Author: Anand Nepal

Nepali Times: When responsibility turns sour (Nepali blogs ranking)

Posted on by Anand Nepal

It is a huge responsibility to be (and remain) on the top in terms of quality. Nepali Times, an English weekly printed colorful (on glossy paper) is considered top-of-the-class, ‘elite media’ in Nepali journalism. Dazzled by the ‘English kaleidoscope’ I used to believe everything they publish in face value. But, when I came across a latest article, about ranking of Nepali blogs, the unconscious belief in me shattered like a glass vase, falling from a height.

Nepali Times is all about judgment. Judgment of people, judgment of policies, judgment of relationships, judgment of art/artists, and Judgment of products. Although, I still believe they are the best in town, it’s time to evaluate if they are keeping up with the expectation? After reading this article, I for the least, will be a bit more cautious in taking their judgments and credibility.

Ranking stuffs is not an easy task. It is an art, mathematics, and a rigorous exercise – based on facts and figures. Google, leader in ranking websites rank websites based on backlinks, number of incoming and outgoing links in a website. Alexa, another website ranking tool evaluates data from users who install their toolbars. These limitations have made them credible in their own field and their ranking comes with their respective limitations attached.

Let’s see the Nepali Times ranking (This is misleading):

Top Ten

1. mysansar.com
2. meroreport.net
3. ushaft.wordpress.com
4. dautari.org
5. blog.com.np
6. nepalivoices.com
7. madhesi.wordpress.com
8. hamroblog.com
9. aakarpost.com
10. guffadi.blogspot.com

(Top ten blogs from Nepal ranked in order of visits.)

They have given a boundary – visits. It is not clear whose visits it is (I suspect, is it only the author’s visit!) If it were general people’s visit, the author should have mentioned the source. When I visited the sites mentioned, all I could find the visit data were of the blogs ranked 1, 4, and 10. There is no doubt, Mysansar is the top in every terms.Talking about the rest of the blogs – I don’t think any of the blogs deserve the position granted by Nepali Times. Some low ranking blogs have much better visitor than mentioned and others don’t even deserve mentioning. For example, one of the blogs mentioned was updated last year, and doesn’t have a single original content. Some other blogs are mere online archives of articles published in the print media.

What is blog?

The article defines: “In Nepal, blogs are transforming the way urban Nepalis get their information.” I thought that was a news site, or Nepali Times magazine itself.

In my view – blogs the mouthpiece of person or an organization with a facility to discuss and debate. Unless a blog is defined properly, there is no point in ranking them.

What is “visits” ?

The ranking criteria of the article visits can be the number of people that visit a particular site in a day/month/or year. A single person can read more than one articles and those ‘page views’ are usually more than ‘visits’. For example, in March 2011, xnepali had 1 million pageviews. But, each visitor had an average page views of 2.7 pages (i.e. 382,000 visits). Many sites don’t reveal this information, so it is not easy to get this data from all the websites.

What is Nepali?

It seems easy, but it’s not. A Nepali blog, can be linuxcandy.com, a blog made by a Nepali blogger, but there is no mention of it being Nepali anywhere, or a xnepali.net/movies, where Nepali is written in the domain name itself. It can be lexlimbu.com, a blog by a UK resident Nepali who can speak but can’t read/write Nepali that well.

Response:

The blogger Ushaft (Ranked 3) after thanking the author of the article said (in Twitter), “But, I think it is misleading to say they are “ranked based on visitors”- would be better to say stg (something) like “our pick” or “a random cross-section of blogs” … not-so-good blogs are on the list you’ve made.” Ushaft adds, “I hope a little more care would be shown in such matters in the future.”

Another blogger Aakarpost (Ranked 9) told he his blog had 75,000 pageviews last month (excluding his own visits). That is more than twice the total pageviews of the blog ranked 10, in it’s entire existence since 2008 (~ 1,100 per months).

Anil of Aaakarpost had even analyzed the Alexa ranking of Nepali sites to compile this ranking – Mysansar (1/17), xNepali (2/72), itinfoz (3/78), techsangv (4/99), aakarpost (5/137), chapagain.com.np (6/185)nirmal.com.np (7/244) ashesh.com.np (8/314) – where the first number in bracket is blog rank in Nepal second number is the total website rank in Nepal. The rank proposed by Aakar is at least based on credible data (with it’s own merits and demerits).

I ask the following Twitter users (Representatives of the blogs ranked by Nepali Times) to post their views in the comment section:

1. @salokya
2. @hellomuku
3. @ushaft
4. @dautari
5. @wagle
6. @UjjwalAcharya
7. (Couldn’t find Twitter user)
8. @kpdhungana
9. @aakarpost
10. @NepaliGuffadi

Thank you.

