the volume of world trade has increased by 20 times, and from just 1997 to 1999 flows of foreign investment nearly doubled, from $468 billion to $827 billion. Distinguishing this current wave of globalization from earlier ones, author Thomas Friedman has said that today globalization is “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper.”
This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially during the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and investment.
Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established production and marketing arrangements with foreign partners. A defining feature of globalization, therefore, is an international industrial and financial business structure.
Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.
Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people. Resistance to globalization has therefore taken shape both at a popular and at a governmental level as people and governments try to manage the flow of capital, labor, goods, and ideas that constitute the current wave of globalization.
To find the right balance between benefits and costs associated with globalization, citizens of all nations need to understand how globalization works and the policy choices facing them and their societies. Globalization101.org tries to provide an accurate analysis of the issues and controversies regarding globalization, especially to high-school and college students, without the slogans or ideological biases generally found in discussions of the topics. We welcome you to our website.
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development. Since 1950, for example, the volume of world trade has increased by 20 times, and from just 1997 to 1999 flows of foreign investment nearly doubled, from $468 billion to $827 billion. Distinguishing this current wave of globalization from earlier ones, author Thomas Friedman has said that today globalization is “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper.”
This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially during the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and investment.
Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established production and marketing arrangements with foreign partners. A defining feature of globalization, therefore, is an international industrial and financial business structure.
Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.
Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people. Resistance to globalization has therefore taken shape both at a popular and at a governmental level as people and governments try to manage the flow of capital, labor, goods, and ideas that constitute the current wave of globalization.
To find the right balance between benefits and costs associated with globalization, citizens of all nations need to understand how globalization works and the policy choices facing them and their societies. Globalization101.org tries to provide an accurate analysis of the issues and controversies regarding globalization, especially to high-school and college students, without the slogans or ideological biases generally found in discussions of the topics. We welcome you to our website.
feature story n' more..........
What is a feature story?
It gets into the lives of people.
It tries to explain why and how a trend developed.
Unlike news, a feature does not have to be tied to a current event or a breaking story. But it can grow out of something that’s reported in the news.
It may be a profile of a person or a group -- an athlete, a performer, a politician, or a community worker or a team, a choir or a political organization. Or perhaps it’s an in-depth look at a social issue -- like violence in Canadian schools or eating disorders among young women. It could also be a story that gives the reader background on a topic that’s in the news -- like a story that explains how land mines work and the history of their use in war.
A feature story is usually longer than a news story -- but length is not a requirement! What’s more important is the form the story takes.
Think of the feature as the journalistic equivalent of an essay. Follow these guidelines:
start with a premise or theme
present information and opinions that back you point,
bring the reader to a conclusion.
The feature often explores several different points of views, even when the story is about one particular person.
The story behind the newsHere’s an example of how a feature can explain and explore a story that makes news:
Your local newspaper reports on the front page that school enrollments are dropping in your small community. The reason? Many people are being forced to leave the town to look for jobs in bigger cities and obviously, their children go with them. As a reporter you can go beyond the facts and figures in the news story by talking to one of the families who are leaving. How do they feel? What made them decide to go? What will they miss about home? What are they expecting in their new community? How do the children feel about leaving their school and their friends? Or you can look at the story from the point of view of the people who remain in the town. What’s it like to lose friends and family to far-away cities? How does it affect the school? What about the local economy?
The news story tells the audience what happened. The feature will tell them why and how it happened, how the people involved are reacting, and what impact the decision is having on other people.
Personality in profile
Indulge your curiosity -- and that of your readers -- with a profile of an interesting person.
You can look at someone who’s making news in your community, province or country. Or it could be someone who's relatively unknown to the public but who has done something unusual or remarkable. Here’s one example:
Your town elects a full slate of councillors to represent and serve the community. One is a 19-year-old student who was active in youth parliament and student politics. That makes him the youngest elected official in your province. But that’s not the whole story! He gets the most votes of any of the councillors, and according to the election rules, that makes him deputy mayor. What’s it like to be a politician when you’re still in your teens? What does your life experience add to the council? Are you seen as a spokesman for your generation -- but not the community as a whole? What do the other councillors think of their young colleague? Do people take you seriously?
That young politician may not be famous. But he’s certainly done something new. And his experiences will be something that others will want to learn more about.
Take a look at people from the world of sports, entertainment, politics, science, technology, business, health, international development, community activism, education, the military, the fine arts or any other field that interests you.
You can choose a subject and find out the basic facts of the person’s life and work. What have they learned so far? Are there any surprises? Is there an area of this person's life or work that the student would now like to focus on?
Write your profile by telling your readers the facts of this person's life — while adding the color and details that make them unique.
Talk to the person themselves whenever possible and use their own words to help tell their story.
Tracking a trendMany of the best stories come from reporters’ observations of the world around them. Here’s just one example of how you can come across a great feature story in your daily life:
YOU are hanging around with friends at lunch time and talking about plans for the weekend. Someone says they’ve heard that the town council is considering a curfew for teens. Everyone under 16 has to be off the streets by 11pm on weekends. You have your own curfew - set by your parents - but you are surprised to learn that the mayor wants to put one in place for everyone.
You talk to some of your friends to find out what they think. You and other concerned teens go over to the town hall and ask the mayor or one of the councillors why they see the need for a curfew. You surf the Net and find out what other towns and cities have been doing.
You find that this is a bit of trend in North America.
What you now have is the basis for a really interesting feature. You have taken a little piece of information and investigated further to find out what’s going on. The story will focus on the issue and the thoughts and feeling of the people involved — namely local teenagers and the people who made the decision about the curfew.
Feature writing tipsThe basic guidelines for good writing apply to all types of writing. However, if you expect to hold your readers attention for 1,000 words or more, your writing must be must be lively, specific and clear.
As a student writer you have to start with a lead that captures your reader’s attention.
It could be an anecdote you have heard during the course of your research.
It could be a description of a person, place or thing that draws the reader in and encourages them to learn more.
It could a newsy lead that highlights the point of the story.
Move your story along with descriptions of what happened, quotes from people involved in the issue, and details that place the reader in the midst of the action. Make sure your ending is meaningful. Your closing words should make an impact on your readers and tie the various strands of your story together.
A powerful quote can often make for a good ending. Or you may want to come full circle and refer back to a word or an image used in your opening sentences.
A 700 to 800 word limit will make an ideal newspaper feature whereas magazine features can be more elaborated and descriptive in nature with more than 15000 words! It is only required to be seen that the Beginning, middle and end part holds good in any literary exercise especially by adopting the four basic skills: a flair for good writing, an eye for the market, a talent for sound organization and writing skills.
Development journalism
Development journalism needs to adopt an action-oriented approach to help the country overcome challenges like poverty and illiteracy.
It therefore becomes crucial to question why despite ‘development’ journalism’s growing popularity, the empowered media doesn’t come across as action or cause oriented. As ‘development’ journalists increase in numbers, so do statistics on poverty, corruption, illiteracy, diseases and pollution. Is there some confusion between ‘development reporting’ and ‘development journalism’? What exactly is development journalism?
The Definition
According to Aman Namra, development journalism should focus on the needs of the poor, the deprived, the marginalized and should emphasize their effective participation in development planning. "The kind of journalism that motivates the active participation of the affected people and advocating for their interests, in place of the views of policy makers and planners." 2
Tsedu states that development journalism "is about highlighting what people are doing to help transform their lives. Whether they do this alongside the government or on their own is immaterial. The premise that development journalism is necessarily government oriented is faulty." He believes that since the strong and mighty are able to look after themselves, journalists should concern themselves with the plight of the poor and the weak.7
"Development is seen as humanity’s common objective and interpreted as a quest both to eradicate poverty and protect the environment," according to Berger5. Environmental journalism and development journalism go hand in hand. One is linked to the plant while the other to the people.
And yet, environmental journalism leads to bigger success stories while development journalism progressively seems to be turning into a fad. The difference is that environmental campaigns and journalism have empowered the people - the common mass. It is Recycle Paper vs. We are running out of trees. Development issues covered today are still largely fixed on informing.
We should strive for journalism where a common problem is identified and followed by probable solutions, leading to development. Merely reporting issues related to poverty, corruption, hunger and illiteracy is not only depressing but has been repeatedly done. Journalists committed to development should look at the situation beyond just reporting it.
