Journalists gear up to vote - for the parties

In less than two weeks, Nepal’s journalists will elect a new leadership at Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). Unlike in the past years, the run to represent around 9,000 Nepali journalists is becoming more and more of a contest to watch. However, it is not just about who wins or loses; instead, it is more about how wide the partition among journalists will become by the time it is over.



I spoke to a potential candidate who was holding his chips close to the chest early this week. Having contested and lost in an earlier bid to become an office holder, this time he wanted to play his cards right by waiting for a green signal from one of the three main political parties (or their unions, rather) before entering the fray. Should that not happen, you will not hear of him. ‘‘It is impossible to win unless I get an endorsement from one of the three main unions that control the block votes,’’ he said. ‘‘Only then will the votes I may receive on my journalism credentials be meaningful.’’ Losing as an independent candidate earlier had taught him exactly what was needed to win.



Up until a few years ago, the ‘invisible hand’ that blessed candidates for FNJ leadership was obvious but far less apparent. That has changed. Some weeks ago, newspapers reported that CPN-UML leader Pradip Gyawali had camped at the Press Chautari convention (inaugurated by the prime minister) to endorse the selection of Shiva Gaule as its candidate. There are conflicting reports on what his exact involvement was for: Some say he was there to anoint the candidate, while others said, he chaperoned the entire process. Gaule is a strong candidate, given his long experience in journalism and at the FNJ. Three years ago, he had lost by just 30 votes to Dharmendra Jha, and that too without the CPN-UML’s endorsement. How the party’s blessing will play out this time remains to be seen.



Not to be outdone, early this week the Nepali Congress had its powwow to strategize and fix candidates for FNJ positions. The meeting had former FNJ office holders who had won Nepal Press Union ‘tickets’, journalists close to the party, and union members. Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narasing KC had convened and conducted the meeting, which was also attended by two other NC leaders Minendra Rijal and Dilendra Prasad Badu. It did not, however, decide on the candidates but agreed on an arrangement for doing the same.



It is no secret that the party approved its candidates in the past too but then the process was much subtle. This time, as if to flaunt its ‘institutional relationship’ with the union – whose president is an ex-officio member of its Mahasamiti, among others – it may have chosen direct involvement.




The other large vote bloc is the Revolutionary Journalists Association that is close to UCPN (Maoist) party. As of writing this, there was no clear indication of its candidates but the grapevine had it that it could try to work out an electoral alliance with Press Chautari. There was also word that the party had decentralized decisions related to the FNJ election to the respective regions, apparently an outcome of the reported tussles preoccupying the central leadership.



There is nothing wrong with supporting one political party or another or voting for one of choice. It becomes problematic when pro-party unions practically capture an organization that claims to represent professionals and their interests. A party-engineered FNJ cannot fulfil the very purpose, articulated in the first line of its statute, which is ‘protecting independent journalism’ and ‘fulfilling the gahantam (serious) responsibility of journalists.’ Or, it is illogical to expect party interests protecting independent journalism or journalists performing their responsibilities effectively with their political masters breathing down their necks.



If the party-union capture is momentarily forgotten, FNJ has always been an organization that represented diverse political thoughts, which is a true reflection of society. It always had party influence but it was gentle. Earlier journalists supporting the NC and CPN-UML held most positions, which after 2008 expanded to include the UCPN (Maoists). FNJ has also created space for including candidates from excluded groups through reservations. What distresses me is the intense and growing partisan politicking, and the growing influence of the parties in deciding who gets in and who does not.



Some months ago, FNJ had decided not to issue memberships to journalists with dual identities as political party members or holding party offices, and also as journalists. It was supposed to be a part of its suddhikaran (reform) drive. But the cleansing has been anything but effective because, as some members of the outgoing team said, it still has a large number of members (even office holders) who are better known as party activists than journalists.



Initially, the outgoing team had been quite strict on new memberships and none were issued for most of its three-year term. But that changed eventually, when it is said to have approved a record number of memberships, allegedly for political expediency. ‘‘That there has always been some politics in issuing new memberships before the election cannot be denied,’’ Mahendra Bista, former general secretary of FNJ, said. ‘‘Last minute memberships issued this time are substantially higher, and so is the politicization.’’ The number of new memberships issued is said to be slightly over 2,000.



Suresh Acharya, a former president, agreed to the increasing party influence, including that in the elections at the district level. ‘‘The FNJ election is becoming more political, and the party-unions are becoming bigger and stronger,’’ he said. ‘‘There is little chance of the FNJ being able to truly represent journalists until these changes.’’



There are also issues with the election process itself, which, some say, is rigged to favor the incumbents. If you go back four election cycles, it becomes apparent that the general secretary eventually graduates to the top office. The three years a general secretary spends managing the organization – and most importantly, memberships – is said to give the person an edge over challengers. This pattern was broken during the last election where there were two left leaning incumbents contesting for the top spot, and only one had the endorsement of Press Chautari. That is what is said to have made it possible for the third candidate to win.



This time there are a little over 1200 councillors who will elect the central leadership. And if the numbers thrown up at pre-election conclaves are factual, the Press Union has the largest bloc of voters among the unions, followed by Press Chautari and the Revolutionary Journalists Association. Smaller vote chunks are controlled by other groups such as associations of journalists from indigenous peoples and Madhesi communities, and other political cliques.



The non-partisan minority will be remembered for ALSO being there at the convention.

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