I had an opportunity last week to go along and see the live broadcast on an interview on the English-language morning show “Rise and Shine”. They were kind enough to let us into the control room during broadcasting and it was very interesting to watch. I had never been so close to a producer at work, and I watched over his shoulder as he controlled the camera, monitored the teleprompter, spoke into the interviewer’s earpiece, and ran breaks for commercials.  The TV offices were shabby but the broadcasting and journalism was very professional.

Launched in 2003, Kantipur TV was the first commercial television station in Nepal, and then quickly behing it a wider, more diverse selection of broadcasting channels emerged. Prior to KTV, only the state-run Nepal TV offered programming and, as is often the case with government-run monopolies, it was essentially a government mouthpiece and the only voice of news and opinion that the Nepali public heard.   In just 10 years, broadcasting has opened up enormously.

it was a great experience watching a live television show at work. But I think my greatest takeaway that morning was yet another insight into how many changes this country has undergone in the last ten years and how easy it is to forget that in just a few years its gone from a Kingdom to a Republic to a fledgling democracy, and with that its undergoing so many changes …. free journalism being one of them.