About Us

An all-volunteer run news portal, Bhutan News Service (BNS) is the subsidiary of Bhutan Media Society (BMS), a non-profit organization with 501(c)3 tax exempt status. This news site was initially conceptualized in 2004 by a small group of Bhutanese refugee youths, who believed that having a refugee media body was essentially a noble means to keep community informed & continue advocating the refugee issue.

Who are the founders of BNS?

IP Adhikari (Australia) & Vidhyapati Mishra (USA) did the pioneering work to establish BNS. The web hosting and development was made possible with entire technical help from Vikram Adhikari (Australia). Others in the founder’s team includes Buddha Mani Dhakal (USA), Teju Chouhan (Australia), Ichha Poudel (Australia), Kazi Gautam (USA), Ramesh Gautam (Norway) and TP Mishra (USA). Too many to name here, number of volunteers have also been playing key role from the very start of BNS in bringing it to the present form.

Who owns BNS?

The Bhutan Media Society (BMS), an independent platform of exiled Bhutanese journalists, owns BNS. Except providing financial and technical resources, BMS doesn’t interfere in any decision taken by BNS editorial team – meaning BNS works as an autonomous body, but receives grants and resources from BMS.

Is BNS a registered entity?

BNS is not registered itself, but its parent organization BMS is registered non-profit organization. BNS is the media outlet of BMS.

Is BNS operated from a fixed office?

Although we didn’t have a room to call office, for a long time we considered one of our member’s apartments in Kathmandu as our head office. Our contents are edited and uploaded from USA & Norway. We, however, generate contents from many different other countries where the Bhutanese community is resettled-Canada, Australia, Denmark, UK, Holland, Bhutan, New Zealand and largely from USA.

Is BNS affiliated to a third party or any international media groups?

Although our activities are recognized by some of the international media and human rights bodies—World Association of News (WAN), International Federations of Journalist (IFJ), Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD), among few others, we are not formally affiliated to any.

How is BNS sustaining?

Sustenance and professionalization of BNS has been a challenging task since its inception. Until April 2012, all executive members invested from their own pockets on monthly basis to sustain BNS. Besides, we also received generous donations from some of our readers, friends and well-wishers. We plan to make yearly donation drive campaign to generate sufficient funds for operation. Also, we plan to use our skill and expertise to provide trainings, host exhibitions and moderate community events to generate funds. We also generate small funds every month from Google ads that helps to keep BNS site running.

Does BNS accept donations from non-Bhutanese persons?

Yes. Any one can submit donations to BMS or BNS.

How can I submit my donations?

You can submit your donations online by clicking Support Us button in our website (www.bhutannewsservice.com). You can commit to donate just one time (any amount), monthly (US $10) or annually (US $100). BNS will publish financial reports annually, available online to maintain accountability and transparency.

What budget is required to run BNS each month?

Our monthly budget ranges from US $400 – US $700. This includes office rents, communications, travel costs and other operating costs.

Does BNS remunerate writers and journalists?

Except bearing the actual expenses of journalists incurred during reporting, BNS doesn’t remunerate its writers and journalists. However, we have plans to set up a paid system in future if we bring noticeable improvement in our financial status. Indeed, we all are unpaid volunteers.

What are some specific examples of the activities of BNS being recognized?

The very first issue of The Bhutanese Weekly from within Bhutan quoted BNS news in one of their news. We have considered this as a beginning of our recognition from media outlets operating in Bhutan. The WAN & GHRD in the past supported us financially for some months to publish The Bhutan Reporter (publication died in 2009). IFJ, meanwhile, has accepted and published the media freedom country report prepared by journalist (s) associated with BNS in the past.

Also, TP Mishra received two awards- by Bhutan Press Union in 2007 and  by Organization of Bhutanese Communities in America, Inc. in 2011 for his  contribution in the field. Journalists associated to BNS participated in South-Asia regional-level, representing Bhutan for two years in 2007 & 2008 held by PANOS South Asia. Several of our photos, news stories & articles have been considered informative by UNHCR office in Kathmandu-Nepal, and thus with our permission, translated and distributed them in the camps.

Why do I see  errors— spellings, grammars, and sentence structures etc, reflecting in BNS contents quite often?

We admit this. Our members invest their  limited leisure time to generate and finalize any contents published in BNS. We have done this for years without expecting anything in return. In other words, our input in BNS comes from hasty and rush schedules and we all work unpaid, thus the reflection of errors. We really wish that we come error-free and remain qualitative with very limited input from our hectic schedules. Sometimes we upload stuffs from our cell phones. At times we end up uploading news from anywhere—from a friend’s PC to a nearby Internet cafe. Should we have enough time to focus in content generation, we would be  error-free. Since we truly lack time to revisit and double-check our contents for errors, we would not hesitate to seek your comments/suggestions to alert us should you see something, which got to be fixed. We will take care of it at our convenient time.

Does BNS accept comments on its content?

Yes. But we stopped displaying in our main page because of very conflicting and personalized comments thrown out in our earlier posts. We do respect our readers’ freedom of expression, but we also take care of not allowing BNS to be a platform of irresponsible and outrageous expression, that are more indicative of personal grudge rather than content driven discourse. BNS stands for consolidating the social and communal values of Bhutanese, but not for dividing and disparaging any individual or group. That is why our motto is CONNECTING THE BHUTANESE DIASPORA. The best way to send comments is use our contact page and send comments with your real name.