The Kathmandu Post
Without Fear or Favour
Front page of The Kathmandu Post on 2 February 2017
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
PublisherKantipur Publications
Editor-in-chiefBiswas Baral[1]
FoundedFebruary 1993; 31 years ago (1993-02)
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersKathmandu
CountryNepal
Circulation95,000[2]
Websitekathmandupost.com

The Kathmandu Post is a major daily newspaper published in Nepal. Founded in February 1993 by Shyam Goenka,[3] it is one of the largest English-language newspapers in the country.[4][5] The newspaper is published by Kantipur Publications, the publishers of Nepal's largest selling newspaper, the Nepali-language Kantipur.[6] Post is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of nineteen Asian newspapers.[7] The Kathmandu Post is Nepal's first privately owned English broadsheet daily, and is Nepal's largest selling English language newspaper, with a daily circulation of 95,000 copies.

The Post's first five pages are primarily dedicated to national news. Each day, the last page offers a variety of features, including explainers, interviews, auto reviews, and restaurant reviews and destinations. During the weekdays, the newspaper also features culture & arts pages, which cover national and international news on society, life and style, fashion and technology. On the weekends, the Post focuses on long-form journalism, satire and creative non-fiction articles.[8]

Since 2018, under the editorship of Anup Kaphle,[9] the Post focused on longer investigative pieces,[10] analyses and explainers, making those the core of its daily reporting. Kaphle resigned in February 2020 and was replaced as editor by Sanjeev Satgainya.[11] Biswas Baral, former editor of The Annapurna Express, was appointed editor in September 2022 after Satgainya resigned.[12] Satgainya and Baral reversed many of the changes that Kaphle had made, turning the paper back to its previous focus on op-ed and political reporting.

Controversy

In October 2007, the offices of The Kathmandu Post were attacked by the All Nepal Printing and Publication Workers' Union, a group connected to the former Maoist rebels of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The printing press was vandalized, stopping the paper from being published. Two hundred journalists and legal professionals marched in Kathmandu in protest at the attacks.[13][14]

Chinese Embassy controversy

On 18 February 2020, The Kathmandu Post republished an article by Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, which was originally published in The Korea Herald, a member of the Asia News Network, with an accompanying stock illustration from Shutterstock that showed Mao Zedong wearing a mask. The Chinese Embassy in Nepal took serious exception to the article and the illustration, issuing a press statement that said the article had been published with "malicious intention" and had "deliberately smeared the efforts of the Chinese government and people fighting against the new coronavirus pneumonia and even viciously attacked the political system of China".[15][16] The press statement was widely condemned by journalists and diplomats for breaching "diplomatic decorum" and was seen as an attempt by the Chinese government to stifle press freedom in a neighboring country.[17][18][19]

References

  1. ^ "Biswas Baral appointed new Editor of the Post". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  2. ^ "The Kathmandu Post". kmg.com.np. Kantipur Media Group. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Nepali Media at Crossroad". nepaldemocracy.org. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  4. ^ Mayhew, Bradley; Everist, Richard; Brown, Lindsay; Finlay, Hugh; Vivequin, Wanda (2003). Lonely Planet Nepal. Lonely Planet. p. 57. ISBN 1-74059-422-3. Retrieved 12 August 2008 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Reed, David; McConnachie, James (2002). The Rough Guide to Nepal. Rough Guides. p. 53. ISBN 1-85828-899-1. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  6. ^ "Nepal's largest newspaper office attacked by ex-communist rebels' union". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2008. [dead link]
  7. ^ "Pakistan's 'The Nation' joins Asia News Network". The Jakarta Post. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  8. ^ "Kantipur Publications (P) Ltd". kmg.com.np. Kantipur Media Group. 23 April 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Editor's Note | The Kathmandu Post's next chapter". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Kathmandu Post Investigations". The Kathmandu Post. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Sanjeev Satgainya appointed new editor of The Kathmandu Post". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  12. ^ "Biswas Baral appointed new Editor of the Post". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Nepalese protest in capital over attack on newspaper". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2008. [dead link]
  14. ^ "Nepal media protest over attack". BBC News. 23 December 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  15. ^ "Statement of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Nepal". np.china-embassy.org. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Chinese Embassy takes exception to article carried by Post on coronavirus". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Nepali editors condemn Chinese embassy's statement regarding the Post". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  18. ^ "'A picture of malicious intention'". Himal Southasian. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Nepali Editors Condemn Chinese Embassy for Statement Criticising Newspaper". The Wire. Retrieved 14 October 2020.

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