The Nepal Weekly 
October 3, 2023
Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism Nepal (CESIF) has organized an interaction programme in Kathmandu on Friday on the theme “Geo-politics and dis-information in Nepal,” based on a research conducted on the reporting of mainstream media of Nepal.
“The study found that in most cases more misinformation correlated with more negative portrayals of a country, hurting its reputation globally,” remarked chairman of the centre Vijaya Kant Karna highlighting the study report. “However, with China the trend was reverse – more misinformation means more positive coverage,” he pointed out.
“There are increased instances of evidence or source bias correspond with unfavourable portrayal of India, though stories about India frequently lack enough evidence to back up claims,” Karna said shedding light on the report.
The study report published on Friday was prepared after analyzing 10,000 news stories published in the last six months period by Nepal’s 15 mainstream newspapers and major online news portals about the country’s major geo-political players, India, China and USA.
“Important details are often missing while using narratives about India,” the report noted adding, “incorrect use of data seems to impact how India is portrayed.”
“News about the USA may show some evidence or source bias, leading to negative portrayal,” points out the study, according to Karna. “News about the USA may use flawed arguments, resulting in more negative portrayal,” suggests the study.
On the contrary, it is interesting to note here that the distortion of information used by the Nepalese media are mostly in favour of China. “The more information distortion, the more positive news about China.” the study points out.
“China tends to have positive correlations meaning information distortion is usually favourable towards China,” concludes the report.
Senior journalists Ajay Bhadra Khanal, Kosh Raj Regmi and Parshuram Kafley among others participated in the interaction programme.
