I
just returned from
On
March 13, the Editors Guild and the Indian Women’s Press Corps sponsored a
lively discussion in New Delhi India India
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rajdeep Sardesai's name has been corrected.
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The issue of paid news reeks of dirty politics, and even more dirty journalism. And what makes it worse is that the phenomena is not restricted to the coverage of political activities alone.
Especially at the provincial level, "paid news" has spread its tentacles to innocuous local events such the opening of a community centre, a trade-union rally or even the grand-finale of a physicians' conference. Worse still, sometimes the payments are not even in cold cash. It is no secret that the value of the goodies in your press-kit (read: pens, writing pads and leather diaries; or sometimes even the contents of the inconspicious food-packet)is directly proportional to the degree of positive coverage your event will recieve.
I think it is time we step back and look at the larger picture.
Riding on the crest of phenomenal economic growth at the national level and the spread of communication technology on the global level, the Indian media now has the potential to take the idea of vibrant press to a whole new level.
But for that to happen, it is imperative to optimally harness the existing potential. In other words, for starters effectively deal with issues such as these right now.
The solutions mentioned in the article make for a solid first step towards the elimination of such practices. Yet it only deals with the symptoms of a much greater malady that plagues the Indian media in particular, but also the nation in general.
We need to set our priorities straight. In a country where nation-builders such as politicians, teachers and journalists largely comprise of the scum of the population because they are paid measly salaries, how dare you expect any better?
By no means, do I condone such professional behavior but I know better than to write it off as mere corruption or blame it on the punching-bag-for-all politician.
~MM
In Sri Lanka, it is a given that political parties have their own journalists in the media and they `do their beat' and God forbid if another journalist trod on their terrain.
In the state-owned media, while some journalists steer clear from politicians (it is so difficult to do so at tha price of being sacked) there are others who are paid double salary; one from the media and other from the press office of the ministry.
Since this is state media ergo the ministries are part of the govt. and the heads of media institutions give their blessings or nod for these journalists who prostitute themselves for extra kudos.
Having said that Indian journalists paid or unpaid by powers that be brought down Rajiv Gandhi amidst Bofors scandal. Indian journalists are more courageous than Sri Lanka journalists and my experience with Indian foreign correspndents is they research well before writing a piece.
But then again Sri Lanka being such a small island has a media-shy government which does not tolerate dissent.
Journalists in Sri Lanka work under very trying circumstances, particularly regional correspondents who are freelances and who rely on their output to earn their living.
In conflict areas it is the freelance wose lives are sacrificed and their family left destitute since they have neither protection nor no insurance from media institutions.
The Press Council of India (PCI) decided not to forward the detailed report on “paid news”, prepared by its sub-committee, following divisions within the Council, with some members objecting to the fact that specific media houses had been identified as offenders in that document.
We have the full damning report on our site Newswatch: http://www.newswatch.in/paid-news
i think paid journalism is not a threat for any media in any nation,we must leave this to the audiance,readers,listeners to decide.It is not spreading i ll effect to society.