Democracy For Nepal

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Nepal Needs To Be Hitting The World Headlines: Write To The Media

To:

editor@people.com,
letters@usmagazine.com,
letters@rollingstone.com,
nightline@abc.com,
2020@abc.com,
JohnStossel@abcnews.com,
thisweek@abc.com,
lisa.stark@abc.com,
bill.geddie@abc.com,
mark.halperin@abc.com,
abc.news.magazines@abc.com,
evening@cbsnews.com,
ftn@cbsnews.com,
60m@cbsnews.com,
aaron.brown@turner.com,
crossfire@cnn.com,
catherine.callaway@turner.com,
jeff.greenfield@cnn.com,
robert.novak@turner.com,
bill.schneider@turner.com,
lou.dobbs@turner.com,
candy.crowley@turner.com,
dateline@nbc.com,
today@nbc.com,
world@msnbc.com,
joe@msnbc.com,
hardball@msnbc.com,
morning@npr.org

Hi.

You must know Nepal is one of the three hot spots on the planet right now. There has been a civil war in the country for a decade now. And there is a decisive democracy movement on its way in the country that promises to restore both peace and democracy. Nepal also might figure in the US elections for 2006 and 2008 as the Democrats might offer the progressive way to spread democracy in the world to compete with the neocon way like in Iraq. The Nepal way might apply to the rest of the Arab world as well to China down the line.

Nepal needs to be hitting the world headlines for the news value itself, but also because the coverage will aid the democracy movement itself. As a country of 27 million brave people, Nepal deserves the spotlight.

So far there has been little or no coverage of Nepal in the world media. As a matter of fairness that needs to change. Your viewers have a right to get better informed. What happens to Nepal affects them.

The seven party alliance in Nepal is to hold major protest rallies on January 12 in Janakpur and on January 20 in Kathmandu so as to foil the fake municipality elections slated for February 8 by the illegitimate regime that has been in power since the 2/1 coup last year. The elections are supposed to earn it legitimacy from the unconvinced international community. I believe the world media needs to widely cover this showdown.

I hope I have managed to appeal to your journalistic instincts.

Thank you.

Paramendra Bhagat
Nepali Democracy Activist
Brooklyn, NY

(Thanks to DFNYC for the idea. Write to one email address at a time. It has been the DFNYC experience that it works. Look for other addresses to write to, and not just in the US. India and Europe could be other major targets.)

Sample Letters:

1. I sent this email to aaronbrown -at- turner.com:

Mr. Brown and fellow journalists,

I feel as a matter of fairness, equality, and journalistic ethics, CNN
should feature more coverage of the earthquake in Pakistan. While
tragedies such as the tsunami and Hurrican Katrina resulted in many
donations from individuals for relief for the victims, the recent earthquake
in Asia has not achieved nearly enough donations to take care of the
victims. After the initial earthquake and the recent aftershocks, so
many people are still sick and homeless.

After seeing the difference in the media treatment between other
disasters and this disaster, I cannot help but wonder if the news media,
and therefore the public, are discriminating against Pakistani citizens
because they are Muslim. I think this could be a story in itself for
CNN, and there is certainly enough newsworthy video footage.

Thank you,
Tracey Denton

2. I sent this message through the webform feedback at CBSNews.com. (Scroll down, click on "Contact Us," third button in the blue bar, and a window with a webform will open.)

Dear CBS News journalists,

As a matter of fairness, equality, and journalistic integrity, CBS News should be featuring more coverage of the earthquake and aftershocks in Pakistan that have left people homeless, sick, and facing a brutal winter. Surely it is important that your viewers see images of Pakistan before they see the image of Camilla Parker Bowles wearing a tiara on loan from Queen Elizabeth.

