Introduction

According to dominant accounts of the relationship between media and nationalism, the media can play a role in both inventing and perpetuating national culture. In his most quoted work, Benedict Anderson has discussed the role of the media, and especially the print media, in constructing national identities (Anderson, 1983). Silvio Waisboard claims that scholarship has identified, in relation to this construction of national identity, three roles of media: ‘making national cultures routinely, offering opportunities for collective experiences, and institutionalizing national culture’ (Waisboard, 2004, 386). Michael Billig's surveying of a single day of the British media reaches a similar conclusion, arguing that these media represented the homeland by using words such as ‘our’ and ‘here’ alongside symbols such as the flag in their representations of Britain (Billig, 1995).

This article discusses a struggle between proponents of monocultural and multicultural national identities in the Nepali media and contributes to a debate on the increasing trend towards a retreat from multiculturalism. The idea of multiculturalism or the tolerance of difference began in the late 1960s in western democracies, and was manifested in the recognition of the rights of ethnic, racial, religious and sexual minorities. This trend encountered heavy criticism from academics and politicians from the mid 1990s onwards. Kymlicka has argued that it is only in the case of immigrants’ rights that there has been a backlash and that there is no backlash regarding the rights of ethnic peoples and other minorities (Kymlicka, 2010). But here I wish to argue that the Nepali media's use of old symbols of national identity in relation to Prashant Tamang, a reality-show contestant on the TV show ‘Indian Idol’, represented an attempt to retreat from multiculturalism and to reprioritize a common national culture.

After a brief discussion of reality shows, including ‘Indian Idol’ and Prashant Tamang, I will engage with the debate on nationalism and national identity in Nepal in its historical context. This chapter draws upon news reports, articles, editorials, and letters to editors published in the Nepali print media from July to October 2007. By ‘Nepali print media’, I refer to newspapers and magazines in both Nepali and English that are available at the Martin Chautari library.