TUTH Celebrates its 29th Anniversary

Gaurav Devkota
July 14, 2011

(Click to see other images)

Providing its services since 2040 B.S. Asad 30, Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) is one of the reputed hospital in the valley. It was established on the cooperation of the government of Japan and was inaugrated by the then king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. Since then, it has been serving the patients from general to sophisticated services, like that of open heart surgery, Kidney Transplant, Brain surgery and so forth.

Even though it is a semi-governmental hospital, it has maintained its standard and quality in serving the people even after 28 years of its establishment. As previous years, Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital is celebrating its anniversary this month from 27th Asad 2068 - 31 Asad 2068. It is celebrating its 29th anniversary with various programs like blood donation, recreational events, continuity service reward program and a main function which includes a speech from the director about the progress of the hospital in the presence of Japanese ambassador for Nepal. It is one of the biggest event of the hospital that is conducted annually. The budget for this event this year is approximately 10 lakhs which makes this event sounds like a great one. This program includes award ceremonies as well. Best ward award and best performance award are alloted to the deserving people. Staffs working continually for 25 years in the hospital are awarded the “Continuity Service Award” and are honored for their service. The lower level staffs are awarded with some cash amount for their contribution to the hospital. Teaching hospital conducts this event every year to celebrate its anniversary and also to increase the morale of the staffs so that their work efficiency increases which in-turn will help the hospital to provide good services to the public.

TUTH 29th anniversary Animation


Even after 28 years of its establishment,we can assume that TUTH is one of the best hospitals in the valley providing its services at a nominal price. Events like this, increases the moral of the staffs through award programs and boost up their team spirit to work better and serve the people at their best.

........

सके

रोइ सके,कराइ सके
पाए आफुलाई हराई सके
अत्ती सके म मात्ती सके
मातिएर फेरी आत्ती सके

बिचल्ली सके रुमल्ली सके
सडक किइनारा म धल्ली सके
लत्ती सके म बत्ती सके
जिवन सँग म आत्ती सके

जली सके म निभी सके
खरानी भ्है म उद्दी सके
जमी सके म चिस्सी सके
ब्ताश सँगइ म मिस्सी सके

अनयाशै आफु कापी सके
हो! के यो सत्य हो
यही झुतो सत्य,
म हासी सके

Golden Mean Theory

Golden mean or "middle way" is an ancient concept described in various traditions. In Western philosophy, Aristotle in particular elaborated this concept in his book Nicomachean Ethics. The "golden mean" is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

Aristotle in his book Nicomachean ethics has described about virtue and its reward,which is happiness.Aristotle said, virtues are a point of moderation between two opposite vices. In order to act virtuously, we must first acquire virtues, by parental upbringing, experience and reason. It is very important to develop certain principles in the early stages of life, for this will profoundly affect the later life. Aristotle's ethics is centered at a person's character, because by improving it, we also improve our virtues. A person must have knowledge, he must choose virtues for their own sake and his activities must originate from a firm and unshakeable character, which represents the conditions for having virtues.Aristotles ethics is strongly teleological which means that it should be the actions that leads to the realization of the good of the human being.

For Aristotle, virtue came from character. It is the character that makes you do the good deeds , not the deeds themselves. This school of moral thought is still around today and is called Virtue Ethics.

In his theory Aristotle is not talking about the mathematical middle, but the perfect intermediate point with regard to ourselves.The middle depends upon the situation.There is no universal middle that would apply to all situation. It is also important to remember that what is the proper midpoint for one person may not be the proper midpoint for another.

The mean is about the proper emotional response to situations, rather than the proper actions. Aristotle said, "It's easy to be angry, but to be angry at the right time, for the right reason, at the right person and in the right intensity must truly be brilliant."