Put simply, it is necessary to talk about development not in the ideological sense but in tangible and measurable terms - journalism that leads to actual development.
Court reporting
Court reporting is far more that sitting in court with a pen and paper. it is about examining the human angle, developing a story to i9ts full potential and giving the reae a clear, balanced picture. if an individual is cleared by a jury or on a legal technicality, try to interview them, their story is often better than anything anyone has heard in court.
No fundamental differences exist between court reporting and any other reporting. the requirements are the same: to understand what has happened and to report it fairly, accurately, clearly and in manner to catch the attention of the reader.
This can be fairly nerve-racking. You're faced with a new experience, or one that you've only seen in courtroom dramas. And knowing what you should do by now about the contempt of court act, you may feel as though you're on trial yourself.
Key information like:
- the name of the presiding magistrate or judge
- the name of the prosecuting lawyer
- details of cases worth looking out for
Cases usually start with the prosecuting lawyer outlining what happened. this is a key element of the case which will contribute a large part of your story, so you should be ready to take a full note.
Checklist
Visit the whole range of courts.
Go as often as you can.
Find out what time the court opens and cases start.
Take a law book with you to read.
Find out where the prison van accesses the court. If you're taking film footage, this may be one of the few shots that you can get.
Do not talk during the case. no chewing gum.
When taking notes do so quietly. Shorthand helps. Be accurate and check the spelling of all names. Don't get this wrong or you could end up being sued for defamation.
If there are journalists present, have a chat to them about the case and how they would approach reporting it.
You can leave the court any time, but choose your moment with care and leave quietly.
Parliamentary reporting (lobby reporting/journalist)
Parliamentary reporting is the foundation of 'fourth estate', what we called today for the journalist.
The 'Lobby Correspondents' are the main group of news reporters in political reporting. The lobby system is the main channel for the transmission of current political news: the main continuing political story is the relationship between prime minister and parliament house.
How well is the prime minister doing at present? How is the new legislation succeeding in its parliamentary passage? What conflicts are there in the cabinet/ who are the rising and falling stars within the government party and in opposition? When there is a big political story running, the senior newspaper lobby reporter/correspondent may be writing the front-page lead story for days or even weeks in succession.
The lobby system also contains many oddities, paradoxes, and obscurities. This reporting will look back to the1960s; lobby journalism perhaps reached its peak of importance. Since the 1960s both the political system and the media have opened and expanded. in particular there is now more television, there are more on-the-record press conferences. And also there is much more political column-writing and feature. However, within a more complex political system and within a bigger total quantity of political journalism, the lobby system is still central.
Media audiences
The word ' audiences' is very familiar as the collective term for the 'receivers' in the simple sequential model of the mass communication process (source, channel, message, receiver, effect) that was deployed by pioneers in the field of media research. It is term that is understood by media practitioners as well as theorists and is recognized by media uses as on unambiguous description of themselves. Nevertheless beyond common sense usage, there is much room for differences of meaning and theoretical disputes. These system mainly from the fact that a single word is being applied to an increasingly diverse and complex reality; open to alternative and competing theoretical formulations.
The 'audience' for most mass media is not usually observable, except in fragmentary or indirect ways. According to 'Allor' (1988) ' the audience exist nowhere; it inhabits no real space, only positions within analytic discourses' As a result the term audience has as abstract and debatable character and the reality to which the term refer is also diverse and constantly changing.
An audience thus be defined in different overlapping ways:]
- by place ( as in the case of both local media)
- by people ( as when medium is characterized by an appeal to a certain age group, gender, political belief or income category)
- by the particular type of medium or channel ( technology and organization combined )
-by the contents of its messages ( genres, subject matters, styles)
- by time ( as when one speaks of 'day time' or ' prime time)
Goals of Audience Research
Media need their audience more than audiences need media. Media research is primarily a tool for the close controls and management (manipulation of media audiences)
Main Goals of Audience Research are:
- Accounting for sales (book keeping)
- Measuring actual and potential reach for purposes of advertising.
- Manipulating and channeling audience choice behavior.
- Looking for audience market opportunities.
- Product testing and improving communication effectiveness.
- Meeting responsibilities to serve and audience.
- Evaluating media performance in a number of ways (for instances, to test allegation of harmful effects).
Public broadcasters often carry a research on meeting responsibilities to the audience. Media industry seeks to satisfy their media needs. More research is made by media to control audience than to serve people.
Depending on the goals of audience research, the research will examine different aspect of audiences. It will also use different tools to describe the audiences. There are three main traditions of audiences' research, which represents different approaches determined by what we are interested to know about audience.
They are not describing audiences; they are tools to do so.
a) The structural tradition of audience measurement
-It describes the amount and social composition of audiences.
b) The behaviorists' tradition: media effects and media uses.
-Mainly research on potential harm from media side. Passive or active audience victims of media manipulation or concise users who are in change of their media experience. Research focused on the origin, nature, and degree of motives for choice of media and media content.
c) The cultural tradition and reception analysis
-Cultural study emphasizes media use as a reflection of a particular socio-cultural context and as a process of giving meaning to cultural products and experiences in everyday life. It involves a view of media use as in itself a significant aspects of 'everyday life'. Media reception research emphasized the study of audiences as 'interpretative communities'. Reception analysis is a part of modern cultural studies.
The word ' audiences' is very familiar as the collective term for the 'receivers' in the simple sequential model of the mass communication process (source, channel, message, receiver, effect) that was deployed by pioneers in the field of media research. It is term that is understood by media practitioners as well as theorists and is recognized by media uses as on unambiguous description of themselves. Nevertheless beyond common sense usage, there is much room for differences of meaning and theoretical disputes. These system mainly from the fact that a single word is being applied to an increasingly diverse and complex reality; open to alternative and competing theoretical formulations.
The 'audience' for most mass media is not usually observable, except in fragmentary or indirect ways. According to 'Allor' (1988) ' the audience exist nowhere; it inhabits no real space, only positions within analytic discourses' As a result the term audience has as abstract and debatable character and the reality to which the term refer is also diverse and constantly changing.
An audience thus be defined in different overlapping ways:]
- by place ( as in the case of both local media)
- by people ( as when medium is characterized by an appeal to a certain age group, gender, political belief or income category)
- by the particular type of medium or channel ( technology and organization combined )
-by the contents of its messages ( genres, subject matters, styles)
- by time ( as when one speaks of 'day time' or ' prime time)
Goals of Audience Research
Media need their audience more than audiences need media. Media research is primarily a tool for the close controls and management (manipulation of media audiences)
Main Goals of Audience Research are:
- Accounting for sales (book keeping)
- Measuring actual and potential reach for purposes of advertising.
- Manipulating and channeling audience choice behavior.
- Looking for audience market opportunities.
- Product testing and improving communication effectiveness.
- Meeting responsibilities to serve and audience.
- Evaluating media performance in a number of ways (for instances, to test allegation of harmful effects).
Public broadcasters often carry a research on meeting responsibilities to the audience. Media industry seeks to satisfy their media needs. More research is made by media to control audience than to serve people.
Depending on the goals of audience research, the research will examine different aspect of audiences. It will also use different tools to describe the audiences. There are three main traditions of audiences' research, which represents different approaches determined by what we are interested to know about audience.
They are not describing audiences; they are tools to do so.
a) The structural tradition of audience measurement
-It describes the amount and social composition of audiences.
b) The behaviorists' tradition: media effects and media uses.
-Mainly research on potential harm from media side. Passive or active audience victims of media manipulation or concise users who are in change of their media experience. Research focused on the origin, nature, and degree of motives for choice of media and media content.
c) The cultural tradition and reception analysis
-Cultural study emphasizes media use as a reflection of a particular socio-cultural context and as a process of giving meaning to cultural products and experiences in everyday life. It involves a view of media use as in itself a significant aspects of 'everyday life'. Media reception research emphasized the study of audiences as 'interpretative communities'. Reception analysis is a part of modern cultural studies.
Editorial- an overview
Editorial
Editorial is an article in a newspaper that expresses the editor’s opinion about an item of news or an issue.
