MEDIA: PAID NEWS
PAID NEWS:
How corruption in the Indian media is undermining democracy
Excerpts of report of the sub-committee appointed by the Press Council of India
Preface
The fifteenth general elections to the Lok Sabha took place in April-May 2009 and in order to ensure free and fair coverage by the media, the Press Council of India issued guidelines applicable to both government authorities and the press. After the elections, a disturbing trend was highlighted by sections of the media, that is, payment of money by candidates to representatives of media companies for favourable coverage or the phenomenon popularly known as "paid news".
The deception or fraud that such "paid news" entails takes place at three levels. The reader of the publication or the viewer of the television programme is deceived into believing that what is essentially an advertisement is in fact, independently produced news content. By not officially declaring the expenditure incurred on planting "paid news" items, the candidate standing for election violates the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which are meant to be enforced by the Election Commission of India under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Finally, by not accounting for the money received from candidates, the concerned media company or its representatives are violating the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 as well as the Income Tax Act, 1961, among other laws.
The phenomenon of "paid news" goes beyond the corruption of individual journalists and media companies. It has become pervasive, structured and highly organized and in the process, is undermining democracy in India. Large sections of society, including political personalities, those working in the media and others, have already expressed their unhappiness and concern about the pernicious influence of such malpractices.
During his inaugural address at a seminar on "General Elections 2009 and Media Reporting" on May 13, 2009, that was organized by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, three days before the results of the fifteenth general elections were declared, Hon'ble Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice G.N. Ray expressed grave concern about the covert emergence of the "paid news" syndrome and this issue was discussed threadbare during the seminar.
Subsequently, representations against such malpractices were received from several veteran journalists (such as the late Shri Prabhash Joshi, Shri Ajit Bhattacharjea, Shri B.G. Verghese and Shri Kuldip Nayar). They alleged that sections of the media had received illegal payments for providing favourable coverage to candidates who had stood for the Lok Sabha elections.
On June 6, 2009, the Press Council of India expressed serious concern over the phenomenon of "paid news" that doubly jeopardized the functioning of an independent media in the country and the working of Indian democracy by influencing free and fair elections. The Council noted that the press provides a service that is akin to a public utility - it exercises its right to inform because the public has a right to know. The press thus functions as a repository of public trust and has the obligation to provide truthful and correct information to the best of its ability when such information is being presented as news content. Such news content is distinct from opinions that are conveyed through articles and editorials in which writers express their views.
There is an urgent need to protect the right of the public to accurate information before voters exercise their franchise in favour of a particular candidate in the electoral fray. An opinion that was expressed in the Council is that one reason for the proliferation of the "paid news" phenomenon could be that on account of the limits on election campaign related expenditure that have been imposed by the Election Commission of India, candidates have chosen this alternative to publicize themselves, in the process posing a danger to the conduct of free and fair elections. It was suggested that the powers that are vested in returning officers appointed by the Election Commission before the elections take place are adequate for such officers to issue notices to the press to explain the basis of particular "news" reports and ascertain whether financial transactions had actually taken place between candidates and representatives of media companies.
The Press Council of India felt that in pursuance of the mandate given to the Council by Parliament, it was incumbent upon this statutory authority to examine the issue in all its dimensions through detailed research and consultations. Such an exercise was deemed necessary to maintain the faith of the public in the media and also make appropriate recommendations to check such malpractices from recurring on a wide scale before the forthcoming rounds of elections at both the Union and state levels.
P SAINATH: The phenomenon of “paid news” goes beyond the corruption of individual journalists and media companies. It has become pervasive, structured and highly organized and in the process, is undermining democracy in India.
On June 10, 2009, the Delhi Union of Journalists communicated with the Press Council telegraphically and expressed its concern at reports of money power having played havoc with the media coverage of the elections that had taken place. Shri S.K. Pande, President, Delhi Union of Journalists described the "paid news" phenomenon as unethical, unfair and an infringement of the right of journalists to report freely. He further informed the Council that selected journalists had been targetted by the managements of media companies for not acquiescing with such malpractices.
It may not be out of place in this context to state that the attention of the Press Council of India had been drawn as early as April 2003 by one its members (the late Shri N. Thiagrajan) about the publication of advertising material in the garb of news reports for a fee. At that time, the Council had urged the media to introspect whether such practices enhanced the credibility of news reportage and advised that journalistic propriety demanded that advertisements should be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.
The Press Council of India, through its Chairman and its members, participated in or initiated a number of discussions and debates on this issue between May 2009 and March 2010.
On July 3, 2009, exercising the powers conferred on the Council under Sections 8(1) and 15 of the Press Council of India Act, 1978, a Sub-Committee of the Council comprising two members, namely, Shri Kalimekolan Sreenivas Reddy and Shri Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was constituted. The two members, together with the Press Council of India Chairman Justice G.N. Ray, the Council's Secretary, Smt Vibha Bhargava and other members, met a wide cross-section of stake-holders in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad and also perused through many letters and representations that were sent to the Council. These have been listed in Annexures "A" "B" "C" and "D" at the end of the report. Annexure "E" carries the guidelines that were issued by the Press Council for the media and government authorities during elections. The report of the Sub-Committee follows.
