(a) whether instances of paid news in the media are on the rise
in the recent past;
(b) if so, the details of such cases;
(c) whether the Government has formulated or intends to formulate
any guidelines on publication of paid news;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the views expressed by the Press Council of India, the Chief
Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Editors Guild of India regarding the
publication of paid news in the media?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF
INFORMATION & BROADCASTING (SHRI MANISH TEWARI)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED
QUESTION NO. 69 REGARDING PAID NEWS FOR ANSWER ON 27.11.2012
There have been media reports that sections of the electronic and print
media have received monetary considerations for publishing or broadcasting
in favour of particular individuals or organizations or corporate entities
for what is essentially “advertisement†disguised as “newsâ€. This has been
commonly referred to as ‘paid news’. While this is not a new phenomenon,
it is being widely discussed and debated across the country.
The Press Council of India (PCI), an autonomous body to maintain and improve
the standards of press, received 17 complaints of paid news in the year
2009-10, 2 complaints in the year 2010-11 and 11 complaints in the year
2011-12 whereas it has received 9 complaints till date in the current year.
The details of the complaints are annexed at Annexure-I. The Election
Commission of India (ECI) has also taken note of this unethical practice
during the election time and of late, has initiated several measures to
check the menace. The ECI received 155 cases of paid news during the State
Assembly elections in the year 2011 and 750 cases in 2012. The number of
cases, State-wise is annexed at Annexure-II.
Taking cognizance of the wide ramifications of the issue and expressing
concern over the instances of paid news in the media, the PCI has deliberated
upon the issue and released its ‘Report on Paid News’ on 30th July 2010.
The PCI, in the Report has recommended amendment in the Representation of
the People Act to make incidence of paid news a punishable electoral
malpractice and also amendment in the Press Council Act for more powers
to PCI. The Report has also suggested various other measures to curb the
menace of paid news, which includes setting up of a Special Cell in Election
Commission for action against complaints of paid news, self-regulation by
media, education of voters and awareness generation amongst the stakeholders
to enable them to differentiate between paid news items from genuine news.
The recommendations made by PCI in its Report were submitted to the Group
of Minister (GoM) on Paid News for examination and for suggesting a
comprehensive institutional mechanism to check the menace of paid news.
The issues were deliberated upon by GoM, however the recommendations of
the GoM could not be finalized.
However, the Election Commission has initiated measures to check incidents
of election time paid news. The Commission has issued instructions to
Chief Electoral Officers of all the States for constituting the District
level and State level Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMC)
for scrutiny of paid news. These Committees have been instructed to do
vigorous scrutiny of electronic media, print media and other modes of mass
communication in order to locate political advertisement in the garb of
news coverage appearing during the election period. In addition, the
Commission has also constituted a Committee at the Commission level to
examine references from State level MCMCs and to support policy formulation
on issues related to Paid News and those related to usage of electronic
and print media for campaigning by parties and candidates.
The Editors Guild of India has condemned the unethical practice of paid
news and called upon all editors of the country to desist from publishing
any form of advertisements which masquerade as news. The Guild has also
advised the news organizations to clearly distinguish between news and
advertisements, with full and proper disclosure norms so that no reader
and viewer is tricked by any subterfuge of advertisements published and
broadcast in the same format, language and style of news.
The Chief Election Commissioner also had strongly condemned the publication
of paid news on various occasions as it adversely affects the level playing
field during elections, circumvents the election expenditure laws and causes
undue influence on voters.