UPDATE: I am updating this article in fear that the negative tone in the article might undermine the quality of the blogs mentioned in the Nepali Times article. In terms of quality, the top ranked blogs, by Nepali Times, deserve mention (but, without the numbers attached to them). Here are my evaluation of the blogs:

Mero report – a community blog striving to redefine journalism is gaining popularity in Nepali blogsphare. The contribution of another blog, initiated with the motive similar to meroreport, Dautari, can’t be overlooked. Most probably the first Nepali blog in English, blog.com.np doesn’t deserve to be ranked based on visits.  Ushaft is a seasoned journalist with views to ponder upon and respect. Anil of Aakarpost is a dedicated blogger with useful and informative contents in it. I don’t read much of Hamroblog, but I have heard that he is a good journalist. The fun filled Guffadi’s blog is a worthy mention too.

My question was – How can somebody say the following blogs (that weren’t ranked) are bad?

NepaliKeti’s blog, Dhaiba‘s blog, Durjaya Chetana, Lex Limbu’s blog, CP Aryal‘s blog, Krishna Thapa‘s blog,  blog by Archana Shrestha, Rajesh’s KhasKhas,  Anish’s eNepal, Bhojraj Dahal’s Nepal Diary, Tajim’s blog, Dipak’s Diary . Yes, this is my personal list of blogs. I expect some good stuffs in them. That doesn’t mean they will rank in a list of top ranki
ng blogs in Nepal. I shouldn’t be ranking them unless I have credible data, knowledge, and resources to do so.

Maata Tirtha – Aamako mukh herne din – Mothers Day

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Maata Tirtha is one of the auspicious festival in Hindu mythology falling on the. The pilgrimage (Tirtha) of mother (Mata) is collectively called ‘Mata Tirtha Aunshi‘. The main feature of the Nepali Mother’s Day are:

  • respect for the mother
  • People worship their living mother at their home
  • People offer mothers and offering sweets, fruits, yogurts and other items to please their mothers.
  • Those whose mothers have passed – they go to the Mata Tirtha Pilgrimage, about 15 km towards the eastern side of Kathmandu valley, beside Mata Tirtha Village development committee.

In Matatirtha, people take quick shower in the water taps and make offerings in the holy pond with a belief that the souls of their mothers come to the pond to accept their offerings. The visitors also worship Shiva lingam located near the holy pond.

Matatirtha-pond

Those who can’t go to mata-thirtha visit Pashupati temple in Kathmandu or any other holy places nearby to honor their departed mothers.

The statue of a mother image is opened once in a year on the Mata-tirtha day.

This locked mother-statue is opened only on Mata-tirtha day

People bathing in the Mata Tirtha pond (2009 photo, credits Rajendra Manandhar)

Osama bin Laden killed – US has the body

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Update: Latest report – Osama bin Laden’s body is currently kept at Bagram Airbase, just north of Kabul in Afghanistan.

In a statement, the US president Barack Obama has told that the US is in possession of the dead body of Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden, believed to be the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attack in the US is killed in US operation in Pakistan. US President Barack Obama said in an address on Sunday that a small team of Americans killed bin Laden in a firefight on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

The former president, in office during the terror attack, George W. Bush has hailed t
he death of the most sought-after terrorist of all times.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington killed more than 3,000 people. Al-Qaida is also accused of carrying out 1998 bombings with 231 deaths in US embassies in Africa, 2000 USS Cole attack in Yeman, killing 17 American sailors and a number of other attacks.

News video:

The British Royal Wedding – Royal Kiss

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Royal prince and princess seal their marriage with the historic kiss on the Buckimgham Palace balcony. With this Kiss, the wedding is over for public.

As the wedding wraps up, News24 seems to be reviving the April first prank started by the Himalayan Times. The news channel claims that Prince William and his newly wed wife Kate are coming to Nepal for their honeymoon.

While broadcasting the royal wedding live, it says preparations are being made for their week-long trip to the Himalayan country.

Here is the video clip of the news by Nepali TV channel:

Was Sai Baba a god ?

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The Indian spiritual leader and self-claimed God, Sai Baba, died on April 24. But, ‘the God’ himself had told that he will die in 2022.

His believers are still hopeful for him to be alive (after all, he still has 11 years to live according to his own prediction).

Today the last rituals of Sai Baba was performed in India. A huge crowd gathered to get the last view of their beloved leader.

He was rested in a 7 feet deep and 12 feet wide trench. A gold statue of Sai Baba will be erected on the spot in a few days.

Some try to prove him to be an average magician. Here are some videos I found in YouTube:

Satya Sai Baba “creates” a necklace out of thin air. Original footage from Robert Eagle’s investigative documentary, ‘Guru Busters’

A more detailed video with explanation to three of his tricks:

Prasun Singh is Miss Tarai 2011

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Prasun Singh has won the Miss Tarai 2011 title, this year. In an event organized in United World Trade Center in Tripureshowr, on Saturday, April 23, Padmini Jha crowned the new Miss Tarai, Prasun Singh of Mahattori.

