Getting ‘paid’ for news

Day After Dec 16-31, 2010 Buying and selling for a few bucks Newspapers are not what they used to be. Once a written word carried weight, was sacrosanct, and largely unchallenged. But today the situation has changed. It takes a few thousand bucks to get ‘news’ printed. The phenomenon of Paid News is spreading like cancer. What is shocking is that the biggest ‘brands’ in the media industry are leading the race. M K Tayal brings you what it means for you as a reader… by M K Tayal I was sitting in a newspaper office, when a small time courier-cum office boy of a political party walked in with a press release and a photograph. He kept it on the bureau chief’s desk. The worker then took out six Rs 1,000 crisp notes, put the money on the news item, folded his hand and said, “Double column with picture”. The bureau chief nodded and pocketed the money. The worker left. The newspaper claims to be one of the largest circulated in the country. Next day, I read the news in that paper with a shinning headline praising the candidate who was contesting elections. The same news I read in two-three newspapers. I started wondering, “What are the readers getting?” These days much of the ‘news’ in newspapers and television channels is paid by the people who are being mentioned in that particular news. The malaise of the ‘paid news’ has gripped almost the entire industry, with big brands of English, Hindi or vernacular press in the forefront. Virtues of honesty and truthfulness have just become words to be delivered in seminars by those who bend and break every rule in the book. So, be it election related coverage of newspapers or a party in downtown pub, chances are that the candidates or the party organizers would have put some cash above the press release to get their news through to you. The question that arises is that aren’t newspapers and TV channels taking advertisements. The answer is yes, but paid news comes as an editorial package, where readers and viewers are made to believe that the newspaper or that particular channel has got a story running by one of its staffers. Thus the credibility of the news article is much more had it slipped in as an advertisement. It is alleged that many media houses in the country, irrespective of their volume of business, sell news space to politicians and corporates without admitting that it is advertisements. Interestingly, while many newspapers offices function without any formal structure to bring out paid news, big newspapers and TV channels have corporatised their paid news structure. It operated a company, Media Net, which later became Optimal Media Solutions. OMS has recently merged with the Times Business Solutions Ltd, a times company. Here you can get pay and get news printed in the prestigious newspaper. Ironically, the Times is not alone. From Daink Jagran to Punjab Kesri or CNN-IBN, all are into paid news. Newspaper and TV editors are aware of this concept of selling editorial space and content, and have always been cautious of not breaching the thin line. But often, editors and editorial space is marginalized by the owners and entrepreneurs who run the show. Money is an important factor and whoever is willing to spend gets his say in editorial matters. In the good old days of advertising, no publisher would speak or write against big advertisers. That is why corporates resorted to buying advertisement space to influence editorial heads and space. There was still the liberty of journalists slipping in facts in their writings. But even that charade was given up with the advent of paid news. Then corporate started working on another method to get the ‘news’ across to the readers. They take editors on freebees and the rest is palatable crap. This happens with airlines, hotels and big companies that can afford the tantrums of the journalists. Vir Sanghvi’s article on the Taj hotel – Falkunama Palace in the Hindustan Times Brunch was one such superb piece. Of course, neither Singhvi, a food writer, nor Taj would admit that it was a part of the exercise that the industry resorts to. The practice of paying for editorial content, particularly by political candidates, has been a gnawing issue in India for many years. At the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) India discussed the issue with concern. Even the Editors’ Guild of India expressed anguish at the growing tendency of a section of media groups (both print and visual) receiving money for some “non-advertorial” items in their media space. The guild sent a letter to each of its member-editors throughout the country to ask for a pledge that his/her “publication/TV channel will not carry any paid news as the practice violates and undermines the principles of free and fair journalism.” The letter, signed by Rajdeep Sardesai and Coomi Kapoor, president and secretary-general of the guild respectively, expressed hope that “the journalist fraternity would come together on this issue and would stand up to defend their credibility, and make public declarations on the subject in order to restore the reading and viewing public’s faith in the media by undoing the damage that has already been done.” Today, India has nearly 70,000 registered newspapers and over 450 television channels. Though, the media, as a whole, often plays a constructive role, concerns of paid news comes as a cropper. “Paid news being published as news is not acceptable to anyone, the readers or polity. Star News is using their air space for LG mobile, using word advertisement is good enough, after all now these days media is not a mission it’s a business,” says Shishir Soni a journalist with a Hindi daily. Many distinguished editor-journalists of India including, K K Katyal, Satich Jacob, Kumar Ketkar (editor of Loksatta), Om Thanvi (editor of Jansatta), Vinod Sharma (political editor of Hindustan Times), Sevanti Ninan and more, have expressed serious concern at the growing trend of selling news space. Meanwhile, the Press Council of India, decided to investigate the issue and set up a committee to examine violations of the journalistic code of fair and objective reporting by having paid news. Dr Madhav Kinhalkar of Maharashtra has filed a case against former chief minister Ashok Chavan relating to paid news and subsequently sought his disqualification under Section 77 of the People’s Representation Act in the Election Commission of India. Lawyers Uday Lalit and Dilip Annasaheb Taur submitted a compilation of 700 pages which includes major newspaper cutting which have published full pull out color supplements in the form of news, 32 advertisements published in major local newspapers which have not been accounted by Chavan in his election expenditure. Meanwhile, Chavan got the boot for the Adarsh scam. The arguments are inconclusive in the ECI and the case goes on. “But the fact remains, will the ECI count the ‘news items’ as paid news or not, is the question,” Dr Kinhalkar tells The Dayafter at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi after a hearing at the ECI. Till the newspaper and TV channels owners decide to put a stop on this, it is unlikely that editors can have a say in such matters. You cannot skip this phenomenon and get good old news as it was unless you give up on the daily dose of TV and newspaper. Till then keep reading, paid stuff.