An editorial is one of the writing styles used to express an opinion or reaction to timely news, event or an issue of concern. Most editorials are used to influence readers to think or act the same way the writer does. Not all editorials take sides on an issue but have one of the following four purposes:
1. Inform: The writer gives careful explanations about a complicated issue.
2. Promote: Writer tries to promote a worthy activity. Get the reader involved.
3. Praise: The writer praises a person or an event.
4. Entertain: The writer encourages or entertains the reader about an important
issue.
We do not intend that editorials should be a routine part of the journal’s format, but the launch issue is a special case, which provides an opportunity to outline very briefly the journal’s editorial policy, to detail some of our ambitions for the new journal and signal the contents of early issues. An editorial is an expression of a newspaper’s “feelings’.
What should an editorial do?
Editors generally edit for content and proofreads material to be printed by the publishing, makes necessary editorial, spelling, and grammar corrections according to appropriate style guides; rewrites for clarity if necessary. They typeset and design, or approve type and design, of printed material; produce or approve graphics and artwork.
They maintain correspondence with authors; resolve questions arising from revision of material, produce supplemental materials for manuscripts. They review and log in all submitted manuscripts; contact author regarding acceptance or rejection, produces promotional and marketing materials for printed piece, maintain all necessary databases; update and purge as necessary to ensure completeness and accuracy, determine need for copyright information and obtain any necessary permission, maintain back copy inventory and may handle subscription, billing, and purchasing transactions.
They should have excellent writing skills and excellent proofreading skills.
Strong design knowledge and knowledge of computer and desktop publishing software are also necessary things with the detail oriented. Ability to work independently and under strong deadline pressure is also a must.
If we see the editors’ main intention towards their editorials we see that they simply try to:
• Criticize or attack: If they criticize, they require suggestions for change. If you launch an attack against something, you must
be impeccable in your charge. An attack is forceful; criticism does not have to be forceful, but it has to be held down with facts and suggestions for change.
• Defend: They want to stand up for an individual or an institution that is under attack by society.
• Endorse: But they want to give solid reasons for their endorsement of a political candidate, an issue, or the reasons behind building a new gymnasium.
• Compliment: They want to show evidence that the compliment is deserved. They do praise when warranted.
• Instigate, advocate or appeal: To instigate editorially would mean that the newspaper intended to go on a crusade for something--improvements in the school study hall system, for example. Or they might advocate that this be accomplished by backing suggestions put out by a school committee that studied the problem. An appeal editorial might mean that they’d encourage people to donate to a school fund drive or vote for a tax levy increase.
• Entertain: An entertaining editorial is good for the reader’s soul, but it should have a worthwhile point and should be written about something worth the reader’s time.
• Predict: Support their predictions with fact.
They have to avoid moralizing editorials. They tend to preach and turn the reader off. Whatever type of editorial we write, it must be built around a logical framework. It must have a/an:
• Introduction: To get the reader’s attention
• Body: To persuade the reader
• Conclusion: To prompt the reader into action
Editorial is an article in a newspaper that expresses the editor’s opinion about an item of news or an issue.
An editorial is one of the writing styles used to express an opinion or reaction to timely news, event or an issue of concern. Most editorials are used to influence readers to think or act the same way the writer does. Not all editorials take sides on an issue but have one of the following four purposes:
1. Inform: The writer gives careful explanations about a complicated issue.
2. Promote: Writer tries to promote a worthy activity. Get the reader involved.
3. Praise: The writer praises a person or an event.
4. Entertain: The writer encourages or entertains the reader about an important
issue.
We do not intend that editorials should be a routine part of the journal’s format, but the launch issue is a special case, which provides an opportunity to outline very briefly the journal’s editorial policy, to detail some of our ambitions for the new journal and signal the contents of early issues. An editorial is an expression of a newspaper’s “feelings’.
What should an editorial do?
Editors generally edit for content and proofreads material to be printed by the publishing, makes necessary editorial, spelling, and grammar corrections according to appropriate style guides; rewrites for clarity if necessary. They typeset and design, or approve type and design, of printed material; produce or approve graphics and artwork.
They maintain correspondence with authors; resolve questions arising from revision of material, produce supplemental materials for manuscripts. They review and log in all submitted manuscripts; contact author regarding acceptance or rejection, produces promotional and marketing materials for printed piece, maintain all necessary databases; update and purge as necessary to ensure completeness and accuracy, determine need for copyright information and obtain any necessary permission, maintain back copy inventory and may handle subscription, billing, and purchasing transactions.
They should have excellent writing skills and excellent proofreading skills.
Strong design knowledge and knowledge of computer and desktop publishing software are also necessary things with the detail oriented. Ability to work independently and under strong deadline pressure is also a must.
If we see the editors’ main intention towards their editorials we see that they simply try to:
• Criticize or attack: If they criticize, they require suggestions for change. If you launch an attack against something, you must
be impeccable in your charge. An attack is forceful; criticism does not have to be forceful, but it has to be held down with facts and suggestions for change.
• Defend: They want to stand up for an individual or an institution that is under attack by society.
• Endorse: But they want to give solid reasons for their endorsement of a political candidate, an issue, or the reasons behind building a new gymnasium.
• Compliment: They want to show evidence that the compliment is deserved. They do praise when warranted.
• Instigate, advocate or appeal: To instigate editorially would mean that the newspaper intended to go on a crusade for something--improvements in the school study hall system, for example. Or they might advocate that this be accomplished by backing suggestions put out by a school committee that studied the problem. An appeal editorial might mean that they’d encourage people to donate to a school fund drive or vote for a tax levy increase.
• Entertain: An entertaining editorial is good for the reader’s soul, but it should have a worthwhile point and should be written about something worth the reader’s time.
• Predict: Support their predictions with fact.
They have to avoid moralizing editorials. They tend to preach and turn the reader off. Whatever type of editorial we write, it must be built around a logical framework. It must have a/an:
• Introduction: To get the reader’s attention
• Body: To persuade the reader
• Conclusion: To prompt the reader into action
Introduction: content analyis
Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. Researchers quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and relationships of such words and concepts, then make inferences about the messages within the texts, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part. Texts can be defined broadly as books, book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising, theater, informal conversation, or really any occurrence of communicative language. Texts in a single study may also represent a variety of different types of occurrences, such as Palmquist's 1990 study of two composition classes, in which he analyzed student and teacher interviews, writing journals, classroom discussions and lectures, and out-of-class interaction sheets. To conduct a content analysis on any such text, the text is coded, or broken down, into manageable categories on a variety of levels--word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or theme--and then examined using one of content analysis' basic methods: conceptual analysis or relational analysis.
History
Historically, content analysis was a time consuming process. Analysis was done manually, or slow mainframe computers were used to analyze punch cards containing data punched in by human coders. Single studies could employ thousands of these cards. Human error and time constraints made this method impractical for large texts. However, despite its impracticality, content analysis was already an often utilized research method by the 1940's. Although initially limited to studies that examined texts for the frequency of the occurrence of identified terms (word counts), by the mid-1950's researchers were already starting to consider the need for more sophisticated methods of analysis, focusing on concepts rather than simply words, and on semantic relationships rather than just presence (de Sola Pool 1959). While both traditions still continue today, content analysis now is also utilized to explore mental models, and their linguistic, affective, cognitive, social, cultural and historical significance.
Types of Content Analysis
In this guide, we discuss two general categories of content analysis: conceptual analysis and relational analysis. Conceptual analysis can be thought of as establishing the existence and frequency of concepts – most often represented by words of phrases – in a text. For instance, say you have a hunch that your favorite poet often writes about hunger. With conceptual analysis you can determine how many times words such as “hunger,” “hungry,” “famished,” or “starving” appear in a volume of poems. In contrast, relational analysis goes one step further by examining the relationships among concepts in a text. Returning to the “hunger” example, with relational analysis, you could identify what other words or phrases “hunger” or “famished” appear next to and then determine what different meanings emerge as a result of these groupings.
