iPad Diplomacy

This photo got some nice reactions on my Facebook page, so I thought I'd share it here. I was in the small town of Jiri recently. I made eye contact with a little girl who smiled at me, so I pulled out my iPad and showed her the Photo Booth app. Within seconds, half a dozen kids were pressing toward me to get a look. Within minutes, I was surrounded on all sides by laughing kids. It was a lot of fun.

My Kingdom for Toilet Paper

I've travelled to some very remote parts of Nepal and discovered that you can always find any kind of Whiskey. Toilet paper, however, remains elusive. I wonder if USAID can do something about this.

Road Tripping in Nepal

Any good diplomat will tell you that getting out of the capital is the best way to gain a fresh perspective on the country in which you’re serving. In many ways, Nepal feels like two separate nations – Kathmandu and the rest of the country. I’ve been fortunate to have had several opportunities to travel outside of the Kathmandu Valley to meet with local journalists. Most recently, I visited three districts in the central part of Nepal.

On the road in Nepal

One of the priorities for the Public Affairs section in Kathmandu is the professional development of journalists in Nepal, especially in the remote areas where most working journalists have never received a formal education or training. My first stop was in the small town of Kusma, where 20 female journalists were participating in a week-long training program sponsored by the Embassy. I gave a presentation on the impact of new media on journalism and explained how the Embassy uses social media. The energy from these motivated young women was almost enough to run the projector when the power gave out (a common problem here).

Journalists from 3 remote districts participate in Embassy-sponsored training in Kusma

Visiting the training program was just part of the reason for the road trip. The other was to meet with local journalists to understand the press environment in the remote parts of the country. A common complaint is the threat of violence from thugs hired to intimidate and attack journalists who expose corruption or write negative stories about powerful people or businesses. It didn’t take much prodding on my part to get these journalists to share their thoughts on the impunity of criminal gangs and the failure of the local government to protect the press.

A highlight of the trip was a visit to a new radio station in Pokhara that is run by and geared toward children. I was interviewed by a veteran 16 year old girl who posed hard-hitting questions about my childhood and education in the United States. My odd situation as a never-married childless woman of a certain age was another topic of extreme interest!

On-air interview with a young reporter from Chhunumunu radio station

One thing I’ve learned from official travel is to leave enough time in the schedule for unexpected things: a dancing demon on the street outside the hotel, a walk across one of the longest pedestrian bridges in Nepal, and an unscheduled stop at an agricultural research center. While these things may not contribute to my knowledge of the status of the press in Nepal, they do help me understand the everyday life of Nepalis. These are experiences you can’t have unless you get out of the capital and get out of the car once in a while.

A colorful dancer on the street in Kusma

Hundreds of Nepalis cross this bridge every day

Taking a photo of the flowers at the Agricultural Research Station in Lumle

Founding Mother?

This past week I was shepherding a media law expert from the U.S. to a series of speaking engagements around Kathmandu. I don't normally do programs, but because this was "media-related" and I was the one who had proposed the program, I slipped away from my normal press duties for a few days to accompany him to his events.

It was a very satisfying program, mostly because of how well-received it was. When I first came to Nepal and starting meeting press contacts, one thing became evident - there is a hunger for progressive laws that protect and support a free press. Nepal is (and has been for a couple of years) drafting a new constitution. It is still a new democracy (or, rather, on the path toward becoming a democracy) and just like the new United States of America 200+ years ago, the people of Nepal must decide what values they will enshrine in their new constitution.

So when the opportunity to bring over a speaker arose, I suggested we find someone who could describe how freedom of the press and speech has evolved in America and explain some of the important issues and consequences that have resulted. We scheduled presentations to the Nepal Bar Association, journalism graduate students, and working journalists. We also arranged for discussions with broadcasting executives, government officials, and journalism organizations.

Interestingly, while the vast majority of the people the speaker presented to clearly wanted press freedom and independence from the government, at every interaction there was inevitably a question about how "objectionable" or "irresponsible" content is regulated or punished. I could see that some people had a hard time wrapping their heads around the idea that free speech means that people are allowed to speak their minds, even if their minds are full of garbage. We tried to explain that for Americans, tolerating some garbage in the "marketplace of ideas" is better than some government entity deciding for us what can or cannot be expressed. And it was even more troubling for some to realize that "free speech" puts the responsibility of judging what is good information and what is bad information on the consumer of that information - the king no longer decides what is suitable for the public, YOU have to judge for yourself the validity of the information you consume.

I heard wonderful feedback after each event, especially from journalism professors and media lawyers. I would like to think this program energized the champions of a free press in Nepal and will at least spark interesting debate among those who will influence how freedom of expression is ultimately defined in the new constitution.