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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
12:51 Mecca time, 09:51 GMT
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News CENTRAL/S. ASIA
Aid offered to save Bhutan paper

A 1989 royal decree mandated that antennas
be dismantled, blocking foreign television
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) says it will pay the costs of a Bhutanese newspaper after the paper appealed for international financial aid to allow it to continue publishing.
 
The Bhutan Reporter has been produced and financed since 2004 by a handful of journalists living in seven refugee camps in Nepal who work for no pay.
The journalists said they could no longer afford the 2,000 Nepalese rupees ($28) print costs of the monthly paper.
 
On Monday they contacted the Media Melping Media (MHM) organisation for help in finding financial assistance from the international media and Bhutanese people living overseas.
Later the same day, MHM received WAN's offer to sponsor the newspaper for three months and try to help it find a long-term sponsor so that it can publish weekly instead of monthly.
 
David Brewer, the founder of MHM, said it was a great result: "Within hours of the story appearing we had an offer of help and it shows that media organisations are willing to help when independent reporting is under threat."
 

Thakur Mishra, editor of the Bhutan Reporter, said that the support offered by WAN was appreciated.

 

"The Bhutan Reporter team is committed to its publication despite several challenges. I would like to extend sincere thanks to WAN for their supportive response," he said.

 

Access to information

 

The Bhutan Reporter, with a print run of 1,000, is published by the Bhutan Media Society, the publishing house of the Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) in Bhutan.

 

Bhutan: The ancient kingdom

Located between China and India

 

About 100,000 Bhutanese live in seven UN Refugees camps in Nepal.

 

Many are ethnic Nepali who had migrated to Bhutan but were then forced out, leaving them stateless and stranded for nearly 20 years

 

One government newspaper, The Kuensel, and two private papers, one government-owned television station and several radio stations.

Until the early 1990s, there was no local television station.

 

A 1989 royal decree mandated that antennas be dismantled, in effect blocking foreign television.

The newspaper is uploaded to the internet but the majority of refugees in the camps cannot access it because they are not online, so paper versions are still needed.

 

Mishra said publishing hard copies of the newspaper was the best way to reach its target audience.

 

"We need to find a way to ensure

that the people living in the refugee camps, especially those who do not have internet access, can still exercise their right to information."

 

He said it was important the paper survived.

 

"The media situation inside Bhutan is strictly under government threat.

"Organisations like APFA-Bhutan, established in the refugee camps, are trying to bring Bhutan's suppressed media in the international arena." 

 

Staff members at the paper say that 2,000 Nepalese rupees ($28) would be enough to ensure the paper continues to print each month, and 14,000 rupees ($196) would let them turn it into a weekly publication.

For more information about Media Helping Media click here. 
 Source: Al Jazeera
 
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