To read more about each type of content analysis, click on the items below:
Conceptual Analysis
Relational Analysis
Conceptual Analysis
Traditionally, content analysis has most often been thought of in terms of conceptual analysis. In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination, and the analysis involves quantifying and tallying its presence. Also known as thematic analysis [although this term is somewhat problematic, given its varied definitions in current literature--see Palmquist, Carley, & Dale (1997) vis-a-vis Smith (1992)], the focus here is on looking at the occurrence of selected terms within a text or texts, although the terms may be implicit as well as explicit. While explicit terms obviously are easy to identify, coding for implicit terms and deciding their level of implication is complicated by the need to base judgments on a somewhat subjective system. To attempt to limit the subjectivity, then (as well as to limit problems of reliability and validity), coding such implicit terms usually involves the use of either a specialized dictionary or contextual translation rules. And sometimes, both tools are used--a trend reflected in recent versions of the Harvard and Lasswell dictionaries.
Steps for Conducting Conceptual Analysis
The following discussion of steps that can be followed to code a text or set of texts during conceptual analysis use campaign speeches made by Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign as an example. To read about each step, click on the items in the list below:
Decide the level of analysis.
Decide how many concepts to code for.
Decide whether to code for existence or frequency of a concept.
Decide on how you will distinguish among concepts.
Develop rules for coding your texts.
Decide what to do with "irrelevant" information.
Code the texts.
Analyze your results.
First, the researcher must decide upon the level of analysis. With the health care speeches, to continue the example, the researcher must decide whether to code for a single word, such as "inexpensive," or for sets of words or phrases, such as "coverage for everyone."
The researcher must now decide how many different concepts to code for. This involves developing a pre-defined or interactive set of concepts and categories. The researcher must decide whether or not to code for every single positive or negative word that appears, or only certain ones that the researcher determines are most relevant to health care. Then, with this pre-defined number set, the researcher has to determine how much flexibility he/she allows him/herself when coding. The question of whether the researcher codes only from this pre-defined set, or allows him/herself to add relevant categories not included in the set as he/she finds them in the text, must be answered. Determining a certain number and set of concepts allows a researcher to examine a text for very specific things, keeping him/her on task. But introducing a level of coding flexibility allows new, important material to be incorporated into the coding process that could have significant bearings on one's results.
After a certain number and set of concepts are chosen for coding , the researcher must answer a key question: is he/she going to code for existence or frequency? This is important, because it changes the coding process. When coding for existence, "inexpensive" would only be counted once, no matter how many times it appeared. This would be a very basic coding process and would give the researcher a very limited perspective of the text. However, the number of times "inexpensive" appears in a text might be more indicative of importance. Knowing that "inexpensive" appeared 50 times, for example, compared to 15 appearances of "coverage for everyone," might lead a researcher to interpret that Clinton is trying to sell his health care plan based more on economic benefits, not comprehensive coverage. Knowing that "inexpensive" appeared, but not that it appeared 50 times, would not allow the researcher to make this interpretation, regardless of whether it is valid or not.
The researcher must next decide on the level of generalization, i.e. whether concepts are to be coded exactly as they appear, or if they can be recorded as the same even when they appear in different forms. For example, "expensive" might also appear as "expensiveness." The research needs to determine if the two words mean radically different things to him/her, or if they are similar enough that they can be coded as being the same thing, i.e. "expensive words." In line with this, is the need to determine the level of implication one is going to allow. This entails more than subtle differences in tense or spelling, as with "expensive" and "expensiveness."
Determining the level of implication would allow the researcher to code not only for the word "expensive," but also for words that imply "expensive." This could perhaps include technical words, jargon, or political euphemism, such as "economically challenging," that the researcher decides does not merit a separate category, but is better represented under the category "expensive," due to its implicit meaning of "expensive."
After taking the generalization of concepts into consideration, a researcher will want to create translation rules that will allow him/her to streamline and organize the coding process so that he/she is coding for exactly what he/she wants to code for. Developing a set of rules helps the researcher insure that he/she is coding things consistently throughout the text, in the same way every time. If a researcher coded "economically challenging" as a separate category from "expensive" in one paragraph, then coded it under the umbrella of "expensive" when it occurred in the next paragraph, his/her data would be invalid. The interpretations drawn from that data will subsequently be invalid as well. Translation rules protect against this and give the coding process a crucial level of consistency and coherence.
The next choice a researcher must make involves irrelevant information. The researcher must decide whether irrelevant information should be ignored (as Weber, 1990, suggests), or used to reexamine and/or alter the coding scheme. In the case of this example, words like "and" and "the," as they appear by themselves, would be ignored. They add nothing to the quantification of words like "inexpensive" and "expensive" and can be disregarded without impacting the outcome of the coding.
Once these choices about irrelevant information are made, the next step is to code the text. This is done either by hand, i.e. reading through the text and manually writing down concept occurrences, or through the use of various computer programs. Coding with a computer is one of contemporary conceptual analysis' greatest assets. By inputting one's categories, content analysis programs can easily automate the coding process and examine huge amounts of data, and a wider range of texts, quickly and efficiently. But automation is very dependent on the researcher's preparation and category construction. When coding is done manually, a researcher can recognize errors far more easily. A computer is only a tool and can only code based on the information it is given. This problem is most apparent when coding for implicit information, where category preparation is essential for accurate coding
Once the coding is done, the researcher examines the data and attempts to draw whatever conclusions and generalizations are possible. Of course, before these can be drawn, the researcher must decide what to do with the information in the text that is not coded. One's options include either deleting or skipping over unwanted material, or viewing all information as relevant and important and using it to reexamine, reassess and perhaps even alter one's coding scheme. Furthermore, given that the conceptual analyst is dealing only with quantitative data, the levels of interpretation and generalizability are very limited. The researcher can only extrapolate as far as the data will allow. But it is possible to see trends, for example, that are indicative of much larger ideas. Using the example from step three, if the concept "inexpensive" appears 50 times, compared to 15 appearances of "coverage for everyone," then the researcher can pretty safely extrapolate that there does appear to be a greater emphasis on the economics of the health care plan, as opposed to its universal coverage for all Americans. It must be kept in mind that conceptual analysis, while extremely useful and effective for providing this type of information when done right, is limited by its focus and the quantitative nature of its examination. To more fully explore the relationships that exist between these concepts, one must turn to relational analysis.
Relational Analysis
Relational analysis, like conceptual analysis, begins with the act of identifying concepts present in a given text or set of texts. However, relational analysis seeks to go beyond presence by exploring the relationships between the concepts identified. Relational analysis has also been termed semantic analysis (Palmquist, Carley, & Dale, 1997). In other words, the focus of relational analysis is to look for semantic, or meaningful, relationships. Individual concepts, in and of themselves, are viewed as having no inherent meaning. Rather, meaning is a product of the relationships among concepts in a text. Carley (1992) asserts that concepts are "ideational kernels;" these kernels can be thought of as symbols which acquire meaning through their connections to other symbols.
Relational Analysis: Theoretical Influences
Relational Analysis: Overview of Methodology
Relational Analysis: Steps for Conducting an Analysis
Theoretical Influences on Relational Analysis
The kind of analysis that researchers employ will vary significantly according to their theoretical approach. Key theoretical approaches that inform content analysis include linguistics and cognitive science.
Linguistic approaches to content analysis focus analysis of texts on the level of a linguistic unit, typically single clause units. One example of this type of research is Gottschalk (1975), who developed an automated procedure which analyzes each clause in a text and assigns it a numerical score based on several emotional/psychological scales. Another technique is to code a text grammatically into clauses and parts of speech to establish a matrix representation (Carley, 1990).
Approaches that derive from cognitive science include the creation of decision maps and mental models. Decision maps attempt to represent the relationship(s) between ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and information available to an author when making a decision within a text. These relationships can be represented as logical, inferential, causal, sequential, and mathematical relationships. Typically, two of these links are compared in a single study, and are analyzed as networks. For example, Heise (1987) used logical and sequential links to examine symbolic interaction. This methodology is thought of as a more generalized cognitive mapping technique, rather than the more specific mental models approach.
