News that sells

The Bharatiya Janata Party has promised the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to push for a Representation of the People Act amendment during the second half of the current Parliament session. The aim is to get paid news declared as an electoral malpractice.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has promised the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to push for a Representation of the People Act amendment during the second half of the current Parliament session. The aim is to get paid news declared as an electoral malpractice.

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The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, BJP member Sushma Swaraj, made the promise last Saturday at a seminar in New Delhi when Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI(M), raised the issue.

But why has paid news become such a hot issue? Experts say getting publicity materials and even negative reports on rivals published or aired as news reports has affected the fundamentals of Indian democracy.

Did you notice some media organisations coming out in support of certain candidates – across party lines – in the Lok Sabha and three assembly elections in 2009?

Some vaguely felt something was amiss, while most people did not even notice. All went well till reports came out that some media outfits had accepted money from some candidates.

In exchange, media houses published advertisements or promotional pieces masquerading as news items and even carried news reports against their clients’ political rivals.

While Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said at Saturday’s seminar that since there was no transactional evidence as political parties never complained formally about such deals, the commission was helpless.

Swaraj challenged the argument, saying she herself was offered a Rs 1 crore deal during the elections and refused. “What more evidence do you want?”

The driving factor behind publishing paid news could be the fierce competition in the media space during the last decade. With the entry of new players in the segment and the revenue pie being further divided, media houses had to re-examine their business models.

The Indian media comprises 70,000 registered newspapers, more than 1,000 television channels and more than 300 radio stations. Politicians have a wider choice and the option to play the buyer’s market.

Kumar Ketkar, editor of Marathi daily Lok Satta, said since mainstream political parties were being run like companies, “newspaper advertising also assumed a different dimension”.

But Swaraj said, “Political parties are the victims in this case. There is no mutual benefit.”

THE DEFINITION

In December 2009, the Election Commission (EC) asked the media watchdog, Press Council of India, to define “paid news”. The EC said it would like some guidelines by the Press Council of India to determine what “paid news” is.

Before the directive came, the Press Council of India formed in July last year a two-member committee to define paid news and recommend steps to stop the practice. The committee will submit its report at the end of this month.

Although the Press Council of India does not have the power to penalise anyone, it can share circumstantial evidence with the Election Commission, the income tax department and the police.

At a panel discussion held by the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association in Delhi last week, editor of Hindi newspaper Jansatta Om Thanvi broadened the popular definition.

He said, “It is important to ask whether junkets and gifts given out at press conferences and during festivals to journalists also qualify as paid news. I think they, too, are a form of paid news.”

“Paid news is quid-pro-quo news. But it may not always be possible to identify it,” said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman, Centre for Media Studies, a Delhi-based think tank.

He said, “Earlier, promotional pieces had advertisement disclaimers at the bottom of the article, but they aren’t published anymore. This shows paid news has become more structured over the years.”

It has a history

Paranjay Guha Thakurta, journalist and member of the Press Council committee, said although the trend became perceptible during and after the 2009 elections, the practice had been around for quite some time.

“It started a decade ago when some social events were given special coverage,” Guha Thakurta said.

Gradually, it led to private treaties between media houses and companies. Sometimes, instead of paying for advertisements, companies offered shares to a media outfit. And that, in turn, enabled the media house to develop financial interests in companies.

Rao said, “Every media house must have a code of conduct and disclosures document. They should also ask employees to disclose not only any relationship they have with individuals, companies and organisations that get covered, but also the details of the shares they own. All employees must sign this document.”

He said, “Media outfits must let their readers know about any conflict of interests in news coverage and also about how much space and time they give to advertisements.”

According to Guha Thakurta, media houses do not mention this form of revenue in their balance sheets, neither do the candidates come clean in their election campaign expenditure statements submitted to district election officers.

“I know of only one candidate who declared the expenditure incurred in buying publicity in the media in his election statement last year,” said Rao.