Yesterday, October 26, 2005, I clicked on the "World" section of CBSNews.com, expecting to find a story about how donations to the Pakistani earthquake relief efforts are not nearly high enough to help all the victims. This story should have been near the top of the list. Instead, it wasn't there at all. And yet, a picture of Camilla and Prince Charles at a royal banquet was front and center, because Camilla was wearing a diamond tiara - loaned by Queen Elizabeth II. I understand that your readers may in fact be interested in the internal workings of the Royal Family. But surely, with all the coverage you gave to victims of the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, it is only appropriate to include more coverage of the earthquake in Pakistan. Coverage in the media, especially with pictures, encourages more people to donate to relief organizations.

I cannot help but feel, after seeing the media's treatment of the Tsunami, Katrina, and the Pakistan earthquake, that there is a bias in the mainstream media because the victims are Muslim. This could be a news story in itself.

Sincerely,

Tracey Denton

In The News

Ousted Nepal PM stages comeback - from jail Webindia123, India
BJP deserts Nepal King? The Statesman
Nepal king loses Hindu card in India NewKerala.com
Nepal: NC (D) Begins Convention, Deuba Pledges Sacrifice from Jail NewsLine Nepal
EU disappointed over Nepal's failure to reciprocate truce Hindu
Indian lobby to raise Nepal Maoist arrests with PM NewKerala.com

Nepal police open fire on protesters Reuters Video - Jan 26 3:01 PM

Protests in Nepal CNN - Jan 23 5:23 AM

Protesters battle police in Nepal Reuters Video - Jan 21 6:28 AM

Advisors, Doers, Donors, Supporters, Cheerleaders, Spectators, Whiners

I have been trying to create a group dynamics model that throws light on the commendable work on behalf of the democracy movement being done by the Nepali diaspora in the US. Here in the diagram is my latest attempt. One important addition has been the section at the top for the advisors. There are many well accomplished Nepalis who can not see themselves with one of the projects, because all that would be too hands on for them, and they are often holding various leadership positions in the various Nepali social organizations on the continent, and these might be people who will happily donate $1000 or more because they are in the top income brackets, but their contribution can not be measured in the number of hours they might have to give. They would be kind of like the Board of Advisors if this movement and projects to do with it were a company.

Diaspora Dynamics
The Cloud Model, Not The Pyramid Model

On the other hand, I do feel there is this urgent need to expand the involvement base. What about those tens of thousands of Nepalis who are also in the country? I think many of those could pose for group pictures to express their solidarity: Flickr Tag: NepalDemocracy. And they could each donate $10.

I believe the top and the bottom have been missing in all my earlier models. I have been too focused on the immediate. So let's close in from both ends.

I think it is so much easier to get along and stay focused and productive as long as we keep focused on the intended recipient of our work: the 27 million people in Nepal. It is not about us, it is about them.

This is also of career interest to me. I have been working within the Democratic Party in a so-far small capacity to present Nepal as the Iraq for the Democrats. There is a neocon way to spread democracy, and then there is a progressive way. The model we could develop for Nepal could be replicated elsewhere in the world. Suddenly the immigrants in America from all these poor countries become small scale heroes in America, as opposed to being people who are quick subjects of demonizations and scorn from the mainstream, sometimes subject to racial harassments and more. They get to transform and become the soldiers on the cutting edge for democracy. From being nobodies working little jobs, they become freedom fighters, part time. That would contribute to their sense of self worth, don't you think?

If we can become more organized and more effective than we are, we can also hope to get substantial logistical support from the private sector, as well as the public sector. We could be talking big bucks. Money helps. We could do more for the democracy movement in Nepal with more money.

I have constantly tried to come up with a model that will allow every interested individual and organization to contribute to the max. I think the latest model is close to it, and it builds on the earlier models.

My style is to suggest all of us should go public with our names and stay public with our names. If we can not show up in the streets of Nepal, that is the least we could do. But I am understanding of those who might choose to put in the work and the money, but keep their names private.

Earlier, much earlier I have talked of 5 Steps To Democracy.

Two layers could be added to that model.

Pages

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Nepal Needs To Be Hitting The World Headlines: Write To The Media

Advisors, Doers, Donors, Supporters, Cheerleaders, Spectators, Whiners