Mental models are groups or networks of interrelated concepts that are thought to reflect conscious or subconscious perceptions of reality. According to cognitive scientists, internal mental structures are created as people draw inferences and gather information about the world. Mental models are a more specific approach to mapping because beyond extraction and comparison because they can be numerically and graphically analyzed. Such models rely heavily on the use of computers to help analyze and construct mapping representations. Typically, studies based on this approach follow five general steps:
Identifing concepts
-Defining relationship types
-Coding the text on the basis of 1 and 2
-Coding the statements
-Graphically displaying and numerically analyzing the resulting maps
To create the model, a researcher converts a text into a map of concepts and relations; the map is then analyzed on the level of concepts and statements, where a statement consists of two concepts and their relationship. Carley (1990) asserts that this makes possible the comparison of a wide variety of maps, representing multiple sources, implicit and explicit information, as well as socially shared cognitions
Relational Analysis: Overview of Methods
As with other sorts of inquiry, initial choices with regard to what is being studied and/or coded for often determine the possibilities of that particular study. For relational analysis, it is important to first decide which concept type(s) will be explored in the analysis. Studies have been conducted with as few as one and as many as 500 concept categories. Obviously, too many categories may obscure your results and too few can lead to unreliable and potentially invalid conclusions. Therefore, it is important to allow the context and necessities of your research to guide your coding procedures.
The steps to relational analysis that we consider in this guide suggest some of the possible avenues available to a researcher doing content analysis. We provide an example to make the process easier to grasp. However, the choices made within the context of the example are but only a few of many possibilities. The diversity of techniques available suggests that there is quite a bit of enthusiasm for this mode of research. Once a procedure is rigorously tested, it can be applied and compared across populations over time. The process of relational analysis has achieved a high degree of computer automation but still is, like most forms of research, time consuming. Perhaps the strongest claim that can be made is that it maintains a high degree of statistical rigor without losing the richness of detail apparent in even more qualitative methods.
Steps for Conducting Relational Analysis
The following discussion of the steps (or, perhaps more accurately, strategies) that can be followed to code a text or set of texts during relational analysis. These explanations are accompanied by examples of relational analysis possibilities for statements made by Bill Clinton during the 1998 hearings. To read about each step, click on the items in the list below:
Identify the Question.
Choose a sample or samples for analysis.
Determine the type of analysis.
Reduce the text to categories and code for words or patterns.
Explore the relationships between concepts (Strength, Sign & Direction).
Code the relationships.
Perform Statisical Analyses.
Map out the Representations.
step:Identify the question
The question is important because it indicates where you are headed and why. Without a focused question, the concept types and options open to interpretation are limitless and therefore the analysis difficult to complete. Possibilities for the Hairy Hearings of 1998 might be: What did Bill Clinton say in the speech? OR What concrete information did he present to the public?
step:choose a sample
Once the question has been identified, the researcher must select sections of text/speech from the hearings in which Bill Clinton may have not told the entire truth or is obviously holding back information. For relational content analysis, the primary consideration is how much information to preserve for analysis. One must be careful not to limit the results by doing so, but the researcher must also take special care not to take on so much that the coding process becomes too heavy and extensive to supply worthwhile results.
step:Determine the type of analysis
Once the sample has been chosen for analysis, it is necessary to determine what type or types of relationships you would like to examine. There are different subcategories of relational analysis that can be used to examine the relationships in texts. For more information regarding subcategories of relational analysis, see the discussion of Three Subcategories of Relational Analysis.
In this example, we will use proximity analysis because it is concerned with the co-occurrence of explicit concepts in the text. In this instance, we are not particularly interested in affect extraction because we are trying to get to the hard facts of what exactly was said rather than determining the emotional considerations of speaker and receivers surrounding the speech which may be unrecoverable.
step: Reduce the text................
Once the subcategory of analysis is chosen, the selected text must be reviewed to determine the level of analysis. The researcher must decide whether to code for a single word, such as "perhaps," or for sets of words or phrases like "I may have forgotten."
At the simplest level, a researcher can code merely for existence. This is not to say that simplicity of procedure leads to simplistic results. Many studies have successfully employed this strategy. For example, Palmquist (1990) did not attempt to establish the relationships among concept terms in the classrooms he studied; his study did, however, look at the change in the presence of concepts over the course of the semester, comparing a map analysis from the beginning of the semester to one constructed at the end. On the other hand, the requirement of one's specific research question may necessitate deeper levels of coding to preserve greater detail for analysis.
In relation to our extended example, the researcher might code for how often Bill Clinton used words that were ambiguous, held double meanings, or left an opening for change or "re-evaluation." The researcher might also choose to code for what words he used that have such an ambiguous nature in relation to the importance of the information directly related to those words.
Step Five: Explore the Relationships Between Concepts
Once words are coded, the text can be analyzed for the relationships among the concepts set forth. There are three concepts which play a central role in exploring the relations among concepts in content analysis.
Strength of Relationship: Refers to the degree to which two or more concepts are related. These relationships are easiest to analyze, compare, and graph when all relationships between concepts are considered to be equal. However, assigning strength to relationships retains a greater degree of the detail found in the original text. Identifying strength of a relationship is key when determining whether or not words like unless, perhaps, or maybe are related to a particular section of text, phrase, or idea.
Sign of a Relationship: Refers to whether or not the concepts are positively or negatively related. To illustrate, the concept "bear" is negatively related to the concept "stock market" in the same sense as the concept "bull" is positively related. Thus "it's a bear market" could be coded to show a negative relationship between "bear" and "market". Another approach to coding for strength entails the creation of separate categories for binary oppositions. The above example emphasizes "bull" as the negation of "bear," but could be coded as being two separate categories, one positive and one negative. There has been little research to determine the benefits and liabilities of these differing strategies. Use of Sign coding for relationships in regard to the hearings my be to find out whether or not the words under observation or in question were used adversely or in favor of the concepts (this is tricky, but important to establishing meaning).
Direction of the Relationship: Refers to the type of relationship categories exhibit. Coding for this sort of information can be useful in establishing, for example, the impact of new information in a decision making process. Various types of directional relationships include, "X implies Y," "X occurs before Y" and "if X then Y," or quite simply the decision whether concept X is the "prime mover" of Y or vice versa. In the case of the 1998 hearings, the researcher might note that, "maybe implies doubt," "perhaps occurs before statements of clarification," and "if possibly exists, then there is room for Clinton to change his stance." In some cases, concepts can be said to be bi-directional, or having equal influence. This is equivalent to ignoring directionality. Both approaches are useful, but differ in focus. Coding all categories as bi-directional is most useful for exploratory studies where pre-coding may influence results, and is also most easily automated, or computer coded.
Step Six: Code the Relationships
One of the main differences between conceptual analysis and relational analysis is that the statements or relationships between concepts are coded. At this point, to continue our extended example, it is important to take special care with assigning value to the relationships in an effort to determine whether the ambiguous words in Bill Clinton's speech are just fillers, or hold information about the statements he is making.
Step Seven: Perform Statistical Analyses
This step involves conducting statistical analyses of the data you've coded during your relational analysis. This may involve exploring for differences or looking for relationships among the variables you've identified in your study. For more information about conducting statistical analysis, see our reference unit on Statistics.
Step Eight: Map the Representations
In addition to statistical analysis, relational analysis often leads to viewing the representations of the concepts and their associations in a text (or across texts) in a graphical -- or map -- form. Relational analysis is also informed by a variety of different theoretical approaches: linguistic content analysis, decision mapping, and mental models
Content Analysis: Commentary
The authors of this guide have created the following commentaries on content analysis. To read these commentaries, please click on the items below:
Issues of Reliability and Validity
Advantages of Content Analysis
Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Issues of Reliability & Validity
The issues of reliability and validity are concurrent with those addressed in other research methods. The reliability of a content analysis study refers to its stability, or the tendency for coders to consistently re-code the same data in the same way over a period of time; reproducibility, or the tendency for a group of coders to classify categories membership in the same way; and accuracy, or the extent to which the classification of a text corresponds to a standard or norm statistically. Gottschalk (1995) points out that the issue of reliability may be further complicated by the inescapably human nature of researchers. For this reason, he suggests that coding errors can only be minimized, and not eliminated (he shoots for 80% as an acceptable margin for reliability).
On the other hand, the validity of a content analysis study refers to the correspondence of the categories to the conclusions, and the generalizability of results to a theory.
The validity of categories in implicit concept analysis, in particular, is achieved by utilizing multiple classifiers to arrive at an agreed upon definition of the category. For example, a content analysis study might measure the occurrence of the concept category "communist" in presidential inaugural speeches. Using multiple classifiers, the concept category can be broadened to include synonyms such as "red," "Soviet threat," "pinkos," "godless infidels" and "Marxist sympathizers." "Communist" is held to be the explicit variable, while "red," etc. are the implicit variables.