The first runner-up of the title was Anushree Vaidya of Rautahat district. Anushree was also awarded the Miss Talent title. The second runner-up was Amisha Thapa of Biratnagar.

There were a total of 15 contestant in the beauty contest organized by Infinity International.

Sai Baba breathed his last breath

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The Indian spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba has passed away.

After complications related to heart and respiration, Sai Baba was hospitalized on March 28. He didn’t recover and passed away on Sunday morning at 6:25 am.

Sathya Sai Central Trust, in a media conference held at 11:00 am, has announced that the body will be kept in display in Sai Kulwant Hall on Monday and Tuesday, before performing the final rituals.

The 85-year-old spiritual leader was considered an incarnation of God by many of his followers. Before the final announcement a minister Geeta Reddy and other senior government officials held a conference. The state government has deployed more than 6,000 police
to the town for security of the general people and VIPs.

Mira Acharya, Hari Bamsha Acharya's wife died

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Mira Acharya, a radio anchor of Radio Nepal and wife of renowned comedian Hari Bansha Acharya has died at the age of 46.

After a heart attack on Sunday (April 17) Mira was admitted to the hospital for treatment. She didn’t recovered and was put in a ventilator on Monday. Hari Bamsha wanted her to die after their son Trilok returned from US on Wednesday morning.

Mira and Hari Bamsha have two sons Trilok Achary and Mohit Bamsha Acharya. Mohit is going to act in leading role in his debut movie "Maya ko Bari".

Our heartfelt condolence to the the family of Hari Bansha Acharya and wish the soul of Mira rest
in peace.

Click on the following text to go to a Facebook page with the video, to hear the voice of Mira Acharya:

Photo of last good-bye of Mira Acharya (photo credit Nagariknews)

When journalists threaten like criminals and people start to run away in fear …

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UPDATE: The threat materialized on the Friday’s edition of Kantipur. Although the photo of the Twitter user is not used, they have published the name and designation of another Twitter user. They even went ahead to complain the boss of the KETO (means – “little boy” in Nepali).

Original post:

Oh My God… this is unthinkable! And, it is happening in Nepal!

The journalists of one of the leading publication in Nepal, Kantipur were threatening one of the Twitter users – telling:

“We are going to publish your name/photo in story along w/ur death-threat..” (Let’s make a deal otherwise) “.. respond to our question…”.

And the “death threat” reads – “if *** were in front of me he would have been the second one to die.” (Attached below)

Does a death threat starts with an “IF” ?

Now, we need to understand the pretext before jumping into conclusion. Why Prabhat had to be so angry in the first place. He wrote an article in aakarpost saying (translation):

I had always asked them not to publish my Twitter post. They acted as if their 1 million readers won’t buy their newspaper if my Tweet are not published. Then, when I asked the reason for such an action, they ignored me. When I got angry they came back to threaten me.

The issue of people being unhappy of the publication of Twitter post was being debated for some time. It was everybody’s relief that, the week before they even told that – only Twitter posts mentioning @HelloShukrabar will be publish (see the unhonored announcement below).

In sharp contrast to their own announcement, the publication came as a surprise with purely personal and useless collection of twitter post (a copy at the end). The result:

  • @nepaldiary – got fired due to the publication of his post in Kantipur daily. Please refer his comment in this post.
  • @PR4BH4T – was threatened and forced to quit Twitter (link posted above)
  • @webg0ru – got fed up and left Twitter based on the behavior of the journalists
  • @nepaleeidiot – left Twitter feeling awkward
  • @schwafnil – left Twitter, saying “I don’t hold the responsibility of clarifying anyone of my thoughts or motives behind publishing a certain tweet.”

In response to the job loss of @nepaldiary, because of the Twitter post published in Kantipur, the journalists have quoted a proverb sounding like “you got what you deserve.”

 

@nepaleeidiot’s response before leaving Twitter:

After all these events, our journalists are feeling the proudness of winning the debate – teaching the “incompetents” the lesson.

#tweetdebate is also to be blamed

I think, it was a mistake to choose the title of the debate – “Sneaking Journalism”. That title itself gave negative message to the journalist and they started taking the “defensive stance”. The logic couldn’t penetrate the defensive shield and hence the debate turned out to be one-sided.

Background

The Twitter section in Friday edition of Kantipur daily when Bryan Adams performed the concert in Kathmandu. The Twitter post was really nice and to the point. It was nice to read and feel good about it. But, what followed was the disaster. Here is the recent publication that was the cause of all this out roar:

This is the third post I have written about publication of Twitter in a National Daily (hoping this to be the last). Previous posts were:

The disclaimer: This is my personal view and I don’t necessarily endorse all the views of the linked articles. I don’t know anybody involved, in person, and I don’t have anything against the journalist or the Twitter posters.

