Some Thoughts on Media and Press freedom

Why do media exist? To inform, educate and entertain people.

What are the various media available to our people nowadays? Broadly: print, broadcast, online, mobile, and oral media.

What do these media produce? Contents like news, information, leisure pastimes, gossips.

How do they produce? By tracking people and agencies who create news and information.

Who are these newsmakers? People in public office, corporations, private agencies and individuals. Of course natural phenomena like disasters which I suppose are man-made.

What is the problem in producing news and information? Newsmakers hide information believed to be embarrassing and liability.

What do journalists do? Try and try to get the information despite challenges in access.

Why do journalists do such job? Passion and salary. Of course oxymoronic job but it is such a job.

How to media houses pay people working for them? Through money made from advertisements and commercial spaces.

Who pays for advertisements and commercial spaces? Newsmakers!

What is problem in getting advertisers money? If you write anything bad against the advertisers then you better stay away from them.

How is media companies affected? No money. No salary.

What happens if there is no money and no salary? No news and information. Media companies suffer from anorexia.

What will happen if there is no news or information? People will depend on many information and news which are freely available.

So isn’t it better? Might be but again chaotic information might lead to uncontrollable chaos.

So what do we need? Freedom of press!

What is freedom of press? Media makes money to sustain itself and carry out fair reporting free from political and legal controls.

Can this be achieved? No country in the world has achieved so far.

So what’s the future? Write news, face challenges, try surviving, and be ethical.

Be ethical? Yes! Don’t write bad when it is not bad and don’t write good when is not good. But if you want to get paid write in a balanced way that everybody is checked well.

Ummm? That’s all.

Wait, what about online, mobile and oral media? They are untouchables! I mean for our local media industry. Actually they are the most effective medium not fully exploited by our traditional media houses.

How? I read news and information online and on mobile. I don’t find any media houses getting to me through these mediums.

Isn’t your view subjective? For anything to be objective must depend on subjectivity.

So…? The end.

Bhutanese Financial System Sucks!!!

Government gives money to banks. Banks gives money to only those who can produce mortgage. How are poor and young entrepreneurs going to produce that mortgage??? Why does our banks not lend based on business proposal and market feasibility??? I bet if any bank has conducted market feasibility studies or market research to help lend to good business proposals! Most of the borrowers who have taken money from banks have defaulted. Why? Because they had the luxury of mortgage for which the banks kissed their asses. 

Our financial system has become the business of assets and asses. The simple reasons is no matter however the money is used by the borrowers banks are safe with the mortgage?? And when the borrower defaults the banks simply confiscates the mortgage. The bank then sells that mortgage and makes money to be lent again to the borrowers who have mortgage. So the same money and assets are running in a cycle. Where is the new money made? NIL. 

That's why we have trade deficits. That's why we are importing more than we can export. That's why our young people are jobless and hopeless because they can't even become entrepreneurs since access to finance is controlled and beyond their reach. That's why we're witnessing the gap between the rich and poor is ever widening. That's why the middle class and the lower class are frustrated and creating all the social ills triggered by the greedy and discriminating behaviors of the rich. 

RMA thinks they are doing good job by controlling the banks but they are merely looking after the boring cattle. Banks are grazing comfortably on people's assets without doing any intelligent jobs of running the economy based on knowledge and innovation but simply on mortgage based lending. And to look after the cattle we don't need highly paid executives. A simple cattle herder can do. And we have plenty of cow herders. 

But ignorant Bhutanese people people are kept away through the veil of bourgeoisie tricks. The government along with the banks use lofty words of economic stimulus plan, growth rate, foreign exchange, interest rate, borrowings, which are nothing but useless archiac methods dragging our innocent people deep down to the financial doldrums. 

I can only see the war brewing between the agitated poor and greedy bourgeoisie in our society.