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY:
Corruption in the mass media in India and elsewhere is as old as the media itself. If there is corruption in society, it would be unrealistic to expect the media to be free of corruption. India is the world's largest democracy. A vibrant and diverse mass media is an important pillar of democracy in the country. The independence of the media facilitates adherence to democratic norms. Article 19 of the Constitution of India confers the right to freedom of speech and expression to all citizens of the country and to the media as well.
In recent years, corruption in the Indian media has gone way beyond the corruption of individual journalists and specific media organizations -- from "planting" information and views in lieu of favours received in cash or kind, to more institutionalized and organized forms of corruption wherein newspapers and television channels receive funds for publishing or broadcasting information in favour of particular individuals, corporate entities, representatives of political parties and candidates contesting elections, that is sought to be disguised as "news".
News is meant to be objective, fair and neutral - this is what sets apart such information and opinion from advertisements that are paid for by corporate entities, governments, organizations or individuals. What happens when the distinction between news and advertisements start blurring, when advertisements double up as news that have been paid for, or when "news" is published in favour of a particular politician by selling editorial spaces? In such situations, the reader or the viewer can hardly distinguish between news reports and advertisements/advertorials.
This report tracks the blurring boundaries between news and advertisements/advertorials and highlights the efforts made by individuals and representatives of organizations who have painstakingly chronicled the selling of editorial space for money during elections.
Over the last few years and since 2009 in particular, the phenomenon of "paid news" has acquired a new and even more pernicious dimension by entering the sphere of political "news" or "reporting" on candidates contesting elections. Numerous favourable or complimentary "news" reports and feature articles on representatives of political parties, including candidates who have been contesting elections, have appeared in newspapers across the country in the run-up to the Lok Sabha as well as state legislative assembly elections and similar kinds of information have been aired on television channels without disclosing the fact that monetary transactions have taken place between the concerned candidate or political party to which he or she belongs and the owners or representatives of particular media organizations.
The deception or fraud that such "paid news" entails takes place at three distinct levels. The reader or the viewer is deceived into believing that what is essentially an advertisement is in fact, independently produced news content. Then, candidates contesting elections to not disclose the true expenditure incurred on campaigning thereby violating the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which have been framed by, and are meant to be enforced by, the Election Commission of India under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The concerned newspapers and television channels typically receive funds for "paid news" in cash and do not disclose such earnings in their company balance sheets or official statements of accounts. Thus, by not accounting for the money received from candidates, the concerned media company or its representatives are violating the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 as well as the Income Tax Act, 1961, among other laws.
The entire operation is clandestine. This malpractice has become widespread and now cuts across newspapers and television channels, small and large, in different languages and located in various parts of the country. What is worse, these illegal operations have become "organized" and involve advertising agencies and public relations firms, besides journalists, managers and owners of media companies. Marketing executives use the services of journalists - willingly or otherwise - to gain access to political personalities. So-called "rate cards" or "packages" are distributed that often include "rates" for publication of "news" items that not merely praise particular candidates but also criticize their political opponents. Candidates who do not go along with such "extortionist" practices on the part of media organizations are denied coverage.
Sections of the media in India have willy-nilly become participants and players in such practices that contribute to the growing use of money power in politics which undermines democratic processes and norms - while hypocritically pretending to occupy a high moral ground. This has not merely undermined democracy in India but also tarnished the country's reputation as foreign newspapers have started writing about, and commenting adversely on, such malpractices.
In addition, owners of media organizations have financial relationships, including share-holdings, with advertisers, resulting in only favourable information about such advertisers getting disseminated and unfavourable information against them getting blacked out. Such trends have been discernible in sections of the Indian media for some years now. The regulator of the country's capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has written to the Press Council of India on the issue of "private treaties" between media companies and other corporate entities and suggested disclosure of financial holdings and mandatory enforcement of guidelines to ensure that the interests of investors are adequately safeguarded - these suggestions have been endorsed by the Press Council of India which, in 1996, drew up a set of guidelines that are particularly applicable to financial journalists.
Certain publications (such as Mint) have drawn up their own codes of ethics that are worthy of emulation as a measure of self-regulation. But self-regulation is not adequate for checking rampant malpractices and corruption that have assumed epidemic proportions in many sections of the print medium as well as the television medium.
In the area of political "paid news", given the illegal and clandestine nature of such malpractices, it is not easy to find clinching evidence that pins responsibility for such corrupt practices on particular persons and organizations. There is, however, a huge volume of circumstantial evidence that points towards the growing use of the media for publishing "paid news" which is a form of electoral malpractice. Identical articles with photographs and headlines have appeared in competing publications carrying bylines of different authors around the same time. On the same page of specific newspapers, articles have been printed praising competing candidates claiming that both are likely to win the same elections. Nowhere is there any indication that the publication of such "news" reports has entailed financial transactions or has been sponsored by certain individuals or political parties.
When confronted with circumstantial evidence that substantiate allegations of "paid news", the standard reaction of individuals and representatives of media organizations accused of corrupt practices is to pretend that nothing untoward has happened since the evidence is circumstantial in nature. The typical response of representatives of political parties as well as media organizations who have been named and against whom specific allegations of corruption have been levelled, is to flatly deny these allegations. In private, however, these very same people acknowledge that the cancer of "paid news" has spread deep into the country's body politic and needs to be removed.