Aristotelian Ethics is about what makes a virtuous character possible - righteous actions, often learned through the influence of teachers, allowing the development of the right habits, the right character, and a chance of achieving Eudaimonia (often translated as “well being” or “happiness”)
Similar conceps of golden mean were also given by classical historians like those of pythagoras,delphi,plato,crete and socrates. Socrates teaches that a man "must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible". Another early elaboration is the Doric saying carved on the front of the temple at Delphi: "Nothing in Excess".
In the ancient history we can find Gautama Buddha teaching the Middle Way, sharing the supremely important notion that the main purpose of our existence is to lead a good life.
Confucius also taught, excess is similar to deficiency. A way of living in the mean is the way of Zhongyong.

Criticism of Aristotle’s Golden Mean theory:

Many a time Aristotle's golden mean theory has been criticized.His theory was not able to solve many of the ethical dilemma’s.Killing is the interesting example to use in connection with the golden mean.

Would the killing of termites be the wrongful act when it is the only way to prevent them from destroying the house
(OR)
Pulling a plant and eating it when it is the only food available.

The killing that happens during abortion is also difficult case for this thoery to explain.

It is also hard for this theory to determine the issue of working at the job. Like how much in the way of possesions and wealth is enough?
All these ethical questions cant be answered by the golden mean theory of Aristotle for which it is criticized.

There are some other weaknesses in the theory as well. Aristotle states that living according to virtues is often not enough to guarantee a happy life. Another prerequisite (in addition to virtuous behaviour) is good fortune which brings one the goods necessary, but not sufficient, for a happy life. Another prerequisite for a happy life is health, which is also desired for its own sake. For Aristotle even the most virtuous of men can be denied happiness through the whims of fortune. As a consequence, one cannot be sure of achieving happiness until one’s life is fully played out. It can also be inferred that living a good life does not only require behaving virtuously, but also requires some strokes of good fortune or even luck. This can be perceived to be a weakness, or inconsistency in the theory, as Aristotle firmly advocates that virtue alone brings happiness.

Application of Golden Mean thoery in media:

Certain principles of golden mean are evident in media or journalistic practises.For instance the principle of balance and fairness in reporting are built on the golden mean.Maintaining objectivity in covering and reporting the news is another way to practise golden mean in media.Journalistics values such as balance, fairness and proportion fall under golden mean theory.
When faced with an ethical dilemma, a journalist will make his or her decision by casting out the two extremes, or vices, and choose the middle point in the ethics spectrum.for e.g
Journalists have a choice ranging from running no photographs of a tragedy to running the most graphic display of violent death. If they subscribe to the ethics of the Golden Mean, they would try to run a photo that indicates the horror of the tragedy without offending the sensibilities of their audience or of the family involved. (Brooks, Kennedy, Moen, & Ranly, 1996, p. 473)









Works Cited

1. G.Christians,Clifford . et al Media Ethics:Cases and Moral Reasoning. 7th ed.USA: Pearson Education Inc.,London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.,2006.
2. Van Doren, Charles. A History Of Knowledge: Past Present and Future 1st ed. USA:Birch Lane Press,Carol Publishing Group,1992.
3. Gaarder, Jostein. Sophies World.17th ed. London: Pheonix,Orion Books Ltd,1996.
4. B. Albarran,Alan.Management of Electronic Media. 4th ed.USA: University of North Texas, p.55.

Websites
1. http://western-philosophy.suite101.com/article.cfm/aristotles_golden_mean
2. http://www.anus.com/zine/articles/draugdur/golden_mean/
3. http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/aristotle-morality
4. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/MEAN.HTM
5. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Golden_mean_%28philosophy%29
6. http://www.lee_peck.tripod.com/leethesis.htm#2

जीवन

गुम्सिएको आवाजलाइ आज म सुन्न चाहन्छु ,
रापिएको बताशलाइ आज म पिउन चाहन्छु ,
निरर्थक चल्ने लाश जस्तो होइन ,
आज म जिउन चाहन्छु ,
सहि अर्थमा ,
जिउन चाहन्छु |

