Save Nepal
media campaign
Be aware of these two "media captains"
Himalmedia
Himalmedia, established in
1998, has five founders – Ambika Shrestha chairperson and Kanak Mani Dixit,
Kunda Dixit, Rajiv Raj Bhandari and Sajib Raj Bhandari directors. The three
publications of Himalmedia – Himal Khabarpatrika, Nepali Times and Wave — are
being published under the involvement and direction of Kunda Dixit and Kanak
Mani Dixit, who are brothers by blood relation and journalists by profession.
While Kanak is the
publisher and editor of Himal Khabarpatrika, Kunda is the publisher and editor
of Nepali Times and Wave.
Himal Khabarpatrika covers
politics, economic sector and other areas, Nepali Times is targeted diplomatic
crop and Wave covers youth and entertainment.
Besides serving public, all
the three publications are being published to aid their own other businesses
and are making good profits alone from advertisement with Rs 50 million
standing profit every year. However, the expense is only around Rs 30 million. High
prices of the three newspapers have also been significantly contributing to the
company.
Listed as "Number 1"
three years ago, Himal Khabarpatrika is ranked at Number 2 on circulation basis
and Number 3 on news content's basis. But the Dixit brothers, on the pretext of
incurring losses, have been collecting grants from several donor organizations.
On various occasions and
pretexts, they have also been collecting around Rs 10 million from the
government.
Similarly, threatening
businessmen of publishing negative news, some Rs 50 million have been amassed.
On the other hand, some businessmen provide advertisement on the condition of
not publishing their news.
The Dixit brothers are
active being wolf in sheep's clothing, but the other partners stay mum.
The list of their
malpractice continues. They also gain various benefits from I/NGOs on the
banner of Himalmedia.
The Dixit brothers, who
also claim themselves the leaders of civil society, have sowed a seed of
dispute between Dr. Devendra Raj Pandey and Krishna Pahadi. It is due to their
ill act, Pandey has to cut off relation with Pahadi.
Himal South Asia has also
become a breeding ground for them to launch sordid acts of gaining advantage
illegally.
Himalmedia at present:
Ever since the inception
of the company, employees have been working permanently at Himalmedia. However,
suddenly Dixit brothers introduced new system and made staffers work on
contract. This gave them a ground to treat workers as servants and lead a life of
landlords. On numerous occasions, they sacked workers and hired new ones.
Without serving their
interest, no worker could be their employee. Evident is the case of editors. No
editor was employed for more than a year. However, Rajendra Dahal's case was
exceptional. This is because Dahal was their family brother-in-law, so he was
able to work for more than a year.
Time-bound salary and
facility were a far cry for workers. Those staffers, recruited on 5000-7000
salary per month five years ago are still drawing the same scale. Repeated
pleas of workers to hike salary and facility fell on the Dixit brothers' deaf
ears. In this way, fours years went down the drain.
Irked workers, hoping for bright
fate, established a non-political union for their welfare. However, the Dixit brothers shattered their dreams
when they refused to meet them recently after the union was established. The
workers got a shot in the arms after Ashutosh Tiwari, who was later nominated
as the Chief Executive Officer, pledged to fulfill their genuine demands. He assured
to act on the commitment with in a month.
However, even though a
year passed, the demands were gathering dust. Worst, the Dixit brothers did not
even hand over the permanent letters to working journalists and other staffs.
This proves that the Dixit brothers always cultivate false promises.
Media Workers' Alliance
Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal
mediaworkeralliance@gmail.com
The news on Himalmedia published on
various newspapers:
"We will
close the company if we were to add facility to workers and made their status permanent."
n
Saghu
weekly, Shrawan 20, 2065
Resignation of 16
journalists and employees sought on the ground of Rs 10 million losses.
Threatened to publish names with photos if failed to put in papers.
n
Saghu
weekly, Bhadra 2, 2065
35 employees
ousted ahead of Dashain.
n
Saghu
weekly Bhadra 9, 2065
Trade unions flay
Himalmedia's unilateral act to sack employees flouting the Working Journalists'
Act
n
Janaastha
weekly, Bhadra 18, 2065
Maoist union
declares to interfere in Himalmedia against the management's act of ousting
workers violating the Working Journalists' Act and Labour Act.
n
Saghu
weekly, Aswoj 13, 2065
Himal
Khabarpatrika Editor is going to be sacked after Kanak Mani Dixit's seat in the
Constituent Assembly from the CPN-UML was not guaranteed
n
Saghu
weekly, Aswoj 6, 2065
Sacking workers by
Himalmedia ahead of Dashain agitates trade unions, demand immediate
reinstatement
n
Gorkhapara
daily, Aswoj 18, 2065
Federation of
Nepali Journalists flays the Himalmedia management's act of torturing journalists
and employees. FJN General Secretary Poshan KC demanded the government punish
the management if failed to act as per the Working Journalists' Act
n
Janadisha
daily, Aswoj 15, 2065
Trade unions,
civil society, rights activists urge Himalmedia not to sack 16 workers, working
at its customers section
n
Naya
Bimarsha weekly, Kartik 8, 2065
Himalmedia
announces vacancy immediately after sacking three dozen employees on loss
ground.
n
Saghu
weekly, Kartik 11, 2065
The Information
Department directs Himalmedia to reinstate the sacked employees and issues a
show case notice for announcing fresh recruitments
n
Saghu
weekly, Kartik 25, 2065
Government summons
Himalmedia to prove whether the company is at loss
n
Budhabar
weekly, Kartik 27, 2065
Government directs
Himalmedia management to present before the Information Department along with its
audit report
n
Roadmap
weekly, Kartik 28, 2065
Himalmedia is trying
to present fake audit report after the government summoned its management
n
Sambodhan
/ Naya Bimarsha weekly, Kartik 29, 2065
The Labour and
Information departments put stamp on decision of civil society leaders Kanak
Mani Dixit and Kunda Dixit to sack employees flouting the Working Journalists'
Act and Labour Act
n
Dishanirdesh
weekly, Mangsir 1, 2065'
Trade union flays
act of torching Himal Khabarpatrika copies, slams management's act of accusing the
union workers of their involvement in the incident, urges media not to publish such
fake news
n
Kantipur
daily, Mangsir 4, 2065
The so-called
Himalmedia's claim that its copies were torched by masked men is doubtful. The
management claimed that 5,000 copies were burnt down, however only 1,000 copies
were found torched.
·
Budhabar
weekly, Mangsir 11, 2065
Our concern has
been drawn towards the Himalmedia's claim that the sacked employees had torched
its copies. The rigidness of Kanak Mani Dixit and Kunda Dixit over the
formation of union in the company has also raised our concern. All can exercise
the constitutional-guaranteed right to open and run trade union. So they are
merely trying to violate press freedom by themselves.
·
Janadharana
weekly, Mangsir 12, 2065
Employees at
Himalmedia are trying to open a union. However, the management is learnt to
have trying its every bit to crush their attempt.
·
The
Himalayan Times daily, November
28, 2008
The Media
Marketing Association has flayed the Himalmedia's act of sacking its two
staffers without any reason.
·
Kantipur
daily, Mangsir 15, 2065
The Information
has directed the Himalmedia management to reinstate the sacked 16 employees in
its sales department.
·
The
notice sent by the Information Department to Himalmedia management on Mangsir
16, 2065
According to a reliable
source, the following organizations were found assisting Himalmedia directly or
indirectly in various ways.
They
are follows:
ear all, 