AMBIKA SONI: It has been reported that the owners of some media organizations have financial relationships, including share-holdings, with advertisers. Further, cases have been reported wherein identical articles with photographs and headlines have appeared in competing publications carrying bylines of different authors or sometimes even without bylines, around the same time. On the same page of specific newspapers, articles have been printed during elections, projecting rival candidates, both as winning candidates! While it is widely agreed that it is not easy to find proof for such malpractices, there exists strong circumstantial evidence.
Such malpractices have destroyed the credibility of the media itself and are, therefore, detrimental to its own long-term interests. It needs to be noted in this context that so long as journalists (in particular, those who work in non-urban areas) are paid poverty wages or are expected to earn their livelihood by doubling up as advertising agents working on commissions, such malpractices would continue to be rampant.
It can be argued that the proliferation of the "paid news" phenomenon can be related directly to the diminution of the role and the status of editors in media organizations and the erosion of the freedom enjoyed by journalists under the Working Journalists Act. As more and more senior journalists chose to work with their employers under fixed term contracts, they opted out of the protection that was accorded to them under the provisions of the Act. Until the 1970s and the 1980s, many editors would not brook any "interference" from the management of the company they would be employed by - the number of such editors started dwindling as more and more senior journalists started acceding to every whim of their managers and employers instead of their editors. With managers playing a more influential role in the selection and presentation of news, it was not surprising that the importance of the news started getting determined by the revenues that would be generated for the media company.
Renowned journalist, the late Shri Prabhash Joshi spoke extensively in public about "paid news". The Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu Shri P. Sainath has written a series of articles on the phenomenon, many of which have highlighted the manner in which the electoral campaign of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Ashok Chavan was conducted through newspapers in September-October 2009. When contacted, Shri Chavan denied that neither he nor any of his associates had paid money for media coverage and said that he had nothing to do with the manner in which "news" about him was carried by publications and television channels before the state assembly elections.
The Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists conducted a detailed sample survey to highlight the manner in which newspapers had published "paid news" items before the Lok Sabha elections and the state assembly elections that were conducted simultaneously in April-May 2009. Particular candidates who stood for elections in Andhra Pradesh named publications whose representatives had asked them for money to publish favourable news items about themselves. Once again, representatives of these media organizations flatly denied the allegations. One candidate (Shri Parcha Kodanda Ram Rao of the Loksatta Party in Andhra Pradesh) formally represented to the Election Commission that he had paid a particular newspaper (Eenadu) to publish favourable "news" about himself and had included the payment in his official expenditure statement.
A number of senior journalists have formally complained about the phenomenon of "paid news" to the Press Council of India and the Election Commission of India, as has the Editors Guild of India. Various unions of journalists, including the Delhi Union of Journalists, have condemned such malpractices in the media. The National Alliance of People's Movements, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, also prepared a report highlighting instances of "paid news" appearing in newspapers before the 2009 general elections.
KULDEEP NAYYAR: Self-regulation only offers partial solutions to the problem since there would always be offenders who would refuse to abide by voluntary codes of conduct and ethical norms that are not legally mandated. The owners of media companies need to realize that in the long term, such malpractices undermine not just democracy in the country but the credibility of the media as well
The phenomenon of "paid news" has attracted the critical attention of many individuals and sections of Indian society. For instanced, the Vice President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Shri Abdul Hamid Ansari, Union Ministers such as Information & Broadcasting Minister Smt Ambika Soni and Human Resources Development Minister Shri Kapil Sibal, spokesperson of the Indian National Congress Shri Manish Tewari, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Member of Parliament (MP) Shri L.K. Advani, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and BJP MP Smt Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and BJP MP from the Rajya Sabha Shri Arun Jaitley, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Shri Prakash Karat, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri K. Rosaiah, noted actor Shri Amitabh Bachchan, among many others, have all expressed their concern about the "paid news" phenomenon in the country. A number of seminars and conferences on the issue have taken place.
A detailed discussion on the subject took place in the Rajya Sabha during which Information & Broadcasting Minister Smt Soni stated that the government was actively considering the option of providing more powers to the Press Council of India to check this phenomenon which is undermining the credibility of the media and democratic processes. She said the media acts as a repository of public trust for conveying factual information to the people. However, when paid information is presented as independent news content, it misleads the public and hampers the ability of people to form correct opinions.
In the final analysis, the question arises as to what can be done to check such corrupt practices in the media that compromise democratic processes. Can anything be done at all in this regard? The answers are not easy nor are they simple or clear-cut. Despite its quasi-judicial status, the Press Council of India has limited powers. The Council has the power to admonish, reprimand and pass strictures but cannot penalize the errant or those found guilty of malpractices. Besides, the Council's mandate does not extend beyond the print medium. A proposal to amend Section 15(4) of the Press Council Act, 1978, to make the directions of the Council binding on government authorities, has been pending for a long time and should be amended to provide the Council more "teeth".
Appointing ombudsmen in media organizations and better self-regulation are options to check the "paid news" phenomenon. However, self-regulation only offers partial solutions to the problem since there would always be offenders who would refuse to abide by voluntary codes of conduct and ethical norms that are not legally mandated. The owners of media companies need to realize that in the long term, such malpractices undermine not just democracy in the country but the credibility of the media as well. Civil society oversight can also deal with the problem, but only to an extent. New rules and guidelines can be introduced and extant ones modified or amended. For instance, there should be a debate among all concerned stakeholders as to whether a directive of the Supreme Court of India that enjoins television channels to stop broadcasting campaign-related information on candidates and political parties 48 hours before polling takes place can and should be extended to the print medium since such a restriction does not apply to this section of the media at present.
