The Laborious Climb Up The Ladder

Yesterday, the JAB (Journalists’ Association of Bhutan) hosted their 10th National Journalism Awards (JNA) 2026 coinciding with the World Press Freedom Day. Although not a serving journalist in the conventional sense, I received an invite to join the Association as its Member - which I gladly accepted. So, for whatever it is worth, I am a registered and active Member of the JAB. Thus, I was invited to participate in yesterday’s event. However, I chose not to be present during the proceedings - because wisdom is when you know that discretion is the better part of valor.

And I was right!!! A number of personalities in the gathering stated - with unabashed alacrity - that Bhutan’s poor press freedom ranking for the year 2026 is grossly flawed – that the Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) did a shoddy job – that the methodology they adopted to assimilate information in our case was suspect. One official even went so far as to state that there was no transparency in the process.

Nothing more than rantings of bad losers!!!

I wonder what China and North Korea thinks about their ranking? The RSF ranks them at the absolute bottom – 178th and 179th among 180 countries. They must be livid!!! Not that our 150th ranking is anything to write back home about – I mean for all our nose-in-the-air attitude, we rank way below the regional average.

I hope the powers that be understand that the way forward to improve our ranking, if that is accepted to be desirable - is not by smarting at the results pronounced by an organization whose verdict is accepted as frank, fair and truthful across the globe.

It is my understanding that not everything here is hunky dory, that we have a need to be more open minded and tolerant about what the media is engaged in, and allow them to play the role for which they are celebrated …. It is only then that we may hope to be counted as equal among equals.

That said, it would appear that the seat holders - the media people - also need to understand that unwarranted self-censorship do not help the situation - they need to grow up to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is not fair to blame the state machineries alone for  our poor showing.

All things considered, I am happy that Tenzing Lamsang was acknowledged as he deserves to be – I was very, very apprehensive that some people might decide to be vengeful – I mean market report has it that some gutless institutions have resorted to discontinuing their subscription to his paper because he has been scathing about them …. The fact that he has been recognized as he deserves to be, is proof that we are not as bad as some would have us believe that we are.

But I was disappointed that Kuensel Reporter Lhakpa Quendren was not honored as I had hoped that he might be. I mean his recent article early last month titled “Aviation, telecom duopolies weigh on Bhutan’s economy” was simply, honestly, titillating! I suppose not may understood the implications of that consequential article …. But I was so, so very impressed by the article that I went over to the Kuensel to meet the Reporter and congratulate him in person, for his truly astute article.