The overarching problem of concept analysis research is the challengeable nature of conclusions reached by its inferential procedures. The question lies in what level of implication is allowable, i.e. do the conclusions follow from the data or are they explainable due to some other phenomenon? For occurrence-specific studies, for example, can the second occurrence of a word carry equal weight as the ninety-ninth? Reasonable conclusions can be drawn from substantive amounts of quantitative data, but the question of proof may still remain unanswered.
This problem is again best illustrated when one uses computer programs to conduct word counts. The problem of distinguishing between synonyms and homonyms can completely throw off one's results, invalidating any conclusions one infers from the results. The word "mine," for example, variously denotes a personal pronoun, an explosive device, and a deep hole in the ground from which ore is extracted. One may obtain an accurate count of that word's occurrence and frequency, but not have an accurate accounting of the meaning inherent in each particular usage. For example, one may find 50 occurrences of the word "mine." But, if one is only looking specifically for "mine" as an explosive device, and 17 of the occurrences are actually personal pronouns, the resulting 50 is an inaccurate result. Any conclusions drawn as a result of that number would render that conclusion invalid.
The generalizability of one's conclusions, then, is very dependent on how one determines concept categories, as well as on how reliable those categories are. It is imperative that one defines categories that accurately measure the idea and/or items one is seeking to measure. Akin to this is the construction of rules. Developing rules that allow one, and others, to categorize and code the same data in the same way over a period of time, referred to as stability, is essential to the success of a conceptual analysis. Reproducibility, not only of specific categories, but of general methods applied to establishing all sets of categories, makes a study, and its subsequent conclusions and results, more sound. A study which does this, i.e. in which the classification of a text corresponds to a standard or norm, is said to have accuracy.
Advantages of Content Analysis
Content analysis offers several advantages to researchers who consider using it. In particular, content analysis:
looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets at the central aspect of social interaction
can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations
can provides valuable historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts
allows a closeness to text which can alternate between specific categories and relationships and also statistically analyzes the coded form of the text
can be used to interpret texts for purposes such as the development of expert systems (since knowledge and rules can both be coded in terms of explicit statements about the relationships among concepts)
is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions
provides insight into complex models of human thought and language use
Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Content analysis suffers from several disadvantages, both theoretical and procedural. In particular, content analysis:
can be extremely time consuming
is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation
is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and impacts implied in a study
is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts
tends too often to simply consist of word counts
often disregards the context that produced the text, as well as the state of things after the text is produced
can be difficult to automate or computerize
Content Analysis: Examples
The Palmquist, Carley and Dale study, a summary of "Applications of Computer-Aided Text Analysis: Analyzing Literary and Non-Literary Texts" (1997) is an example of two studies that have been conducted using both conceptual and relational analysis. The Problematic Text for Content Analysis shows the differences in results obtained by a conceptual and a relational approach to a study.
Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. Researchers quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and relationships of such words and concepts, then make inferences about the messages within the texts, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part. Texts can be defined broadly as books, book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising, theater, informal conversation, or really any occurrence of communicative language. Texts in a single study may also represent a variety of different types of occurrences, such as Palmquist's 1990 study of two composition classes, in which he analyzed student and teacher interviews, writing journals, classroom discussions and lectures, and out-of-class interaction sheets. To conduct a content analysis on any such text, the text is coded, or broken down, into manageable categories on a variety of levels--word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or theme--and then examined using one of content analysis' basic methods: conceptual analysis or relational analysis.
History
Historically, content analysis was a time consuming process. Analysis was done manually, or slow mainframe computers were used to analyze punch cards containing data punched in by human coders. Single studies could employ thousands of these cards. Human error and time constraints made this method impractical for large texts. However, despite its impracticality, content analysis was already an often utilized research method by the 1940's. Although initially limited to studies that examined texts for the frequency of the occurrence of identified terms (word counts), by the mid-1950's researchers were already starting to consider the need for more sophisticated methods of analysis, focusing on concepts rather than simply words, and on semantic relationships rather than just presence (de Sola Pool 1959). While both traditions still continue today, content analysis now is also utilized to explore mental models, and their linguistic, affective, cognitive, social, cultural and historical significance.
Types of Content Analysis
In this guide, we discuss two general categories of content analysis: conceptual analysis and relational analysis. Conceptual analysis can be thought of as establishing the existence and frequency of concepts – most often represented by words of phrases – in a text. For instance, say you have a hunch that your favorite poet often writes about hunger. With conceptual analysis you can determine how many times words such as “hunger,” “hungry,” “famished,” or “starving” appear in a volume of poems. In contrast, relational analysis goes one step further by examining the relationships among concepts in a text. Returning to the “hunger” example, with relational analysis, you could identify what other words or phrases “hunger” or “famished” appear next to and then determine what different meanings emerge as a result of these groupings.
To read more about each type of content analysis, click on the items below:
Conceptual Analysis
Relational Analysis
Conceptual Analysis
Traditionally, content analysis has most often been thought of in terms of conceptual analysis. In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination, and the analysis involves quantifying and tallying its presence. Also known as thematic analysis [although this term is somewhat problematic, given its varied definitions in current literature--see Palmquist, Carley, & Dale (1997) vis-a-vis Smith (1992)], the focus here is on looking at the occurrence of selected terms within a text or texts, although the terms may be implicit as well as explicit. While explicit terms obviously are easy to identify, coding for implicit terms and deciding their level of implication is complicated by the need to base judgments on a somewhat subjective system. To attempt to limit the subjectivity, then (as well as to limit problems of reliability and validity), coding such implicit terms usually involves the use of either a specialized dictionary or contextual translation rules. And sometimes, both tools are used--a trend reflected in recent versions of the Harvard and Lasswell dictionaries.
Steps for Conducting Conceptual Analysis
The following discussion of steps that can be followed to code a text or set of texts during conceptual analysis use campaign speeches made by Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign as an example. To read about each step, click on the items in the list below:
Decide the level of analysis.
Decide how many concepts to code for.
Decide whether to code for existence or frequency of a concept.
Decide on how you will distinguish among concepts.
Develop rules for coding your texts.
Decide what to do with "irrelevant" information.
Code the texts.
Analyze your results.
First, the researcher must decide upon the level of analysis. With the health care speeches, to continue the example, the researcher must decide whether to code for a single word, such as "inexpensive," or for sets of words or phrases, such as "coverage for everyone."
The researcher must now decide how many different concepts to code for. This involves developing a pre-defined or interactive set of concepts and categories. The researcher must decide whether or not to code for every single positive or negative word that appears, or only certain ones that the researcher determines are most relevant to health care. Then, with this pre-defined number set, the researcher has to determine how much flexibility he/she allows him/herself when coding. The question of whether the researcher codes only from this pre-defined set, or allows him/herself to add relevant categories not included in the set as he/she finds them in the text, must be answered. Determining a certain number and set of concepts allows a researcher to examine a text for very specific things, keeping him/her on task. But introducing a level of coding flexibility allows new, important material to be incorporated into the coding process that could have significant bearings on one's results.
After a certain number and set of concepts are chosen for coding , the researcher must answer a key question: is he/she going to code for existence or frequency? This is important, because it changes the coding process. When coding for existence, "inexpensive" would only be counted once, no matter how many times it appeared. This would be a very basic coding process and would give the researcher a very limited perspective of the text. However, the number of times "inexpensive" appears in a text might be more indicative of importance. Knowing that "inexpensive" appeared 50 times, for example, compared to 15 appearances of "coverage for everyone," might lead a researcher to interpret that Clinton is trying to sell his health care plan based more on economic benefits, not comprehensive coverage. Knowing that "inexpensive" appeared, but not that it appeared 50 times, would not allow the researcher to make this interpretation, regardless of whether it is valid or not.
The researcher must next decide on the level of generalization, i.e. whether concepts are to be coded exactly as they appear, or if they can be recorded as the same even when they appear in different forms. For example, "expensive" might also appear as "expensiveness." The research needs to determine if the two words mean radically different things to him/her, or if they are similar enough that they can be coded as being the same thing, i.e. "expensive words." In line with this, is the need to determine the level of implication one is going to allow. This entails more than subtle differences in tense or spelling, as with "expensive" and "expensiveness."
