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Information and communication revolution in Nepal seems to be centralized in the cities, mostly in Kathmandu valley. Most communication media, except few locally operating media are focused to urban population. So the majority of Nepali citizens are still deprived of information.Lack of skilled manpower is still there. It is true for both the 'hardware' and the 'software' aspect. Highly political motivation in case of newspapers and dominance of entertaining programs in case of radio/ television is resulting the lack of educational programs. The is vast scope for media in Nepal to be used as a tool for education such as Open University. But no initiative could be seen in this regard. Similarly, the mass media are not being used as much as it could be used for public awareness. Nepali media industry is said to have entered in the phase of professionalism but there is still lack of that. The job of journalists is under the 'mercy' of owners who are able to hire of fire the employees according to their will. The unhealthy competition among few media houses is notable here.
Journalism simply refers to gathering, evaluating, and distributing facts of current interest. In journalism, reporters research and write stories for print and electronic distribution, often with the guidance of editors or producers. The earliest journalists produced their stories for news sheets, circulars, newspapers, and periodicals. With technological advances, journalism came to include other media, such as radio, documentary or newsreel films, television, and the Internet. Journalism is a special branch of mass communication and is playing a vital role in the modern society. In the past days journalism referred to writing for a newspaper or magazine. But nowadays the meaning of journalism has been broadened. Nowadays it doesn't only means about writing the journal but also includes reporting and editing in radio, television and online too. This change is perhaps the positive change of journalism with the advancement of technologies.
Nepal has a thousands of years of human civilization. It's history is rooted to Vedic periods. Some scholars also claim that it is the land of creation and in the past Nepal had traditional means of communication. For example: A Katuwal is a person who had responsibility to inform about the matters of public interest by speaking loudly. And it was paid to them on annual basis. And the trained pigeons, horses, eagles were also used to exchange the information and pass the letters. But the modern form of mass media was not invented here. They were bought from the foreign countries. The modern history of mass communication in Nepal started after bringing a printing press in 1851 AD from Britain. Janga Bahadur Rana, the then Prime minister and the founder of Rana family rule, bought a printing press while returning from his England trip, which he undertook at the invitation of Queen Victoria. The press was popularly known as 'Giddhe Chhapakhana' because the machine carried the image of a vulture on it's top. It is widely accepted that Janga Bahadur Rana's effort to bring printing press to Nepal is the beginning of modern era in the field of mass communication.
The term mass media refers to all of the communications media that reach a large audience, especially television, radio, and newspapers the means of communication that operate on a large scale reaching and involving large populations. Mass media are those medium or the communication vehicles which are required to reach the mass audience. Mass media includes all forms of information communicated to the larger group of people, from a hand made sign to the international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes "mass" communication. There are no barriers on what type of information is being presented. Sometime the word is used just to mean the various mechanical means such as books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, film and the internet emphasizing the single component of mass media. But there are scholars who include other forms of media, such as bill-boards, banners, pamphlets, posters, stickers, direct mails, buttons, diaries, sound recording too as mass media.
