Lokaantar at your service

We use this space to welcome our readers to the newest online news portal lokaantar.com. The proliferation of digital media with its unlimited space signals the future of journalism and we hope that we can provide a valuable contribution to ethical, fact-based and accurate journalism through this news portal. A century and 15 years ago the oldest Nepali newspaper Gorkhapatra was published for the first time on the same date of our launch and it has continued its glorious tradition till now. Recognising Gorkhapatra's contribution to Nepali journalism Nepal government has announced the newspaper's establishment date as National Press Day. Seizing the opportunity of commemorating both these occasions, we chose to launch our online portal on the date with hopes that it continues to provide quality journalism for a long time to come.

The last decade has seen a boom in online news portals and news organisations across the globe are enthusiastically embracing digital technology for its immense potential for innovation. Although they might be reluctant to admit it, news organisations have realised that the internet will ultimately replace traditional media. The rise of smartphone-generation means that media have to be quick on their feet to adopt digital technology. Enhanced news choices, more in-depth and background information, 24x7 updates and the opportunity to respond to the media are some of the features of digital media that have grabbed the attention of news organisations worldwide.

Adoption of digital media, however, does not mean that quality of the content can be compromised with. Different researches on digital media have shown that along with continuous updates, quality content attracts readers and a large number of online news users have been found clicking on links for in depth and background information. Valuing readers' intelligence we aim to resist the demand of the market and remain steadfast to providing quality content. Our news items will strictly adhere to the mantra of Accuracy, Balance and Credibility. Along with speed we will take extra care in maintaining accuracy. Similarly, we will not compromise on the issues of rule of law, democracy, press freedom, nationality and good governance and all our products will be guided by these ideals.

Our constant efforts will be geared towards providing high-quality news, feature stories, analytical articles, investigative reports, in depth stories and interviews--comprehensive news package, in short--which not only provide information to readers but also prompt discussions in the society. We will employ multimedia--text, photo and video reports--that engage the readers' attention. The concept of citizen journalist has been gaining traction over the years and attaching importance to our readers' perceptiveness, we invite readers to send in story ideas or picture clips (with available details) so that some of such tip offs can be developed into factually accurate and thereby reliable news stories.

We invite our readers to embark on this digital journey together. Our competent and experienced team commits to produce exciting and comprehensive stories that satisfy our readers' quest of information. We value your support and are honored to have you as a reader of lokaantar.com.