82-year-old to conquer Mt. Everest; good luck Shailendra K Upadhyaya

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It was 2years ago, I wrote about the former Foreign Minister, Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay, who announced about his intention to scale Mt. Everest.

Shailendra climbed a 6,160m high Island peak and 6,467m tall Mera Peak successfully in the last few years as a preparation of his ultimate feat to climb Mt. Everest.

Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, served as the foreign minister and permanent UN representative in the 1970s and 1980s.

The diplomat grandfather says:

I am confident of my success as I believe that the most important part of success of any mission is confidence in oneself, selfless c
ommitment to serve humanity and, of course,will to achieve success.

Upadhyaya is planning to start his ascent from the Everest base camp on April 28, 2011. The expedition is organized by the Senior Citizen Mount Everest Expedition. If Upadhyaya could reach the top, he will dethrone another record holder Nepali senior, Min Bahadur Sherchan who climbed the peak at the age of 76 in 2008. After much struggle, he was finally entered as the oldest climber of Mt. Everest in the Guinness Book of Records in 2010.

An incompetent talks Twitter, Kantipur, ethics and the law

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The #tweetdebate of last Friday was interesting and it involved the gray area between the legal and ethical boundaries ! The main issue of the debate was that Kantipur, in it’s Friday special (Hello Shukrabar), was publishing unauthorized twitter posts, that were not meant for wider circulation.

I appreciate the journalists of Kantipur who took their time to answer few of the questions. It was in stark contrast to my previous experience of getting a third-grade-citizen-like treatments. Although they never answered the main questions raised in the debate it was a step in the positive direction.

One of the Twitter user sent me this cut of the Kantipur’s publication to explain why he is against them publishing tweets of a general public.

 Continue reading

Miss Tarai 2011 to be held on April 23

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Miss Tarai 2011 is going to be held on Baisakh 10, 2068 (April 23, 2011) in Hotel Everest, Kathmandu. There were a total of 45 applicants from various parts of Tarai region of Nepal. A total of 15 were chosen to participate in the final event.

Among the participants are -  Sapana Chand (Miss Nepalgunj), Manisha Nagbanshi (Nepalgunj), Dipika Shah (Sarlahi), Ranju Suman (Sarlahi), Ashmita Shah (Saptari), Bhawana Ghimire (Chitawan), Indira Rana (Udaypur), Sita Poudel (Jhapa), Sabina Pradhan (Jhapa), Pooja Thapa (Jhapa), Prasun Singh (Mahattori), Anushree Vaidya (Rautahat), Manisha Sharma chalise (Bardiya), Shreya Kumari (Mirchaya), Namrata Dhital (Shir
aha), Seli Shah (Dhanusha), Amisha Thapa (Biratnagar) .

The evaluation committee comprises of coreographer Rojin Shakya, journalist Pradeep Niraula, film director Suman Dahal, singer Rupa Jha, and Maithaili literatery figure Dhirendra Premshri. The Miss Tarai event is being organized by Infinity International.

Happy New Year 2068

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We will all our visitors a very happy new year, Bikram Sambat 2068.

May 2068 bring you all the best!

The president of the United States, Obama, and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, have also conveyed their best wishes on the New Year.

Music fans in Kathmandu are enjoying the tunes of Indian singer Kailash Kher in a concert being organized on the New Year Eve.

Bikram Sambat 2068 calendar is being updated. (Photo credit -raralake.com)

Miss Ecollege 2011 is Dikshya Shrestha

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Miss Ecollege 2011 was held on Friday (April 8, 2011) in Rastriya Naachghar, Jamal, Kathmandu. In the event, 18 contestants participated to claim the title of the year 2011. The girls, 16 years to 24 years olds, represented 18 different colleges of Kathmandu.

The title was awarded to Dikshya Shrestha. The first runner-up was Alina Mulmi and the second runner-up title was awarded to Namita Gurung.

Dikshya, along with the crown received a scooter (cash equivalent of Rs. 151,000) and scholarship in bachelor level. First runner-up received a laptop, mobile set, and two-years long scholarship in bache
lor level. The second runner-up received a mobile set, and one-year long scholarship in bachelor level.

In the competition, Rama Shrestha received Best Dress title, Amrita Moktan received the title of Best Hari, Pooja Gurung won Miss Photogenic title, Dolma Sherpa had the "Best Smile" and Manisha Basnet was liked by the viewers and got Viewers’ Choice award. Other title winners were: Sujata KC, Miss Best Walk; Julia Aryal, Miss Discipline; Nirmala Maharjan, Miss Personality; Asmita Basnet, Miss Best Figure, and Gita Pradhan, Miss Popular.