Determining the level of implication would allow the researcher to code not only for the word "expensive," but also for words that imply "expensive." This could perhaps include technical words, jargon, or political euphemism, such as "economically challenging," that the researcher decides does not merit a separate category, but is better represented under the category "expensive," due to its implicit meaning of "expensive."
After taking the generalization of concepts into consideration, a researcher will want to create translation rules that will allow him/her to streamline and organize the coding process so that he/she is coding for exactly what he/she wants to code for. Developing a set of rules helps the researcher insure that he/she is coding things consistently throughout the text, in the same way every time. If a researcher coded "economically challenging" as a separate category from "expensive" in one paragraph, then coded it under the umbrella of "expensive" when it occurred in the next paragraph, his/her data would be invalid. The interpretations drawn from that data will subsequently be invalid as well. Translation rules protect against this and give the coding process a crucial level of consistency and coherence.
The next choice a researcher must make involves irrelevant information. The researcher must decide whether irrelevant information should be ignored (as Weber, 1990, suggests), or used to reexamine and/or alter the coding scheme. In the case of this example, words like "and" and "the," as they appear by themselves, would be ignored. They add nothing to the quantification of words like "inexpensive" and "expensive" and can be disregarded without impacting the outcome of the coding.
Once these choices about irrelevant information are made, the next step is to code the text. This is done either by hand, i.e. reading through the text and manually writing down concept occurrences, or through the use of various computer programs. Coding with a computer is one of contemporary conceptual analysis' greatest assets. By inputting one's categories, content analysis programs can easily automate the coding process and examine huge amounts of data, and a wider range of texts, quickly and efficiently. But automation is very dependent on the researcher's preparation and category construction. When coding is done manually, a researcher can recognize errors far more easily. A computer is only a tool and can only code based on the information it is given. This problem is most apparent when coding for implicit information, where category preparation is essential for accurate coding
Once the coding is done, the researcher examines the data and attempts to draw whatever conclusions and generalizations are possible. Of course, before these can be drawn, the researcher must decide what to do with the information in the text that is not coded. One's options include either deleting or skipping over unwanted material, or viewing all information as relevant and important and using it to reexamine, reassess and perhaps even alter one's coding scheme. Furthermore, given that the conceptual analyst is dealing only with quantitative data, the levels of interpretation and generalizability are very limited. The researcher can only extrapolate as far as the data will allow. But it is possible to see trends, for example, that are indicative of much larger ideas. Using the example from step three, if the concept "inexpensive" appears 50 times, compared to 15 appearances of "coverage for everyone," then the researcher can pretty safely extrapolate that there does appear to be a greater emphasis on the economics of the health care plan, as opposed to its universal coverage for all Americans. It must be kept in mind that conceptual analysis, while extremely useful and effective for providing this type of information when done right, is limited by its focus and the quantitative nature of its examination. To more fully explore the relationships that exist between these concepts, one must turn to relational analysis.
Relational Analysis
Relational analysis, like conceptual analysis, begins with the act of identifying concepts present in a given text or set of texts. However, relational analysis seeks to go beyond presence by exploring the relationships between the concepts identified. Relational analysis has also been termed semantic analysis (Palmquist, Carley, & Dale, 1997). In other words, the focus of relational analysis is to look for semantic, or meaningful, relationships. Individual concepts, in and of themselves, are viewed as having no inherent meaning. Rather, meaning is a product of the relationships among concepts in a text. Carley (1992) asserts that concepts are "ideational kernels;" these kernels can be thought of as symbols which acquire meaning through their connections to other symbols.
Relational Analysis: Theoretical Influences
Relational Analysis: Overview of Methodology
Relational Analysis: Steps for Conducting an Analysis
Theoretical Influences on Relational Analysis
The kind of analysis that researchers employ will vary significantly according to their theoretical approach. Key theoretical approaches that inform content analysis include linguistics and cognitive science.
Linguistic approaches to content analysis focus analysis of texts on the level of a linguistic unit, typically single clause units. One example of this type of research is Gottschalk (1975), who developed an automated procedure which analyzes each clause in a text and assigns it a numerical score based on several emotional/psychological scales. Another technique is to code a text grammatically into clauses and parts of speech to establish a matrix representation (Carley, 1990).
Approaches that derive from cognitive science include the creation of decision maps and mental models. Decision maps attempt to represent the relationship(s) between ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and information available to an author when making a decision within a text. These relationships can be represented as logical, inferential, causal, sequential, and mathematical relationships. Typically, two of these links are compared in a single study, and are analyzed as networks. For example, Heise (1987) used logical and sequential links to examine symbolic interaction. This methodology is thought of as a more generalized cognitive mapping technique, rather than the more specific mental models approach.
Mental models are groups or networks of interrelated concepts that are thought to reflect conscious or subconscious perceptions of reality. According to cognitive scientists, internal mental structures are created as people draw inferences and gather information about the world. Mental models are a more specific approach to mapping because beyond extraction and comparison because they can be numerically and graphically analyzed. Such models rely heavily on the use of computers to help analyze and construct mapping representations. Typically, studies based on this approach follow five general steps:
Identifing concepts
-Defining relationship types
-Coding the text on the basis of 1 and 2
-Coding the statements
-Graphically displaying and numerically analyzing the resulting maps
To create the model, a researcher converts a text into a map of concepts and relations; the map is then analyzed on the level of concepts and statements, where a statement consists of two concepts and their relationship. Carley (1990) asserts that this makes possible the comparison of a wide variety of maps, representing multiple sources, implicit and explicit information, as well as socially shared cognitions
Relational Analysis: Overview of Methods
As with other sorts of inquiry, initial choices with regard to what is being studied and/or coded for often determine the possibilities of that particular study. For relational analysis, it is important to first decide which concept type(s) will be explored in the analysis. Studies have been conducted with as few as one and as many as 500 concept categories. Obviously, too many categories may obscure your results and too few can lead to unreliable and potentially invalid conclusions. Therefore, it is important to allow the context and necessities of your research to guide your coding procedures.
The steps to relational analysis that we consider in this guide suggest some of the possible avenues available to a researcher doing content analysis. We provide an example to make the process easier to grasp. However, the choices made within the context of the example are but only a few of many possibilities. The diversity of techniques available suggests that there is quite a bit of enthusiasm for this mode of research. Once a procedure is rigorously tested, it can be applied and compared across populations over time. The process of relational analysis has achieved a high degree of computer automation but still is, like most forms of research, time consuming. Perhaps the strongest claim that can be made is that it maintains a high degree of statistical rigor without losing the richness of detail apparent in even more qualitative methods.
Steps for Conducting Relational Analysis
The following discussion of the steps (or, perhaps more accurately, strategies) that can be followed to code a text or set of texts during relational analysis. These explanations are accompanied by examples of relational analysis possibilities for statements made by Bill Clinton during the 1998 hearings. To read about each step, click on the items in the list below:
Identify the Question.
Choose a sample or samples for analysis.
Determine the type of analysis.
Reduce the text to categories and code for words or patterns.
Explore the relationships between concepts (Strength, Sign & Direction).
Code the relationships.
Perform Statisical Analyses.
Map out the Representations.
step:Identify the question
The question is important because it indicates where you are headed and why. Without a focused question, the concept types and options open to interpretation are limitless and therefore the analysis difficult to complete. Possibilities for the Hairy Hearings of 1998 might be: What did Bill Clinton say in the speech? OR What concrete information did he present to the public?
step:choose a sample
Once the question has been identified, the researcher must select sections of text/speech from the hearings in which Bill Clinton may have not told the entire truth or is obviously holding back information. For relational content analysis, the primary consideration is how much information to preserve for analysis. One must be careful not to limit the results by doing so, but the researcher must also take special care not to take on so much that the coding process becomes too heavy and extensive to supply worthwhile results.
step:Determine the type of analysis
Once the sample has been chosen for analysis, it is necessary to determine what type or types of relationships you would like to examine. There are different subcategories of relational analysis that can be used to examine the relationships in texts. For more information regarding subcategories of relational analysis, see the discussion of Three Subcategories of Relational Analysis.
