Last week, tweeting another My Republica Editorial by Subhash Ghimire, the Editor-in-chief of the publication, I was trying to tag the man himself.
But Twitter wouldn’t give me the option to do so! (And it’s for the same reason that I blame Twitter for my getting his Twitter handle wrong in the tweet below! 🙂 )
.@subash580 in @RepublicaNepal. DrKC’s death “will b a moral failure on d part of conscientious citizens like us[.]” https://t.co/3J30TdIT7p
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) December 1, 2016
Immediately after tweeting that, realizing the strangeness of the social media’s reluctance to help me tag him, I located his Twitter handle and visited his profile to discover…that he had blocked me!
Here’s something pathetic. Subash Ghimire (@subash580), Editor-in-chief of a major publication, has blocked me! pic.twitter.com/tFRwSx6ehK
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) December 1, 2016
I added another tweet to the above surmising why he may have done so.
Discovered it just now. I bet he didn’t like/couldn’t stand my pointing out issues with their publications!
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) December 1, 2016
And naturally, I wondered when he might have done that.
Granted, I have been pointing out issues with his publications on Twitter for a while now, but what tweet broke the Chief’s back, as it were? I was curious.
Most recently I had tagged him on a tweet — another one of his editorials — sent out on November 8.
“There is a rumor that the proposed amendment has been brought to placate certain section of Madheshi leaders.” Source? ? ? ? https://t.co/ioFeSXgllL
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 8, 2016
I know, I know, I know…. I couldn’t help it!
Just in case, he or someone at Republica changes the particular sentence, or edits it out, later (which his publication has done in the past), here’s a screenshot.
Someone responded to the tweet indicating my awareness of Ghimire’s publications’ struggles, and even conceded that I was poking fun at them.
@dkZha Yes I’m aware of @RepublicaNepal ‘s struggles with crediting their sources. I was making fun of them in that tweet. @subhash580
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 8, 2016
And added why I did.
@dkZha Any paper that sources a rumor in their editorial is begging 2 be mocked! @RepublicaNepal @subhash580
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 8, 2016
Maybe one of those tweets were the last tweet that broke the Chief’s back!
Otherwise, the last time I had tagged him had been way back in July 16 and 17, almost four months earlier.
If indeed ignorance kills, what I want to know is if the editor who wrote this is still alive! https://t.co/c6dPLk0KN9
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) July 16, 2016
@krishna9491 It’s a killer of others only, NOT the editor of course! How could I have been so dumb! 😉 😉 @RepublicaNepal @subhash580
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) July 16, 2016
@mukesh2006 His Tweet following @robpenner ‘s case is revealing. @kashishds @prashantktm @Scorpiiioo @nytimes @RepublicaNepal @subhash580
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) July 17, 2016
The tweet of his I refer to above is the following:
Harassment, trolls & insults aren’t freedom of expression. A white man’s immigration violations can’t be masked under free speech. Period.
— Subhash Ghimire (@subhash580) May 4, 2016
To reiterate, I do find his blocking me a little pathetic!
Sure, I have raised issues with articles his publications have produced — highlighting the ways in which they are of poor quality, they are misogynistic, biased against religions other than Hinduism, biased against indigenous population etc., and about the ways they have been unethical (reproducing articles and info-graphs without crediting their sources) etc.
Sure, when I have done that, I have been quite pointed and blunt on some occasion.
But, I for one believe that if a journalist is not open to being challenged for his integrity as one, then he shouldn’t be one!
As for particular news reports/editorials/op-eds with aforementioned and other issues I and other Twitter users have highlighted…that could be a whole different blog post.
What do you think about all this?
