21 Nov 2019

Print Media Landscape of Nepal

The first official state owned newspaper in Nepal is Gorakhapatra which has a history of more than 100 years. The first private commercial daily newspaper is Kantipur which began publication in 1993. The circulation of newspapers has increased since then. The largest circulation is of Kantipur which sums around 350,000 copies, as per its claim. Other media houses claim their circulation of Nepali-language dailies at up to 200,000 per day. The most important media companies are: the Kantipur Media Group, Asia-Pacific Communication Associates Nepal Pvt Ltd, Gorkhapatra Corporation, Nepal Republic Media. The print media published by each of these publication houses are outlined below: Kantipur Media Group: Kantipur (daily), The Kathmandu Post (English language daily), Nepal (weekly magazine), Saptahik (weekly tabloid) and Nari (monthly specialised magazine). Nepal Republic Media Private Limited: Nagarik (daily), Republica (English language daily), Sukhrabar (weekly tabloid) Gorkhapatra Corporation: Gorkhapatra (weekly), The Rising Nepal (English language daily), Madupark, Muna and Yuvamanch (monthly specialised magazines). Nepal News Network (3NI) Private Limited: Annapurna Post(Nepali language daily), and Annapurna Express (English language weekly tabloid). All of the above media houses, except state-owned Gorkhapatra Corporation, have cross-media ownership. Kantipur Media Group also owns a radio station, a popular television channel and a subsidiary, Kantipur Digital Corp, that has investment in technology companies and runs all digital news operation of the publication; Nepal Republic Media owns a radio station; whereas 3NI owns a radio station and a television channel. According to the Press Council of Nepal, there are 3,865 registered newspapers across the country with 655 dailies, 30 bi-weeklies, 2,778 weeklies and 402 fortnightlies. Among them, 1,640 are registered in the Kathmandu Valley. But not all of those registered newspapers are published. In total, 189 newspapers are published every day in Nepal but only the top few mainstream Nepali- language newspapers published in the capital Kathmandu have agenda-setting strength. two weekly newsmagazines – Nepal and Himal, are commercial publications that are popular and are agenda setters.

The most popular and highest circulated weeklies in Nepal are tabloids targeting young readers, with contents focusing on sex, gossip, entertainment and sports. These include Saptahik and Sukrabar, claimed circulation of both standing at around 200,000 copies per issue. There are no freesheets published in Nepal.