A number of politicians cutting across party lines have suggested an amendment to Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to declare the exchange of money for "paid news" as a corrupt practice or an "electoral malpractice". It can be effectively argued that the existing laws of the land (including the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Representation of the People Act, the Income Tax Act) have the potential to check such malpractices provided the concerned authorities, including the Election Commission of India, are not just proactive but also act in an expeditious manner to apprehend those indulging in practices that are tantamount to a corrupt practice (including an electoral malpractice) or committing a fraud.
An empowered Press Council of India should appoint observers who would assist the Election Commission of India to check the "paid news" phenomenon during election campaigns. These are among the conclusions and observations that have been laid down in greater detail at the end of the report. All these steps may not entirely stop such malpractices in the Indian media but could reduce their incidence to an extent.
HOW EDITORIAL SPACE WAS COMPROMISED BY “PAID NEWS”
News is meant to be objective, fair and neutral — this is what sets apart such information and opinion from advertisements that are paid for. When "news" is published in favour of a particular politician or a political party by selling editorial space, the phenomenon of "paid news" becomes even more pernicious. Innumerable complimentary "news" reports and feature articles on representatives of political parties, including candidates who have been contesting elections, have appeared in newspapers and broadcast on television channels across the country in the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as well as the state legislative assembly elections. No disclosure was made that before such "news" was printed or broadcast, that money had been exchanged between the concerned candidate or political party to which he or she belongs and the owners or representatives of media organizations.
Such malpractices enabled candidates contesting elections to not disclose their true expenditures on campaigning which, if made public, would have in certain cases violated the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which have been framed by, and are meant to be enforced by, the Election Commission of India under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The concerned newspapers and television channels received money for "paid news" in cash and not in the form of cheques and did not disclose such earnings in their official company balance sheets. This malpractice has become widespread and cuts across newspapers and television channels, small and large, in different languages and located in various parts of the country, and this is evident from the many examples provided subsequently in this report.
What is worse, these illegal operations have become "organized" and involve advertising agencies and public relations firms, besides journalists, managers and owners of media companies. Marketing executives use the services of journalists - willingly or otherwise - to gain access to political personalities. So-called "rate cards" or "packages" are distributed that often include "rates" for publication of "news" items that not merely praise particular candidates but also criticize their political opponents. Candidates who do not go along with such "extortionist" practices on the part of media organizations are denied coverage. Sections of the media in India have consciously chosen to become partners, participants and players in malpractices that contribute to the growing use of money power in politics that, in turn, undermine democratic processes and norms. At the same time, representatives of media organizations against whom allegations are levelled publicly condemn the practice of "paid news". Some such individuals behave in a hypocritical manner and pretend to occupy a high moral ground.
Given the illegal and clandestine nature of such malpractices, it is not easy to find clinching evidence that pins responsibility for such malpractices on particular persons and organizations. There is, however, a huge volume of circumstantial evidence that points towards the growing use of the media for publishing "paid news" which is a form of an electoral malpractice. Identical articles with photographs and headlines have appeared in competing publications carrying bylines of different authors around the same time. On the same page of specific newspapers, articles have been printed praising competing candidates claiming both are likely to win the elections.
That "paid news" is a phenomenon that is deleterious to the credibility and independence of the media itself needs to be emphasized. Edelman, an independent public relations firm, in its 2010 Trust Barometer Survey (conducted in 22 countries worldwide, including India and six other countries in the Asia-Pacific region) stated that the Indian media has been losing its credibility and trust among the people. The study, which sampled 1,575 people in the 25-64 age group and 200 opinion leaders in India, noticed a sharp drop in trust over the past two years in television news in India. However, newspapers are ranked higher than other media in terms of credible news with people trusting newspapers more than any other medium: 38 per cent of the Indians polled trusted radio and television, while 40 per cent trusted news in newspapers. Over the past two years, trust in television news dropped sharply from 61 per cent to 36 per cent, that of business magazines has gone down from 72 per cent to 47 per cent, and that of newspapers has gone down from 61 per cent to 40 per cent. Trust in the media in India as a whole declined by 7 per cent (from 65 per cent in 2009 to 58 per cent in 2010). On the other hand, China has seen the trust in media go up from 59 per cent in 2009 to 63 per cent in 2010. However, in terms of overall trusted institutions in India, media has performed better than the government as an institution. Sixty-seven per cent of Indians trust business as an institution, followed by the Indian media in the second position, with 58 per cent Indians trusting it. Non-government organizations (NGOs) and the government are placed in third and fourth positions, respectively.
In another survey conducted by the Readers' Digest in March 2010, called the Trust Survey, 750 Indians were asked to rank the short-listed individuals belonging to different professions. Journalists were ranked 30 out of the 40 professionals listed and were placed next only to barbers and bus drivers.