हुनेछ

हुनेछ हाम्रो भेट फेरी
उही गोरेटोमा
जहाँ,
एक जिवन अर्को सँग छुटिने छ,
रा तेस्रो को जन्म निस्चित्

यथार्थको नौलो संसारमा
गुथिने छन नया कोपिला
र ती सँगइ,
एक जिवन बदल्ने छ

समय को लामो आन्तर्‍आल पछी
जब मेल हुनेछ
तब्,
आशु का धारा,
भावना का भेल्,
उर्लने छन्

गान्सिनेछ अन्तर आत्मिय सम बन्ध्
र कार्य
तेसैको सुधार को निम्ति
तब्,
हाम्रो भेट पुन हुनेछ
त्यही गोरेटोमा,
जिवन का त्यही पाटाहरुमा,
त्यही गोधुलिमा

Sometimes its gud to be together,
sometimes it gud to get mad
while others laugh or give a frown
its gud to adore.

While u walk out alone and
Someone’s watching ur back
U still dont regret
for what u dont have

Mellow expressions deep throat
and again u walk
till u meet the days of urs
the times’s mine

and one day
u walk by
and its watching u again
your trampled persuations

mid day sun , mid night stars
are all ur’s
the glow of new love,
a glow of regret

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIA RESEARCH

Before we move on to the topic, let us first be clear about the concept of media research and gain some understanding about it.

Research literally means to investigate,to know something scientifically.So scientific method of investigation is research.Research uses concepts like objectivity of approach and the acceptability of the results hence it is called as science.Objectivity indicates to observe things as they are and Acceptability is judged in terms of the degree to which observations and experiments can be reproduced.The findings should not be altered by the mere alteration of the investigator.then only it is termed as objective.Research is also called as science because it is less prone to errors.
Research is of two kinds.
• Natural science research
• Social science research

Media research is a part of communication research and falls under social science research.Media research does the scientific study of mass communication and media and its interaction with the people as individual and as group.
Survey conducted to investigate what segment of consumers read which periodicals and/or listen to or watch which radio or television programs is Media Research.Media research mainly concerns media content and activities of media professionals,media owners and audiences.Media research may be media centric or society centric.Some scholars even define media research under the following headings
• People or behaviour oriented research
• Message or artifact oriented research

All the academic field of study needs research and media studies is not the exception.Research can be conducted in various forms of media’s ranging from print media to broadcast media,out-of-home media to interactive media.

Print media includes newspapers, magazines, directories, mail, brochures, packaging, and all other forms of message delivery that are produced by printing words or images onto paper or any other material like balloons or T-shirts.Its circulation, readership, management etc can be studied and researched on to bring out the perfect product in the market

Broadcast media includes radio and television.Here frequency of the news,coverage time span,size of the news covered can be studied through research.

Out-of-home media is also known as place-based media. This includes billboards, outdoor boards, transit posters, theater and video ads, product placements in movies, aerial advertising, eletronic kiosks, ads in elevators, banner displays on ATMs, sidewalk chalk messages, etc.

Interactive media is two-way media that allows both companies and customers to send and receive messages between one another. This includes websites.
The above mentioned aspects of print media and broadcast media can also be studied in out-of-home media and interactive media.

Media research is not done only for professional purpose.People tend to get the intellectual joy and feel that their works can be of service to the society.Media research opens new avenues to understanding of media and its contents for further generations as well.

<_____________>

Alone I stand,staring at the earth,
What is see is hatered breeding all around,
Suffocation from human race,
The unheard voices beckons me.

I take a leap,
Backward,it brings me in,
All of a sudden is what I see,
The unheard melody calling me

Rings of chain engulf my soul,
I try to escape that minute,
Strangled peace I search inside,
Reminiscent captivating source

Finally I escape out,
From the darkness in-visiting me
Sorrows of life I think about
Staring the earth from above.

Up There In The Sky

Up there in the sky
There’s a temple of your own
Open the gates and receive
What has been given to you?

