Bhutan
Media Environment | News Gathering | Practical Tips
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Media Environment
For decades Bhutan’s leaders pursued a policy of isolation to avoid outside influences that they believed would undermine the country’s monarchy and way of life. Even after the opening of its borders and the introduction of modern communications technologies, media freedom is restricted.
Bhutan’s first newspaper, the bi-weekly Kuensel (http://www.kuenselonline.com), was until April 2006 its only one. Kuensel started life in 1967 as an official bulletin of the Royal Government but became an autonomous tabloid newspaper under its current editor Kinley Dorji in June 1986. In 1999, the year the Internet arrived in Bhutan, www.kuenselonline.com was launched. In 2006 two rival newspapers, the Bhutan Times (www.bhutantimes.bt) and the Bhutan Observer (www.bhutanobserver.bt), began publication.
Bhutan was famously the last country in the world to introduce television — in 1999, 26 years after the radio service began. Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) is the state-owned radio and television broadcaster. BBS broadcasts television programming for five hours daily, with news and announcements in English and in the local language, Dzongkha. There are no private television broadcasters, although many Indian and international channels are available on cable. Private radio stations offer a mix of Western and Bhutanese music.
The Internet is widely available in cafés in the capital Thimphu and aside from the occasionally slow connection by Bhutan's telecommunication company, Druknet, there are no barriers to surfing the net. Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Bhutan, with one of the more incongruous sights being the removal of a ringing mobile phone from the front pouch in the traditional man's garment, the gho.
News Gathering
Bhutan has undergone rapid modernisation since its opening to the world in the 1960s. Now Druk Air disgorges two planeloads of tourists each day at the Paro airport.
Being one of those tourists requires some forward planning but once there, Bhutan is a surprisingly easy country to be in. Many people have studied abroad and speak excellent English. The Bhutanese have a robust sense of humour and are usually happy to chat. They are very proud of progress under the monarchy and of their system of ‘Gross National Happiness’, the underpinning philosophy of the country which centres on the preservation of traditions and the environment.
However, there remains a very formal side to Bhutan which, until the first ever democratic elections in 2008, was an absolute monarchy. Meeting with government officials will need to be arranged well in advance via your travel agent.
Travel within the country requires the appropriate visas for different provinces which your travel agent will arrange. These visas are checked at internal borders and entry to the various tourist attractions will be declined without the appropriate documentation.
One reason for this is the lingering tensions in the south — some Bhutanese refugees from the area who had been living in Nepal were this year resettled in New Zealand. Those tensions are a delicate but not impossible issue to report on.
Practical Tips
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Unless you have immediate family or a Bhutanese friend who can invite you to Bhutan, the only way to obtain a Bhutanese visa is via a travel agent. As a cultural or trekking tourist you will then pay the government-mandated daily rate of about US$220. This is not as expensive as it sounds as it covers all food, hotels, and transport and includes a driver and a guide.
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Ear plugs are a must for those staying in Thimphu. The Buddhist locals tolerate the many stray dogs that roam the capital and which can yowl all night.
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If you suffer from travel sickness, then anti-nausea pills are a must. Roads in Bhutan are extremely winding, making what would be an eight-hour journey in New Zealand into a 20-hour trip in Bhutan.
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Despite the country’s modern veneer, it is not always clear just how things are done in Bhutan. Often it comes down to who you know. An excellent travel agent — and interview arranger —is Ms. Yangki Tshering, whose company is Glimpses of Bhutan. She can be contacted at gobhutan@druknet.bt
Contributor: Kim Griggs
Latest update: September 2008