Given the kind of blatantly dishonest practices being followed in sections of the mass media in India in recent times, the levels of credibility and trust in newspapers and television channels are bound to drop further, all of which would be harmful to building a vibrant and responsive democracy in the country. The publication or broadcast of "paid news" have not merely undermined democracy in India but also tarnished the country's reputation as foreign newspapers have already started writing about, and commenting adversely on, such malpractices.
THE ‘MEDIANET’ AND ‘PRIVATE TREATIES’ PHENOMENA
In pursuing its quest for profits, it can be argued that certain media organizations have sacrificed good journalistic practices and ethical norms. Individual transgressions -- reporters and correspondents being offered cash and other incentives, namely paid-for junkets at home or abroad in return for favourable reports on a company or an individual - were, until recently, considered more of an aberration than a norm. News that was published in such a manner was suspect because of the fawning manner in which events/persons were described while the reports gave an impression of being objective and fair. The byline of the journalist was stated upfront. Over the years such individual transgressions became institutionalised.
PRABHASH JOSHI: “Packages” had been formulated by various media groups and the newspaper offering the “package” would publish no news whatsoever about the individual candidate and/or his or her party if the candidate/party did not accept the package. Shri Joshi mentioned accounts of various political leaders who had complained to him regarding the widespread practice of paid news in media houses in the states.
In the 1980s, Bennett, Coleman Company Limited (BCCL), publishers of the Times of India (TOI) group of publications started changing the rules of the Indian media game. Besides initiating cut-throat cover-price competition, marketing was used creatively to make BCCL one of the most profitable media conglomerates in the country - it currently earns more profit than the rest of the publishing industries in the country put together though as a corporate group, the STAR group has in recent years recorded a higher annual turnover in particular years.
The media phenomenon that has caused considerable outrage of late has been BCCL's 2003 decision to start a "paid content" service called Medianet, which, for a price, openly offers to send journalists to cover product launches or personality-related events. When competing newspapers pointed out the blatant violation of journalistic ethics implicit in such a practice, BCCL's bosses argued that such "advertorials" were not appearing in newspapers like the TOI itself, but only in the city-specific colour supplements that highlight society trivia rather than hard news. (There was another, more blatant justification of this practice not just by BCCL but other media companies that emulated such a practice after BCCL started it. If public relations (PR) firms are already "bribing" journalists to ensure that coverage of their clients is carried, what was wrong then with eliminating the intermediary - in this instance, the PR agency - it was argued.
(Besides Medianet, BCCL devised another "innovative" marketing and PR strategy. In 2005, ten companies, including Videocon India and Kinetic Motors, allotted unknown amounts of equity shares to BCCL as part of a deal to enable these firms to receive advertising space in BCCL-owned media ventures. The success of the scheme turned BCCL into one of the largest private equity investors in India. At the end of 2007, the media company boasted of investments in 140 companies in aviation, media, retail and entertainment, among other sectors, valued at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore. According to an interview given by a senior BCCL representative ( S. Sivakumar) to a website (medianama.com) in July 2008, the company had between 175 and 200 private treaty clients with an average deal size of between Rs 15 crore and Rs 20 crore implying an aggregate investment that could vary between Rs 2,600 crore and Rs 4,000 crore.
It is a separate matter that the fall in stock-market indices in 2008 robbed some of the sheen off the "private treaties" scheme for the BCCL management. While the value of BCCL's holdings in partner companies came down, the media company had to meet its commitments to provide advertising space at old "inflated" valuations which also had to be shown as assessable taxable income for BCCL on which corporation tax is levied.
Even as the private treaties scheme was apparently aimed at undermining competition to the TOI, a number of the newspaper's competitors as well as television channels started similar schemes. The "private treaties" scheme pioneered in the Indian media by BCCL involves giving advertising space to private corporate entities/advertisers in exchange for equity investment - the company officially denies that it also provides favourable editorial coverage to its "private treaty" clients and/or blacks out adverse comment against its clients.
While BCCL representatives denied receiving money for providing favourable editorial space, the integrity of news was compromised. In advertisements published in the Economic Times and the TOI celebrating the success of the group's private treaties, on December 4, 2009, the Mumbai edition of the newspapers published a half-page colour advertisement titled "How to perform the Great Indian Rope Trick" and cited the case of Pantaloon. What was being referred was how Pantaloon's strategic partnership with the TOI group had paid off. The advertisement read: "…with the added advantage of being a media house, Times Private Treaties, went beyond the usual role of an investor by not straining the partner's cash flows. It was because of the unparalleled advertising muscle of India's leading media conglomerate. As Pantaloon furiously expanded, Times Private Treaties (TPT) ensured that (it) was never short on demand. The TPT has a better phrase for it -- business sense."
In many media organizations, news is sought to be distinguished from material that is paid for, called advertisements or "advertorials", by using different or distinctive fonts, font sizes, boundaries and/or disclaimers such as "sponsored feature" or even the letters "advt" printed in a miniscule font size in a corner of the advertisement - which may or may not escape the attention of the reader. However, in certain instances, even a fig-leaf of a disclaimer was done away with. Whereas BCCL representatives have often argued that the companies private treaties scheme is open to public scrutiny since the companies in which BCCL has picked up stakes is in the public domain and listed on its official website, the influence such companies wield on editorial content is a matter of contention and debate.