Its far , its away
No ones getting there,
Unless u try to read the lines
Its your fate.

Is that u ? Is that it?
This is what we ask
But no, it isn’t the one
I was searching for.

Seems dizzy the vision of me
Strangles in me the hope
Who’s the one seeking trust?
Hanging up in the air.

The attempt to speak, to walk away
Tried to see the unseen
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Don’t even touch that
It’s mortal.

Its bleeding, Now its bleeding
The senses are all gone
Up there in the sky
There’s the temple of your own.

Media Students Visit Radio Nepal

Media students of Kathmandu University batch 07’ & 08’ visited Radio Nepal at Singhadurbar on May 20th 2009.The main objective of the visit was to make students familiar with the professional work space of the Radio Nepal. Students got to learn different phases before the program finally gets broadcasted. Shekhar K.C, the second year student said, “The visit was very fruitful and the knowledge I gained in this visit would help me in my career development”.
Nirmala Mani Adhikary, the Course Supervisor of Media Studies in Kathmandu University, facilitated the students during their two hour long visit. The students while on their tour got to see the various well equipped recording studios along with the music library. The library had the collection of the songs since the inception of the Nepali music industry. The students also had a chance to meet the pioneer of Nepali music industry, Meera Rana. She shared her experience with the students about the decade long journey in Radio Nepal.

Development Communication Still in its Phase of Development

The main speaker of the talk program entitled “ Development Journalism: Necessity and Challenges”, Laxman Dutta Pant, gave his very comprehensive analysis of the present situation of the development journalism in Nepal. He further discussed the importance and the role of development journalism not only in the development of infrastructures but also in the need of active participation of the Nepalese diaspora to bring paradigm shift in the concept towards development.
Pant also criticized the general trend of journalist to devote a couple of paragraphs to the speech of political leaders in their newspaper rather than giving their detailed follow up in the development news story. He also grabbed the attention of various media scholars present in the talk program about the critical state of Nepalese media houses which are highly business oriented rather than service. He gave various instances of abroad countries like Scandinavian countries where development journalism not only focuses on the infrastructure building but also the agendas that brings people together to interact and find the solution to their problems by themselves. According to him, development journalism plays leading role in eradicating poverty and promoting human development. He said, “In the context of our country conflict, natural disaster, and government recklessness are the three main factors that is hindering the development journalism to play its role in eradicating poverty”.
During his replies to the curiosities presented by the students and the scholars present at the one hour long talk program Pant pointed out the lack of uniform distribution of the various media outlets across the country, the main obstacle in the way to develop Nepalese media as a full fledged industry. Assistant Professor Nirmala Mani Adhikary, research expert and the author of more than two dozens of books, also assisted Pant during the question answer session. Pant is also a visiting faculty at Kathmandu University.
In his article “Redefining Development Communication” Pant firstly emphasis Nepalese people to advance in the area of communication for their social advancement. Until there is no proper communication then they would not be able to understand their problem and even find the solution to it. Development communication is not just giving the news of advancement regarding the infrastructure of the country but it should focus in the activity and its impact on the people. As development journalist increase in number, so do statistics on poverty, corruption, illiteracy, disease etc. This creates the confusion between “development journalism” and “development communication”. Development journalism should focus on the needs of the poor, the deprived, the marginalized and emphasis their effective participation in development planning.

Visiting 13th Book Fair

May 21st ,2009 we the students of media studies visited the 13the book fair at Bhrikuti Mandap. In comparison to the earlier book fair last year, this time there were very less number of visitors. There were around 51 book stalls including those of the colleges, abroad consultancies, computer institutes etc. Out of my surprise there was only two of the religious book stalls, one of ISKON(Nepal) and other of OSHO DHAM.

