Letter from the Editor - February 2026

Hello reader,It’s been a bit of a whirlwind here. We’re finally coming up for air after publishing a series of pieces analysing the Bangladesh election – the latest of them, on the final result, just went up here – and we’re already gearing up for Nepal’s election next month. And that after we unpacked the voting in Myanmar, which concluded in January. But even while elections are drawing so much of our attention, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the massive layoffs recently at the Washington Post, and what lessons that fiasco holds for Southasia. .Earlier this month, the Post laid off more than 300 staff in a single day – roughly a third of its newsroom – shutting down entire departments and drastically reducing its international footprint. Its owner, the billionaire Jeff Bezos, ignored calls from the paper’s own staff and many US commentators to take a different course, and not allow a hallowed journalistic institution to crumble on his watch. But Bezos seemingly had other interests – in particular, staying in the good graces of the US president, Donald Trump, who is no fan of the Post or of anything resembling good journalism..This was a loss for Southasian journalism too. I tend to take a critical view of Western foreign correspondents in the region – too much of their work, today and especially in the past, has fallen into the traps of exoticism, over-simplification, West-centrism, and yes, also racism. But the Post, in recent years, was doing vital work that our own media giants sadly had no interest in doing, given how they have bowed to government and corporate power. A telling example were the paper’s investigations into favours the Indian government under Narendra Modi has done for the Adani Group, owned by Modi’s favourite billionaire – stories that the Indian media should by rights have done, but didn’t. Now the Post’s New Delhi bureau is gone, and with it another of the few places where good journalism on Southasia still survived..You’ll have seen lots of coverage and opinions on the Washington Post layoffs, but to me the questions we should really be asking in this part of the world are these: Where the hell is our media? Where are the Southasian outlets doing hard-hitting journalism? And why hasn’t there been anywhere near as much noise when newsrooms across Southasia are gutted, or when corporate powers have taken over our newspapers and television channels and stripped them of all journalistic ethics and standards? .I won’t go ranting on, but I will say that we need to be looking closer to home. We shouldn’t have to rely on publications outside the region to do the journalism we need in the region. And if we want a worthy media in Southasia, we need to recognise that today’s media crisis is in large part a crisis of ownership. Whether it’s Bezos in the United States, or the Adanis and Ambanis and Jains in India, or any of the corporate media owners across Southasia, the pattern stays the same: when an owner’s business or political interests collide with a journalist’s duty, it's journalism that gets sacrificed..At Himal, we’re clear in what the answer is. It’s you. Media is truly independent when readers step up to fund it, so that journalism is free from corporate or government manipulation. So I’m asking you to become a Himal Patron and help build our future as a reader-supported media organisation..Support Himal only for $49/ year.We’re a tiny team and we can’t single-handedly change Southasian journalism – but we can set an example and keep doing stories that others will not, and we can show that a different model of media ownership is possible. We believe this is the way forward. Now we need your support to prove us right.Now back to working on the Nepal election pieces and on all the other stories we have in the works for you. Until next month!All bestRoman.Southasia Mixtape 📻🎶.In a busy month, I’ve been reaching for some old favourites. Peter Cat Recording Co. sounds much older than the band is – and that’s not a bad thing at all in this case. Their lightly jazzy, laid-back tracks sound like they’re from another era, but the Delhi-based quintet is very much a contemporary thing, and they’re still putting out great new music at a steady clip. .For me, a few bars of their sound are enough to send me spinning with nostalgia for my years in the Indian capital. For you, I’m sure it’ll transport you to some other place and some other time, but I promise it’ll take you somewhere good. Try it and see.