SUGGESTIONS BY SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA TO PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIA:
On July 15, 2009, Shri S. Ramann, Officer on Special Duty, Integrated Surveillance Department of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wrote to the Chairman, Press Council of India, Justice G.N. Ray observing that many media companies were entering into agreements called "private treaties" with companies whose equity shares are listed on stock exchanges or companies that were coming out with a public offer of their shares. The media companies were picking up stakes in such companies and in return, were proving coverage through advertisements, news reports and editorials. The SEBI, which has been set up under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, and is mandated to protect the interests of investors, felt that such promotional and brand building strategies in exchange for shares, "may give rise to conflict of interest and may, therefore, result in dilution of the independence of (the) press vis-à-vis the nature and content of the news/editorials relating to such companies".
(The SEBI pointed out that "private treaties" may "lead to commercialization of news reports since the same would be based on the subscription and advertising agreement entered into between the media group and the company". Furthermore, "biased and imbalanced reporting may lead to inaccurate perceptions of the companies which are the beneficiaries of such private treaties". Hence, the SEBI "felt that such brand building strategies of media groups, without appropriate and adequate disclosures, may not be in the interest of investors and financial markets as the same would impede in them taking a fair and well-informed decision. The SEBI suggested the following:
1. Disclosures regarding the stake held by the media company may be made mandatory in the news report/article/editorial in newspapers/television channels relating to the company in which the media group holds such a stake.
2. Disclosure on percentage of stake held by media groups in various companies under such "private treaties" on the website of media groups may be made mandatory.
3. Any such disclosures relating to such agreements such as any nominee of the media group on the board of directors of the company, any management control or other details which may be required to be disclosed and which may be a potential conflict of interest for the media group, may also be made mandatory.
(The SEBI communication to the Press Council of India pointed out that a "free and unbiased press is crucial for the development of the securities market, particularly with respect to aiding small investors to take a well informed decision" and urged the Council to address this issue at the earliest.
In this context, the Council referred to the existing guidelines for financial journalists that had been framed in 1996, which include the following:
1. Financial journalists should not accept gifts, loans, trips, discounts, preferential shares or other considerations which compromise or are likely to compromise his position.
2. It should be mentioned prominently in a report about a company that the report has been based on information provided by the company or its financial sponsors.
3. When trips are sponsored for visiting establishments of a company and hospitality extended, the author of the report who has availed of such facilities must invariably state these in his report.
4. A reporter who exposes a scam or brings out a report for promotion of a good project should be encouraged and awarded.
5. A journalist who has a financial interest in a company (including holding of shares) should not report on that company.
6. The journalist should not use for his personal benefit or for the benefit of his relations or friends, information received by him in advance for publication.
7. No newspaper owner, editor or anybody connected with a newspaper should use his relationship with the newspaper to promote his other business interests.
8. Whenever there is an indictment of a paticular advertising agency or advertiser by the Advertising Standards Council of India, the newspaper in which the advertisement was published must publish news of the indictment prominently.
After deliberating on the issue, the Press Council of India endorsed the views expressed by the SEBI and stated that the relevant guidelines should be made applicable and mandatory not only to financial journalists but to owners of media companies as well. This would be in the interests of transparency and fairness and would reduce the incidence of biased news about companies being published that is inimical to the interests of investors.
THE LATE SHRI PRABHASH JOSHI'S LAST SPEECH ON “PAID NEWS”
One of India's most renowned journalists, the late Shri Prabhash Joshi was a crusader against "paid news". He approached the Press Council of India and the Election Commission of India on his own and urged these two bodies to do their best to curb such malpractices. In one of his last public speeches before he expired on November 5, 2009, at a seminar organised by the Foundation for Media Professionals in New Delhi on October 28, 2009, he named some of the politicians who had either refused to pay money or those who had complained to him about publications charging money for carrying news stories.
Among the several politicians who had spoken to him on paid news, Shri Joshi referred to Shri Atul Kumar Anjaan of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and said: "Shri Atul Anjaan of the Communist Party of India would often start his speech by drawing a parallel between a marriage celebration and an election campaign. He would say that when a marriage takes place, those who build pandals and tents, decorators and food caterers, quote higher than normal rates for their services. On specific days, when marriages take place, these service providers increase their rates taking advantage of the rise in demand and shortfall in supply. Newspaper owners acted in an identical manner when they demanded money from candidates in exchange for publishing news about them just before elections."
MRINAL PANDE: Many recent steps redefining news and its dissemination were taken hastily in news organisations after bypassing the editorial department. These decisions may have introduced lethal and invisible viruses within the system that may corrode and finally kill the newspaper
On that occasion, he made a scathing attack on sections of the media that had masqueraded advertisements as political news in the run-up to the general elections. He sharply criticized particular media organizations for entering into covert agreements with candidates of political parties and accepting illegal money from them for publicizing their activities and/or putting down their rivals. Such practices undermined and compromised the very basis of the role that an independent media is expected to play in a democracy. He listed various instances of impropriety followed by journalists and media organizations in Hindi-speaking states before the 2009 general elections. Barring a few, most newspapers in these states entered into deals with candidates of various political parties contesting in the general elections whereby they offered publicity packages to specific candidates and/or political parties to which they belonged for money.
