Prashant Aryal is a prominent journalist and editor who has worked with various media houses in Nepal. Currently, the 54-year-old is not affiliated with any news organization. Instead, he’s exercising his journalistic instincts as a freelancer. Try as he might, Aryal confesses he cannot stay away from journalism, a career he fell in love with in 1988 as an intern reporter for Suruchi Saptahik, a weekly tabloid where he served for two years as employee. As a young man with no idea where his career was headed, Aryal says, this opportunity became a driving force for him to become a journalist. In his active news reporting days, he worked on political and anti-corruption stories. “I have always been a person who likes to take up new challenges,” he says. After his internship with Saptahik, Aryal joined Mahanagar, an evening daily that came out at 3:00 pm at the time. Reporting during those days, Aryal says, was a struggle. He remembers reporting anecdotes of the 1994 World Cup that took place in the US while working at the daily paper. “I used to stay up all night watching the matches, and then I’d have to write and send the articles to the newspaper in the morning,” he says. Even though it was a tedious job, he says, he enjoyed every bit of it. In 1996, he became a reporter for Kantipur Daily. “My interests have always leaned toward politics,” he says. He worked on political stories before becoming the sub-editor for the daily. He worked at Kantipur for four years before joining Space Time Dainik, a Nepali daily broadsheet at the time. After a brief stint there, he went on to join Himal Khabar, where he worked for a year. After years of working as a journalist, Aryal took a break and became a media communication analyst for an NGO. But he couldn’t stay away from the newsroom for long. He returned to his calling by joining the Nepal magazine published by Kantipur Media Group. “I like to keep changing my workplace,” says Aryal. He says that working the same job for years can be mundane, which in turn might affect one’s drive and future. He further adds that he is committed to seeking different opportunities that give him diverse experiences as well as help him in advancing his career. Despite that, he was one of the longest-serving editors of the Nepal Magazine (he was there for 10 years), which unfortunately shut down due to financial turmoil during the Covid-19 pandemic. Aryal joined Kantipur TV as the chief editor, where he worked for three and a hlaf years and joined Galaxy 4K, where he worked for a years before becoming a freelance journalist. In his career as a journalist, he has spent more time editing than reporting. But, he says, a person cannot truly become a journalist without reporting. Although he mostly edited, Aryal mentions that he spent a fair share of his time reporting, which helped him understand where the media’s involvement stands in Nepal. He says his coverage of the impeachment motion filed against Nepal’s first woman Chief Justice Sushila Karki was one of his best works so far. Having reported on politics for a long time, Aryal says that political reporting is risky because politics itself is highly ambiguous and uncertain. According to him, one of the biggest obstacles in media is the possibility of misinformation, disinformation, and lack of clarity. Accuracy is a major concern that must be addressed during fact-checking and verification. “However, in rare circumstances, it cannot be ensured. Asking for forgiveness is the only option during times like these,” he says. He says Nepali journalism still lags in many aspects. “It lacks consistency and not every news article is trustworthy,” he says. Also, he adds that journalism and media outlets in Nepal are more focused on covering news related to celebrity, politicians, and advertisements, while the concerns of vulnerable groups are largely ignored, despite digital media making diverse storytelling possible. But he says he isn’t much concerned about the shrinking influence of traditional media with the proliferation and popularity of digital and social media. “I’m sure that journalism will thrive in different forms. It will evolve, progress, and exist forever.”