In this example, we will use proximity analysis because it is concerned with the co-occurrence of explicit concepts in the text. In this instance, we are not particularly interested in affect extraction because we are trying to get to the hard facts of what exactly was said rather than determining the emotional considerations of speaker and receivers surrounding the speech which may be unrecoverable.
step: Reduce the text................
Once the subcategory of analysis is chosen, the selected text must be reviewed to determine the level of analysis. The researcher must decide whether to code for a single word, such as "perhaps," or for sets of words or phrases like "I may have forgotten."
At the simplest level, a researcher can code merely for existence. This is not to say that simplicity of procedure leads to simplistic results. Many studies have successfully employed this strategy. For example, Palmquist (1990) did not attempt to establish the relationships among concept terms in the classrooms he studied; his study did, however, look at the change in the presence of concepts over the course of the semester, comparing a map analysis from the beginning of the semester to one constructed at the end. On the other hand, the requirement of one's specific research question may necessitate deeper levels of coding to preserve greater detail for analysis.
In relation to our extended example, the researcher might code for how often Bill Clinton used words that were ambiguous, held double meanings, or left an opening for change or "re-evaluation." The researcher might also choose to code for what words he used that have such an ambiguous nature in relation to the importance of the information directly related to those words.
Step Five: Explore the Relationships Between Concepts
Once words are coded, the text can be analyzed for the relationships among the concepts set forth. There are three concepts which play a central role in exploring the relations among concepts in content analysis.
Strength of Relationship: Refers to the degree to which two or more concepts are related. These relationships are easiest to analyze, compare, and graph when all relationships between concepts are considered to be equal. However, assigning strength to relationships retains a greater degree of the detail found in the original text. Identifying strength of a relationship is key when determining whether or not words like unless, perhaps, or maybe are related to a particular section of text, phrase, or idea.
Sign of a Relationship: Refers to whether or not the concepts are positively or negatively related. To illustrate, the concept "bear" is negatively related to the concept "stock market" in the same sense as the concept "bull" is positively related. Thus "it's a bear market" could be coded to show a negative relationship between "bear" and "market". Another approach to coding for strength entails the creation of separate categories for binary oppositions. The above example emphasizes "bull" as the negation of "bear," but could be coded as being two separate categories, one positive and one negative. There has been little research to determine the benefits and liabilities of these differing strategies. Use of Sign coding for relationships in regard to the hearings my be to find out whether or not the words under observation or in question were used adversely or in favor of the concepts (this is tricky, but important to establishing meaning).
Direction of the Relationship: Refers to the type of relationship categories exhibit. Coding for this sort of information can be useful in establishing, for example, the impact of new information in a decision making process. Various types of directional relationships include, "X implies Y," "X occurs before Y" and "if X then Y," or quite simply the decision whether concept X is the "prime mover" of Y or vice versa. In the case of the 1998 hearings, the researcher might note that, "maybe implies doubt," "perhaps occurs before statements of clarification," and "if possibly exists, then there is room for Clinton to change his stance." In some cases, concepts can be said to be bi-directional, or having equal influence. This is equivalent to ignoring directionality. Both approaches are useful, but differ in focus. Coding all categories as bi-directional is most useful for exploratory studies where pre-coding may influence results, and is also most easily automated, or computer coded.
Step Six: Code the Relationships
One of the main differences between conceptual analysis and relational analysis is that the statements or relationships between concepts are coded. At this point, to continue our extended example, it is important to take special care with assigning value to the relationships in an effort to determine whether the ambiguous words in Bill Clinton's speech are just fillers, or hold information about the statements he is making.
Step Seven: Perform Statistical Analyses
This step involves conducting statistical analyses of the data you've coded during your relational analysis. This may involve exploring for differences or looking for relationships among the variables you've identified in your study. For more information about conducting statistical analysis, see our reference unit on Statistics.
Step Eight: Map the Representations
In addition to statistical analysis, relational analysis often leads to viewing the representations of the concepts and their associations in a text (or across texts) in a graphical -- or map -- form. Relational analysis is also informed by a variety of different theoretical approaches: linguistic content analysis, decision mapping, and mental models
Content Analysis: Commentary
The authors of this guide have created the following commentaries on content analysis. To read these commentaries, please click on the items below:
Issues of Reliability and Validity
Advantages of Content Analysis
Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Issues of Reliability & Validity
The issues of reliability and validity are concurrent with those addressed in other research methods. The reliability of a content analysis study refers to its stability, or the tendency for coders to consistently re-code the same data in the same way over a period of time; reproducibility, or the tendency for a group of coders to classify categories membership in the same way; and accuracy, or the extent to which the classification of a text corresponds to a standard or norm statistically. Gottschalk (1995) points out that the issue of reliability may be further complicated by the inescapably human nature of researchers. For this reason, he suggests that coding errors can only be minimized, and not eliminated (he shoots for 80% as an acceptable margin for reliability).
On the other hand, the validity of a content analysis study refers to the correspondence of the categories to the conclusions, and the generalizability of results to a theory.
The validity of categories in implicit concept analysis, in particular, is achieved by utilizing multiple classifiers to arrive at an agreed upon definition of the category. For example, a content analysis study might measure the occurrence of the concept category "communist" in presidential inaugural speeches. Using multiple classifiers, the concept category can be broadened to include synonyms such as "red," "Soviet threat," "pinkos," "godless infidels" and "Marxist sympathizers." "Communist" is held to be the explicit variable, while "red," etc. are the implicit variables.
The overarching problem of concept analysis research is the challengeable nature of conclusions reached by its inferential procedures. The question lies in what level of implication is allowable, i.e. do the conclusions follow from the data or are they explainable due to some other phenomenon? For occurrence-specific studies, for example, can the second occurrence of a word carry equal weight as the ninety-ninth? Reasonable conclusions can be drawn from substantive amounts of quantitative data, but the question of proof may still remain unanswered.
This problem is again best illustrated when one uses computer programs to conduct word counts. The problem of distinguishing between synonyms and homonyms can completely throw off one's results, invalidating any conclusions one infers from the results. The word "mine," for example, variously denotes a personal pronoun, an explosive device, and a deep hole in the ground from which ore is extracted. One may obtain an accurate count of that word's occurrence and frequency, but not have an accurate accounting of the meaning inherent in each particular usage. For example, one may find 50 occurrences of the word "mine." But, if one is only looking specifically for "mine" as an explosive device, and 17 of the occurrences are actually personal pronouns, the resulting 50 is an inaccurate result. Any conclusions drawn as a result of that number would render that conclusion invalid.
The generalizability of one's conclusions, then, is very dependent on how one determines concept categories, as well as on how reliable those categories are. It is imperative that one defines categories that accurately measure the idea and/or items one is seeking to measure. Akin to this is the construction of rules. Developing rules that allow one, and others, to categorize and code the same data in the same way over a period of time, referred to as stability, is essential to the success of a conceptual analysis. Reproducibility, not only of specific categories, but of general methods applied to establishing all sets of categories, makes a study, and its subsequent conclusions and results, more sound. A study which does this, i.e. in which the classification of a text corresponds to a standard or norm, is said to have accuracy.
Advantages of Content Analysis
Content analysis offers several advantages to researchers who consider using it. In particular, content analysis:
looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets at the central aspect of social interaction
can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations
can provides valuable historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts
allows a closeness to text which can alternate between specific categories and relationships and also statistically analyzes the coded form of the text
can be used to interpret texts for purposes such as the development of expert systems (since knowledge and rules can both be coded in terms of explicit statements about the relationships among concepts)
is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions
provides insight into complex models of human thought and language use
Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Content analysis suffers from several disadvantages, both theoretical and procedural. In particular, content analysis:
can be extremely time consuming
is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation
is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and impacts implied in a study
is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts
tends too often to simply consist of word counts
often disregards the context that produced the text, as well as the state of things after the text is produced
can be difficult to automate or computerize
Content Analysis: Examples
The Palmquist, Carley and Dale study, a summary of "Applications of Computer-Aided Text Analysis: Analyzing Literary and Non-Literary Texts" (1997) is an example of two studies that have been conducted using both conceptual and relational analysis. The Problematic Text for Content Analysis shows the differences in results obtained by a conceptual and a relational approach to a study.
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