On 8^th May 2014, Pratik Pradhan, Editor-in-Chief of Nagarik news daily, visited DWIT to deliver a talk about his career as a journalist. The audience comprised of DWIT students and some employees of Deerwalk. Pradhan shared how he became a journalist, the ups and downs he had had in the journey and more. He explained the importance of the media in the country and claimed persuasively that Media can ameliorate the life of people. He also said that writing plays an important role in bringing change to society. Pradhan has Master’s degrees in Economics, Journalism and Public Administration from Tribhuvan University, New York University and Harvard University respectively. He has previously served as editor-in-chief for The Kathmandu Post and Karobar. In the talk, he recounted interesting meetings he has had with influential people in his career of more than 20 years. He told the audience how he had an argument with the then King Gyanendra about the state of the palace and the country, which was later, resolved. He also mentioned his talk with former Crown Prince, Paras about the same subject. Speaking about the importance of the media in shaping national opinion and politics, Pradhan talked about the four pillars of the country, namely, Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and the Media. He said, “Media can change the society”. Since the media can convince the general public about a particular subject matter, it is just as powerful as the other pillars of society. Therefore, ideally, the media should be de-politicized and journalists should not be members of any political parties. According to him, every journalist should be honest, professional, educated and must have integrity. Pradhan’s speech was followed by a Q&A session, which turned out to be very interactive and informative. Members of the audience asked Pradhan about the recent scandals that The Nagarik had exposed, how a story or article is selected for the newspaper, which subject matters are allowed in print and which are not and whether he has received any threats about printing an article. Members also asked him for suggestions for the editorial team of DWIT News to manage their website in a better way. The session ended with Pradhan talking more about the role of the journalist in the nation. He said, “A journalist must see a glass as half empty, then only will there be a tendency to fill it.” He claimed that although media in Nepal is currently not as powerful as it is in other countries, it does not mean that it cannot influence society. Journalists have to try hard to find the truth about something. While everyone is running away from something, a journalist must run in the opposite direction to find the answers. As an example of his own journalistic commitment, he talked about how he didn’t waver during the Maoist revolts. He didn’t budge when he was threatened; he just took it as a part of a journalist’s life.   (Kundan Shumsher Rana works as a 'volunteer reporter' for The DWIT News Team.)