Interviewing one of the members of Iskon (Nepal), Sahasranam (his spiritual name) said, all these books are useless if you don’t have spiritual knowledge. Books cannot change our heart, cannot change our mind. The entire thing in life is illusion. Western world, Material luxury all pleasures of life are illusion. Spiritual education is important for us the university students because we know much of the things than the school going children’s or the older folks. This knowledge of spirituality will lead to peace and success of life. Material world just creates difference between human beings but the spiritual world combines everything, everybody.

He had been preaching around and was on the tour to India and Nepal, originally he was from France. He says its not Hindu culture, Muslim culture or something like that. Its all Saanatan Dharma (eternal religion).Everybody have inner conflict like family conflict, organization conflict, nation conflict etc and this is “ Kaliyuga”, with people having all the troubles created by themselves , so if we don’t have spiritual knowledge then we are degraded to animal life. We should not wait for being old to read those spiritual books. What if we die tomorrow? Then there would be no divine soul of our’s. In next life we will go into animal life directly.

Interesting thing was that in that book fair there was this person who was continuously saying that books are useless. People come here to see books but why don’t they peep inside their own self. They can learn much more.

....and you

Everytime my eye blinks
and I respirate,
words coming out from my eyes
....and you

People in the street staring at me,
Attires of people I see.
They turn around and make their way
....and you

Nature speaks,thunder roars
lightening fading away,
Dusk is here on its way
....and you

Sounds of sorrow,sounds of joy
I seek the latter one
but none of these I ever get
....and you

Smiling faces,togetherness
brotherhood of man,
Makes this world a happy place
....and you.

Break of The Day

History Proves To be Wrong

In the course content of many Nepali schools we find the wrong information about the Changu Narayan temple especially in the book ”Environment and Population” which the lower secondary level students have to study.In that book its written that king Mandev had established the Changu Narayan temple. According to the priest of the temple Chakradharananda Raj Upadhya, there is the history of king Haridatta Burma who had built all the four Narayana’s of the city including the Changu Narayan but this fact is also not well proved.
To prove the fact that Mandev isn’t the one to established the Changu Narayan temple here are some points according to the priest we interviewed.

1 ) King Mandev is after the 9th generation of king Haridutta Burma. Interesting fact is that how can the temple be built 9 generation ago and the statue of god established after the 9th generation.

2) Another fact is that king Mandev in his manifesto had talked about the land he’s going to give for the establishment of the Changu Narayan temple. Nowhere has he mentioned about the temple been established buy him.In addition, he has written in his manifesto that there is Lord Hari in the place where the Changu Narayan temple is right now.It also proves that Changu Narayan was not there at least in Mandev’s regime .

Sufficient points are there to prove the history wrong but I really don’t understand why our government’s educational policy to update certain facts is not working.Students in the lower secondary level are given the wrong facts about our remarkable history.This way wrong information is passed for generations to generations and someday this incident may be erased from our history too.

A Ten Rupee Note Mystery

Have you ever noticed the pictures of gods/goddesses printed on the Nepalese rupees.If not then try it out with a ten rupee note.The picture printed on the front face (somewhere in the middle)of the note is of lord Vishnu.This statue of lord Vishnu can be found near the main front gate of the temple Changu Narayan.Changu Narayan is the name of the deity enshrined in the Changu Narayan Temple, located near the Changunarayan village in Kathmandu Valley.The statue is situated just 5-10 metres away from the main gate of the temple.This statue has the the picture of lord Vishnu inscribed on it.Lord Vishnu along with his two weapons Shankha i.e Conch and Dandaha(holy stick)has been mounted on Garud(his vahana).
Actually the concerned authorities were searching for some other statue of the god but due to some unavoidable circumstances they had to choose this one,the present statue.According to the priest of the temple,the temple has got its own historical importance as well as other significant values for its picture to be printed on Nepalese currency.

TUTH- 29th Anniversary

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What is Music?

