Legacy of trust of Nepal's 1st English language broadsheet

 Kathmandu, Dec. 16

The Rising Nepal, first English broadsheet daily of the country, has turned 59 from Sunday, December 17.

Published by the Gorkhapatra Corporation, the first and state-owned newspaper company of the country, since 16 December 1965 (BS 22 Poush 2022 of Nepali calendar), it was the first full-size English newspaper. However, it was the third English newspaper published from Nepal following 'Motherland' and 'The Commoner'.

The newspaper managed to remain in the publication for the last 58 years to be the longest-running English daily newspaper in the country.  

According to the former editors of The Rising Nepal, this newspaper was the need of the time then as the government wanted it as it had to send all advertisement in English to India for publication which would take many days.

Although the readership for an English newspaper was considerably small then, this dependence on Indian media for the advertisements in English forced the government to launch this publication which was also catering to the foreigners who wanted to know about Nepal.

The newspaper immediately came into the attention of many because of its size and content. Meanwhile, the government then presented The Rising Nepal as a liberal media, making it a bit different from its sister publication – Gorkhapatra Daily, the first newspaper of the country which is in publication for 125 years. As the former editors of this daily said in various occasions in the past, compared to Gorkhapatra daily, it exercised greater editorial freedom.

King's direct rule was ended in Nepal in 1990 with the restoration of democracy which paved the way for the opening of private media including broadsheet dailies, television channels and FM radio stations. The country consequently witnessed the publication of many English print media including the broadsheet dailies which adopted latest technology and design to attract the readers but TRN continued with its traditional design and look.

But a decade-long effort has now resulted in better design, higher readability and attractive features. As a result, the paper has more liberal design and photo presentation. Its content has been diversified with the publication of special pages, editions and pull-outs. It has been trying to address the audience from political and business elite to school kids.

However, it couldn't resume the publication of 12 pages newspaper which had begun before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It had added four colour pages to its publication creating more space for additional and diversified content.

According to Jagadish Pokhrel, then TRN editor, this initiative was taken with the aim to diversify the content of the newspaper to cater to the large variety of audiences.

Currently, TRN features special pages for business, op-ed, international, art and culture, sports. Likewise, it has been regularly publishing an 4-page pull-out, Friday Supplement which includes feature stories, literature, book reviews, and sections for youth and children. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 17 December 2023.