omson Foundation trainees enlisted in fight against Nepal election irregularities

One of Nepals election commissioners calls on journalists at the Thomson Foundations electoral reporting course in Kathmandu for help in pursuing malefactors during the upcoming national elections. Training consultant Martin Huckerby reports.

More than twenty reporters from TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and the national news agency, participated in the first of this years country-wide training courses on electoral reporting and investigative journalism, in preparation for the constituency assembly elections expected on 19 November.

The commission is the controlling agency for Nepals elections, with a strong watchdog function, but commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav told the course members: "Journalists are core agents for the election."

They had an important role in publicising misdeeds.

Questioned about the failures of Nepali politicians to obey the election code of conduct, Dr Ayodhee admitted that the code had not been followed 100%. But he asked them to monitor what was happening. "If you notice illegal activities, you should inform us."

And where there were failures, he said, "it is your responsibility to publish them."

The journalists appreciated the challenge, but that did not prevent them from posing some tough questions to Dr Ayodhee.

Sticky wicket His press briefing led to such coverage as the front page report in the English-language Kathmandu Post, as to how the commission was on "a sticky wicket" over its plans to issue photographic identity cards to all voters.

Only a couple of months before the proposed election date, their probing discovered that the commission is still talking about where to obtain the paper for the special cards.

The course, co-organised by Nepals Centre for Investigative Journalism, is the latest to be funded by the UK Embassy in Kathmandu.

Two further courses, presented by Thomson Foundation radio consultant Robin Britten, press consultant Martin Huckerby, and Hasta Gurung, general-secretary of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, are being held in the far east of the country - in the tea plantation district of Ilam - and the far west, in Mahendranagar, close to the border with India.

Prior to the courses, the Thomson training consultants met the editors and senior staff of most of the countrys leading newspapers, as well as broadcaster, to outline the latest developments in electoral reporting in the UK and elsewhere in the world, and to discuss how some of the techniques might be applied this autumn in Nepal.

The training is linked to the third annual Embassy-sponsored investigative journalism competition, offering as prizes study visits, to the UK next year, for four winning Nepali reporters, two for the best investigative reports and two for electoral reporting.

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2013/09/17/thomson-...
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