A vibe without boundaries,a sky without limit,is music.Like a human body it has its major components namely pitch,tone,tempo,rhythm,beat,scale etc.Human body runs in beat and so does music.Bundle of vibrations flow through the different components making it a perfect music.The body dies but the soul remains likewise music also has an eternal soul,the soul of its creativity.Music has a heart that's embedded in the creators intuitive feelings,eyes that see beyond the surface,ears that hear the sound of silence,hands that touches the non-living and legs that walk towards perfection,truth and profoundness.

Them

Beneath the gleaming sky,
I stand alone,
I see the stars, I see the moon,
They, staring at me
With the visions of their light,
They speak to me through the cool breeze,
Whistles in my ear the words of holy
I stand still, hear them speak.

The croaking of frog,
The sound of nightingale,
Waves of joys & of sorrow drifting in my mind,
Oh! I’m lonely I feel
Yes, I’m lonely
but not alone,
My senses, moments, gestures & thoughts
are here with me
playing with me, in me.

I happen to see the dusk
With the naked eyes
& feel
They sing lullabies,

I sat on the ground and touched the grass,
Green, the colour of grass,
Golden red, the sun,
Blue, the sky,
Lonely me alone,
My thoughts,
Not in the vicinity of my thoughts.

Sudden screams, I hear,
Lifeless feel, I get,
Strange words, I spell,
Above all
The black sky.

Droplets of tears forms cubes in my heart
Serving the peg with the blood
Cubes for the sense of taste
In me.

And then one night,
One silent night,
I again try to stare
But this time,
That would be me
And this would be them.

Journalism and Democracy

Journalism and democracy are two such components which rely mainly on each other.The proper functioning of each of these are not possible until the existence of the other.Let me now describe journalism and democracy individually and show their interconnectedness while doing so.

Journalism has various definitions but defining it in terms of democracy is the matter we need to do here.So, journalism according to Mcquail, is the profession related with news.Various experts refer journalism as “the product or the work of professional “news people”.As product it typically means informational reports of recent or current events of interest to the public. Journalism is a special branch of mass communication and is playing the vital role in the modern society.Previously journalism meant writing for the newspaper or magazines but now its meaning has broadened and in these days journalism also includes reporting and editing in radio,television and online too.Journalism is mainly intended to inform the audiences regarding what is happening around them.The journalistic writing is in fact a contemporary report of changing scene in the society.

Now let us talk a bit about democracy. Democracy is a form of government in which power is held indirectly by citizens in a free electoral system. Democracy has certain principles.First, principle is that all members of the society (citizens) have equal access to power and the Second, that all members (citizens) enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties.So,in a democratic state each and every citizen enjoys his/her full power with their boundless freedom leading them to be free from the governance of the state in their fundamental as well as other rights.

The press or the media that exists in a country is directly related to the political system of that country.There are four major theories regarding the relationship between the government(lets say democratic government) and the press( journalists). They are
Social Responsibility theory,Libertarian theory,Authoritarian theory,Soviet communist theory.Each of these theories have their own set of rules and their guiding principles which affect or enhance the free flow of information.The press(or journalists) have to deal with the government because firstly government is powerful so it may use its power and become corrupt.So, press needs to play a role of watch dog against the government.Secondly,the government is running the country so it has to cooperate with the government.It has to act like a bridge between the government and the public.Its like a mediator.The government has significant role in regulation of the press.Sometimes the government facilitates developing the press.The government continuously needs to be in touch with the public and the only way is through media (indirectly through journalism).So if it a democratic government then the process would be much easier.we can see various examples of the connection between journalism and democracy in our country too.Like in royal regime the king had control over the radio and television transmissions.He would telecast the news content on his interest only.Certain radio stations were also closed down by his troops after it tries to speak against his rule.we can also take the example of the Myanmar where each and every piece of news story has to be firstly approved by the government before being published or broadcasted.

So through the above discussion we can make it out that journalism,if has to function in a unbiased way giving the factual news,than has to run parallel with democracy.We cannot think of a Utopian state of journalism without the existence of democracy.Concluding, we can say that the vehicle for the press freedom and journalistic process would be “democracy”.