Since I returned from trekking in the Himalayas I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the updates on our Nepal News page. I’m watching for signs of anything improving over there, but I realize things can get a lot worse. Just as we were leaving Nepal we heard how the government was hemming in the media and that it wasn’t that safe to speak openly about certain issues. It was interesting to be in that environment to help adjust my perspective a little. In the US we average citizens are barraged with news reports and editorial commentary coming from all biases and viewpoints. We get so much news that we don’t really pay attention to it, or we don’t go too far to test the views expressed. A lot of the news we get can seem petty, but the value is that the media do watch and report on the issues. In a place like Nepal the government does censor the media sources and works to sway them to their agenda. In the United States we sometimes feel disaffected with the news media because they seem to have a political bias or they beat sensational stories to death to draw more viewers.

Reading international news sources is really healthy because it gives an outside perspective, though certainly not objective. Just hearing sensible alternatives to ones own issues can help to get a clear head and think about what really matters. Hearing other voices also reminds you that it’s such a big world after all, and that there are many other major problems and positive factors at work outside of our narrow viewpoint. Many of the world’s most tragic and oppressive situations get no airtime in the domestic media, and we might remain ignorant if we only rely on one gatekeeper to feed us our news. Certain administrative leaders rely on this narrow perception or even ignorance to clear the road for their own way of doing things. The government in Nepal seems to be struggling with that scenario, but from what I’ve seen it’s not going over so easily. In the news reports there are quite a few commentators who question the politics and sometimes offer positive criticism. Hopefully that spirit will persist.