"Packages" had been formulated by various media groups and the newspaper offering the "package" would publish no news whatsoever about the individual candidate and/or his or her party if the candidate/party did not accept the package. Shri Joshi mentioned accounts of various political leaders who had complained to him regarding the widespread practice of paid news in media houses in the states. He mentioned in particular about the cases narrated to him by Shri Lalji Tandon, Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP), belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); Shri Mohan Singh of the Samajwadi Party, who fought the election from Deoria in UP; Shri Harmohan Dhawan, who was a Union Minister in the government headed by former Prime Minister, the late Shri Chandra Shekhar; and Haryana Chief Minister, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
SMT MRINAL PANDE'S VIEWS ON “PAID NEWS”
In a two-part article written for The Hindu ( March 18-19, 2010), senior journalist Smt Mrinal Pande stated: "Many recent steps redefining news and its dissemination in the newspapers were taken hastily after bypassing the editorial department. They may have introduced lethal and invisible viruses within the system that may corrode and finally kill the newspaper. The vernacular media may be feeling cocky, having pulled themselves out of physical poverty under their own steam, but they have yet to learn how to deal firmly and decisively with another kind of poverty - that of the professional, ethical kind.
"One is not being paranoid here. Not too long ago, some major dailies introduced a devilishly cunning scheme of offering what was innocently labelled 'Ad for Equity'. This met with loud applause from many managerial bosses all over. But before long the realty, aviation and automobile sectors went into a tailspin, and the scheme left the companies that had adopted it red-faced and holding bags of (economy class) air tickets, empty flats, unsold cars and so on.
"A little later, during some of the Assembly elections in 2008, the local editions of several multi-edition Hindi dailies started displaying laudatory and frequently contradictory news items on their front pages about specific candidates contesting from the respective areas. With zero news value, none of these items merited such display, but through the election period the front pages and op-ed pages of some dailies continued to carry the mug-shots of particular candidates, even predicting a record win for him or her.
"The dailies may or may not have collected some Rs 200 crore with this little duplicitous exercise in psephology, but a new idea of what has now come to be called 'political advertising' was planted across the country, triggering a trend. And soon one heard that the marketing and media marketing managers at several media houses were getting 'creatives' prepared about what was on offer, in time for the general elections. Several party functionaries who manned party 'war rooms' during the period, when quizzed, confessed to having been shown 'impressive' PowerPoint presentations by major newspapers, and in turn professing an interest in the offerings.
"The working modalities include putting in place dedicated teams each day, comprising political or city reporters and correspondents, sub-editors, area advertisement managers and area sales managers, to do the needful. Fifteen days' general coverage is priced at Rs 20 lakh, while seven days of exclusive coverage is pegged at Rs 25 lakh. Along with this, specially prepared four-page supplements in colour, exclusive interviews, positive views of the voters, positive editorial analysis, 'only positive coverage' and 'no negative publicity of opposition candidate or party,' and extra copies of the newspaper on payment basis, are on offer -- at a price, of course. There is flexibility in making the payment: 50 per cent can be paid in cash and 50 per cent by cheque. The last frame in the presentation, ironically titled The Way Ahead, suggests that the daily would be willing to offer publicity on 'other occasions' also, apart from the election-time offer… How can a media hawking inviolable editorial space to politicians and their parties for personal use during elections, capture this reality for its readers and analyse it with any degree of sensitivity or honesty?
"…why have the hugely successful Hindi print media that have always been in private hands and quite free professionally, begun to trivialize their own base and con their readership for piffling short-term gains? If this trend continues, the readers will react, and the next round of closures will have more serious implications, not just for those who will lose their jobs but also for the readers' understanding of where they live and how their reality is inviolable and a part of the nation's reality. Hindi newspapers inspired by the capitulation of their big brothers in the media business may dent the case for India's vernacular press, but cannot demolish it. When it does its job, a professionally run vernacular paper, funded jointly by advertising and paid-for-circulation, remains the best bet as a scrutineer of democracy and the best guard for the inviolable reality of our public spaces."
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA'S EFFORTS
With a view to curbing expenditure on what it described as "surrogate advertisements", the Election Commission of India also made the following recommendation to the government of India in 2004, as a part of its package of electoral reforms:
The Election Commission of India is of the view that "there should be clear provision to deal with cases of surrogate advertisements in the print media. For this purpose, Section 127(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, may be suitable amended, adding a new sub-Section (2A) to the effect that in the case of any advertisements/election matter for or against any political party or candidate in print media, during the election period, the name and address of the publisher should be given along with the matter/advertisement. Sub-section (4) should also be suitably amended to include in its ambit the new proposed sub-section."
The proposed recommendation of the Election Commission of India has not been given effect to by the government so far. Meanwhile, the law relating to election expenses has undergone a sea change on account of the Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003, whereby all expenditure incurred by supporters and workers of a candidate is deemed to be expenditure incurred or authorised by the candidate and subject to the overall ceiling fixed on his election expenses under the law.
In its note to the Press Council of India, the Election Commission observed: "Of late, the campaign using the media (especially print media) has taken a more disturbing turn. There have been several complaints of surrogate advertisements or 'paid news' appearing in the form of news items. On the face of it, such advertisements give an impression of a genuine news report covering the election campaign of a particular candidate. But when such reports repeatedly appear in that newspaper more or less on a regular basis, the matter does give rise to a doubt or suspicion whether the reports are 'honest' coverage of the election campaign of the candidate as innocent news item."
