Evidence provided by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists The APUWJ raised the issue of paid news during the campaign for the general elections of 2009 before the Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh on April 10, 2009. The union pointed out that paid news items were leading to a subversion of the democratic election process as well as the institution of a free press. The union compiled a considerable volume of circumstantial evidence, the highlights of which included the following: The Andhra Jyothi daily in a tabloid attached to its West Godavari district edition dated April 23, 2009, carried an article on the front party claiming that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate from Narasapuram Parliamentary constituency, Smt Thota Sitarama Lakshmi, would emerge victorious from the election battle. The article carried a headline claiming that a huge victory was awaiting the candidate. The same edition of the newspaper, on its back page, carried a story saying the Congress candidate from the same Narasapuram constituency, Bapi Raju was going to win the seat, with a headline that read victory, victory. The union observed that it was indeed unusual that the same paper was endorsing two rival candidates from the same constituency on the same day and alleged that the stories appeared to have been written not the newspapers journalists but by the publicists of the candidates. A similar set of stories appeared the same day, April 23, 2009, in the West Godavari district edition of the Eenadu daily. The newspaper published on its front page an article from Bhimavaram predicting the victory of TDP candidate from Narasapuram, Smt Sitaram Lakshmi. The story carried a headline stating that she was on her way to victory with a huge majority On the back page of the same edition of the newspaper the same day, another story was published claiming that Congress candidate Shri Bapi Raju would win. The storys headline read: everybody says Bapi Raju will win. The union stated that the pernicious practice of paid news not only exposed the greed of managements of media companies in their endeavour to maximize their profits but also posed a danger to the independence of the media, the process of elections and democratic institutions… Those who have money power get publicity and those who have less resources will be left behind and blacked out. At times, those who do not pay money would attract negative reporting… (This is against) the concept of (a) level playing field for all candidates which is essential in an election. In addition, the candidates do not need to show this expenditure in their election expenditure. It leads to violation of election law and encourages the use of black money. Thus the democratic process of elections is subverted. The Editors Guild of India on “paid news” The Editors Guild of India in its annual general meeting on December 22, 2009 in New Delhi strongly condemned the practice of paid news, which, in its opinion, whittled the foundations of Indian journalism. The Guild called upon all editors in the country to desist from publishing any form of advertisements which masquerade as news. The guild took cognisance of the fact that based on data compiled by media monitoring agency AdEx (a unit of TAM Media Research Private Ltd), which was reported in the Mint on December 2, 2009, that in the assembly elections in Maharashtra in October 2009, the total advertising volume (measured in column centimetres) in Marathi newspapers declined by around one-fifth from the levels in 2004, suggesting the possibility of the increased incidence of advertisements disguised as news. The Guild also deplored the practice of private treaties where news organisations accepted free equity in unlisted companies in lieu of promoting these companies through news columns and television news programmes. “Paid news” at seminars and conferences: In his inaugural address at a workshop on Parliament and Media on November 4, 2009 at the Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi, the Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri M. Hamid Ansari said that the explosive growth in the media in the country had highlighted the fact that the Fourth Estate is the only one among the pillars of democracy that has an identifiable commercial and explicitly for-profit persona. He said that while the primary professional duty of media organizations is to their readership to keep them informed and appraised with news, views and ideas, the commercial logic brings in a new set of stakeholders in the form of the shareholders of these companies. These developments have brought into focus new considerations that guide professional media decisions. Today, the demands of professional journalists are carefully balanced with the interests of owners and stakeholders of media companies and their cross media interests. The interplay of these conflicting demands is evident and subject of public debate. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Press Council of India on November 16, 2009, at Hyderabad, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri K. Rosaiah referred to the paid news phenomenon and said a dangerous tendency that has been gaining ground is the resort to what is described as paid coverage especially during elections. He added: Advertisements paid for in cash by different parties or candidates are being published or telecast, camouflaged as news and features. Sections of the media guilty of such practices are undermining democracy either wittingly or unwittingly. A candidate with immense money power can create an illusion through media that he is winning and influence voting behavior since people are given to bet on a winning horse. The Chief Minister further said: I would not be true to myself, the people of the country and Press Council of India if I do not draw the attention to the growing nexus between journalists on one hand and politicians, businessmen and other celebrities on the other, I am told there is a price for every thing. And it is a win-win situation for both sides. At a seminar organised by the Editors Guild of India, the Indian Womens Press Corps, the Press Association and others on paid news in New Delhi on March 13, 2010, Shri Prakash Karat of the CPI(M) said that self-regulation by media would not be enough to solve the problem and said that a major hurdle in checking the paid news syndrome was that there was no record of money exchanged in the deal. Those who paid money should also be held accountable, he said. Leader of Opposition in Parliament Smt Sushma Swaraj said that in her own constituency of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, her own media officials had told her how they had been offered a package of up to Rs one crore by a media organisation to publish news in her favour and print her campaign photographs. I rejected them all, she said, adding that this phenomenon had become institutionalised over the years. She said that she and her partys representatives were ready to name publications that had approached them with offers of paid news if the Election Commission sought details in this regard. We are ready to name them. We are ready to give evidence if Election Commission formally asks us, Smt Swaraj said and gave an assurance that the Opposition would push for amending the Representation of the People Act in the Lok Sabha. Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar of the Association for Democratic Reforms disagreed with the argument given by political leaders that political parties were victims of paid news and said that only four out of the nearly 6,500 candidates in the last general elections had declared their expenditure as having exceeded the ceiling set by the Election Commission. Shri Chhokar said that while 30 candidates had declared their expenditure to be in the range of 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the limit, most of the candidates had declared it to be less than 50 per cent of the limit.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 02:26:12 +0000
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