Top newspaper office torched, but journalists push out edition

DEHRADUN: Journalists at Kantipur Media Group, which publishes the English daily Kathmandu Post, and Kantipur, the highest selling Nepalese daily, said they saw their office burned by Gen-Z protesters but fought the odds to make sure Wednesday's edition was published to record the developments that shook their nation on Tuesday."The edition was late, but it was there," one journalist said, requesting anonymity citing security concerns. Another likened her colleagues and herself to a bird from Greek mythology that rises from its own ashes. "We are like the phoenix... We will rise again and continue to fight for the truth," she said.She added that on Tuesday both KMG dailies had published a "hard-hitting" editorial piece asking the now ousted govt to step down following the killing of 19 protesters, including a few schoolchildren.

"Despite that, protesters destroyed our office, accusing us of siding with the now ousted govt," she said. "What was supposed to be an important day in our careers as the country was witnessing such a major movement against prolonged unemployment, poverty and corruption, turned into the most harrowing one," said the journalist, who has been working with KMG, Nepal's biggest media house, for nearly a decade.The office in Thapathalli area, in the Kathmandu city centre, was torched on Tuesday evening along with the parliament, Singha Durbar, Supreme Court, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (equivalent to India's Lokpal), ministers' homes, and even the attorney-general's office.

The offices of Annapurna Media Network were also set ablaze. One journalist, who claimed that nearly 50 staff, including women, were lucky to survive, told TOI from Kathmandu over the phone that they got out of the KMG office a couple of hours before the fire engulfed the entire building. "All of us left the office by around 12.30. By 3 pm we learned that the nine-storey building hosting our offices on the 7th and 8th floors had been set on fire," the journalist said.