‘We are like the phoenix’: Nepal’s top dailies publish edition despite torched offices in Gen-Z protests

Journalists at the Kantipur Media Group (KMG), which publishes the English-language Kathmandu Post and the widely read Nepali daily Kantipur, said they watched their office burn during violent Gen-Z-led protests, yet still managed to bring out Wednesday’s paper, according to a TOI report.

The office, located in Thapathalli in central Kathmandu, was among several key institutions torched that evening.

“The edition was late, but it came out,” one reporter anonymously told the news outlet. Another compared the newsroom’s determination to a phoenix rising from the ashes: "We are like the phoenix... We will rise again and continue to fight for the truth."

KMG journalists added that both dailies had carried a sharply worded editorial on Tuesday demanding that the then government step down after the killing of 19 protesters, including schoolchildren.

"Despite that, protesters destroyed our office, accusing us of siding with the now ousted govt," she told TOI. "What was supposed to be an important day in our careers as the country was witnessing such a major movement against prolonged unemployment, poverty and corruption, turned into the most harrowing one," said the journalist, who has been working with KMG, Nepal's biggest media house, for nearly a decade.

Another KMG staff member recounted to TOI how about 50 employees narrowly escaped harm.

"All of us left the office by around 12.30. By 3 pm we learned that the nine-storey building hosting our offices on the 7th and 8th floors had been set on fire," the journalist said in a phone call from Kathmandu.

Despite the destruction, the newsroom rallied to ensure coverage of the protests reached readers. For many within the organisation, getting the edition to print was not just about reporting the news—it was an act of resistance.

Other places that were targeted by the protestors included Parliament, the Supreme Court, Singha Durbar, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, ministers’ residences, and the attorney general’s office. The Annapurna Media Network offices also came under attack.