By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu: 7.45 Pm at home, I was waiting to watch VOA Tibetan TV Service with my family, Pasang Yangkyi La, one of the VOA presenters comes on screen and greets all viewers of their weekly Wednesday one hour TV broadcast in Tibetan. This is the only one hour weekly TV programme in Tibetan in the world outside Tibet. It is a one hour TV programme that has two sections, one is the regular weekly news update of world and Tibetans and the second section is ‘Talk to VOA’ that usually has guest speakers and public phone in participation and talks mostly about issues related to the Tibetan world.
When they started their service, they boasted it being the first Tibetan language TV service outside Tibet; during the initial stage it gained much popularity among Tibetan viewers inside and outside of Tibet as this was the first and the only Tibetan TV service, for Tibetans outside Tibet, it is a pride as we now have a TV service and for Tibetans inside Tibet, it is a source of inspiration and a medium to know about Tibetans outside Tibet and particularly the social, political and religious activities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They started their weekly broadcast service in March 2005 and since then have received many accolades from Tibetan viewers all over the world and particularly in Tibet, however, after almost two years in service, it seems like they might be losing some of their precious viewers and they might require some reshuffle or new presenters, probably more young looking and more dynamic. This is not a negative or derogatory comment against the only Tibetan TV service but voices of general viewers that I talked to. So far they have been doing a very good job but there is still probably a lot of room for improvement and it is high time that they remake, reshuffle, make new appointments or do whatever necessary to improve their service and regain the confidence of their precious viewers as I talked to quite a handful of viewers who gave negative comments particularly towards the female presenters. There are five regular presenters, two males, Norbu Samphel La and Pema Dorji La and three females, Pasang Yangkyi La, Tsetan Dolkar La and Jangchup Dolma La.
My friend Lukho visited her parents in Amdo, Tibet in August 2006 after about five years, she said, “my parents and people of my village eagerly watch VOA Tibetan TV Service every Wednesday but they are disappointed that all the presenters are old looking, boring and their accent is difficult to understand, they would very much like to see younger and more energetic female presenters than the regular old faces; people in rural Tibet also have satellite dishes and can receive VOA very clearly”.
Early morning, in a small Tibetan tea shop near the circumambulance of holy Boudanath stupa, Pasang, a Human Rights researcher is sitting with her friends having tea and they are talking about the Wednesday night VOA TV, she says, “VOA Tibetan service is representing six million Tibetans, are there no Tibetans who are better qualified, have we run out of nice presenters, when I see those old female presenters, I throw away my TV remote control, they are old, their style of talking and way of dressing is so boring, the Amdo presenter Mr. Pema Dorji is nice but it is difficult to understand his accent, Norbu Samphel is the best”.
I talked to a fellow Tibetan media person Mr. Lubum Tashi, a Tibetan radio reporter about his opinion on the VOA Tibetan TV service and he is also not particularly content with the quality of the service, he said, “it is the first and the only one hour weekly TV programme in Tibetan, the arrangement and choosing of programme topics or issues are not good, this is a rare opportunity for Tibetans to show every possible Tibetan related news and issues, so it should be used for that purpose as much as possible and not for lesser important things like music or health; I think it is difficult for radio presenters to properly present programmes on TV as is the case with VOA Tibetan TV Service; in general I feel that selection of proper professionals for any organization in our Tibetan society is a problem”. The problem might lie in the fact that so far the VOA have been trying to include issues related to every walk of Tibetan life and not particularly focus on any social, political or economic issue due to which sometimes there are no callers at all but it could be due to technical difficulty in connecting phone, however, we have noticed that there is poor participation from Tibetans in North America who could connect easily to VOA. Mr. Lobsang from Swoyambu is of opinion that VOA might receive many contributions from quite a handful of freelance Tibetan journalists around the world for a small remuneration if they invite them and thereby create a good platform for Tibetan journalists.
VOA have never announced recruitment for any new presenters so far, the problem for changing presenters or recruiting new presenters might be due to financial glitches at VOA which general public don’t understand. They often compare VOA with Xizang TV, Qinghai TV, Sichuan Public TV, some Tibetan language TV service from Tibet that have a distinct style of broadcasting and nice presenters even though it is Chinese official media and government mouthpiece. With all due respect to all people at VOA, I think it is high time to atleast recruit a new young Tibetan face for our only VOA Tibetan TV Service.
