Routine of Nepal Banda – From Critical to Hypocritical
Editor’s note
As of writing, RONB does not have a public phone number or any transparent form of communication gateway. A registered private company in Nepal does not have a face, physical address or direct communication portal. There is no transparency in its advertisement policies. Do you really think RONB can be considered credible when its operations are underground? We hope this brings awareness for the Government and Advertising Board of Nepal. A media outlet cannot and should not operate with this level of secrecy. A pillar that is supposed to unveil the sketchiness of public, governmental and corporate sector, itself working underground is a big red herring and needs urgent notice from concerned authorities.
Unethical Journalism practice
Media/Journalism is regarded as the 4th pillar of democracy. It is supposed to serve as a watchdog by bringing into light the wrongdoings of other public/private sectors. However, as we have time and again stated, Nepal’s marketing/media industry seems to be the Wild Wild West. Today, we want to highlight on the unethical advertisement practice that Nepali media, especially Routine of Nepal Banda(RONB) engages in.
Unethical ad placement
While RONB became popular for regularly updating Facebook users about news events, currently RONB has been engaging in one of the worst form of journalistic malpractice. RONB engages in what we call ‘news based advertising’. News based advertising is basically an ad that acts like a well thought out , written in good-faith, article. This fools the consumers as they are unaware that the publisher published the ad for money, not because they personally endorse it. Just look at some of the sponsored post. RONB has failed miserably as a news organization by hiding financial obligation.
Inconsistent Hypocritical messaging
Unethical advertisement has also created an unintended consequence. Just look at the series of post by Routine of Nepal Banda. Someday, its unsponsored posts criticize education consultancies. Some other day, they talk about choosing a particular consultancy for abroad studies. It’s a common ethical journalistic practice to provide a disclaimer to news based ads. However, the attraction of advertisers with RONB precisely seems to be because this particular news agency does not give two cents about ethics.
RONB’s USP is its supposed credibility. What started out as a simple Facebook page updating people on routine of general strike in Nepal, has slowly evolved into one of the most credible news source for Nepalese people. However, RONB is seriously undermining its own value by engaging in unethical journalistic practices. As a business organization, we are not saying that RONB should not engage in financial transactions. It is good that what started as a small startup today has become a media behemoth in its own right. This gives hope to startups like ours too. However, this does not give license to operate unethically. While there are multiple flaws of traditional media too, no one engages in such blatant disregard for journalistic ethics. When you see an ad on electronic or print media, you, as a consumer, automatically know that it is an ad. From the way ad banners are separated from news contents to explicitly stating the placement as an ad, most of the other media houses have not engaged in such monstrosity.
The Principle of Separation of News and Advertisements
Government and Advertising Board of Nepal( AAN) are completely apathetic to advertising malpractice. Whether it is about Indian brands making a complete mockery of Nepal’s rule of law violating clean feed policy or RONB now violating transparency requirements of Advertising Act (2019). Media houses are required to separate their news reporting from advertisements. In fact, media houses are required to ensure that advertisements do not interfere with news reporting. Thus, it is expected that media houses clearly mark their advertisements as advertisements. We hope that RONB gives serious consideration to its advertisement policies before it ends up losing its credibility.