"The matter", says the note given by the Election Commission to the Press Council, "assumes bigger dimensions when such 'news items' appear in more than one newspaper as 'word for word' reproduction or with a few minor deviations. Obviously, in the publication of such news items, there is more than what meets the eye. This trend has implication for the voters' right to correct information. The Commission has received complaints, mostly informal, that some political parties and candidates have resorted to buying space in the print media by making hefty payments to the journalists or press reporters in return for projecting their image by publishing planted stories at their instance as 'paid news items'."
The Election Commission note adds that "the more disturbing phenomenon recently emerging and which is causing serious concern to the commission is the latest complaint to the Commission that some of the newspapers have even offered packages at hefty sums, offering three types of services - one, projecting the image of a political party or a candidate in a positive manner; two, giving negative publicity to the rival party or candidate. The rates of such packages vary, depending upon the standing and circulation of the newspaper in the area covered by the constituency. These rates further vary depending upon the duration for which such publicity campaign by the newspaper is to be carried out, that is to say, whether for the whole campaign period or for the last one week of the campaign period or even for the shorter duration close to the day of poll. This worrisome phenomenon is causing concern not only to the Election Commission but also to the entire enlightened section of the society and even to some of the sections of the print media and political formations. But sufficient initiative from political parties or media to counter this problem is yet to be seen on (the) ground."
The Election Commission of India asked the Press Council of India "to devote serious consideration to this growing menace which, if not checked in time, may erode the credibility of the electoral system. As any consideration of surrogate advertising will also involve issues like media regulation, media freedom, media ethics, etc., the Press Council of India may like to suitably address it. In particular, the commission would like some guidelines to be laid down by the Press Council of India to determine what is 'paid news', so that the expenditure incurred by political parties and candidates on such paid news may become accountable."
The Press Council of India is of the opinion that is, in fact, very easy to define paid news: it is an article in a newspaper/magazine or a television broadcast that appears as a news item, where, though the contents appear to have been independently produced, in reality and in fact, a financial transaction has taken place that has facilitated the publication or broadcast of the news item. The problem is not in defining what "paid news" is but in trying to establish that money has changed hands, that a payment has been made by a candidate who has stood for elections or his political party or his representative or associate to a representative of a media company that has published or broadcast the so-called "news" in favour of the concerned candidate. Since such payments are invariably made in a clandestine or illegal manner, in the form of hard cash and not by cheque, and since official records (in the form of receipts or bills/invoices) are deliberately not kept or recorded in the concerned media company's balance sheet or statements of account, the only way such transactions can be unearthed if search-and-seizure raids are conducted by the concerned law-enforcing authorities, including officials of the Income Tax Department or members of the police force.
Before proceeding further, it is worthwhile to reiterate why publication or broadcast of "paid news" is bad for the media itself since it is inimical to its credibility as a provider of independent, balanced and fair information. The idea that the media plays a central role in the maintenance of a democratic society has framed debates about media ethics. A healthy democracy requires, among other things, the participation of informed citizens, and one of the roles of the media is to enhance the level of public participation by providing information and analyses on a range of political, economic, social and other issues. This information thus has to be as truthful and objective as possible.
Unfortunately, sections of the media in India have begun to treat the political arena like any other market. The underlying assumption is that if the politician pays, he will be covered in a complimentary and favourable manner. Instead of proving objective and unbiased information, publications that put out "paid news" items that are akin to pamphlets praising candidates, eventually end up damaging - if not destroying - their own credibility. Whereas such malpractices were confined to individual transgressions and to a few newspapers and television channels in the past, the sheer scale of what has taken place is alarming and frightening for this phenomenon strikes at the very core of democracy by turning the media which is supposed to be the fourth estate and a watchdog of society into a "first estate" of sorts by adversely influencing democratic processes.
SHRI P. SAINATH'S FINDINGS ON “PAID NEWS”
One journalist of a mainstream newspaper who has written a number of articles highlighting this pernicious trend of "paid news" is the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu Shri Palagummi Sainath. In his deposition before the Press Council of India on December 13, 2009, and again on January 27, 2010, Shri Sainath made the following observations:
"Throughout my journalistic career, I have witnessed how money power and corrupt journalism have always been major factors influencing the outcome of any election - this is not a phenomenon that has appeared overnight. Yet, the last two general elections - of 2004 and 2009 - were exceptional even by past standards in the manner in which huge amounts of money were spent by candidates in their election campaigns. The no-holds-barred expenditure by candidates in the 2004 elections was shocking by any standards, but the amounts of money spent by candidates in the 2009 general elections far exceeded the amounts that were spent by candidates in 2004. The general elections of 2009 were the seventh covered by me and never before in my career had I witnessed such large sums of money being spent on election campaigns. Though I was aware that candidates were spending large amounts, I did not have evidence that would help me expose the fact that candidates were incurring expenditures that were far higher than what is officially permitted by the Election Commission of India. It was visible to the naked eye. Proving it with documentary evidence was another matter."
Shri Sainath observed that the general elections of 2009 witnessed a paradigm shift in the manner in which candidates and political parties worked hand in glove with the press and media houses in masquerading advertisements of candidates and parties as political "news". He stated:
The size of the market for "paid news" is very big. In Andhra Pradesh, unions of journalists have estimated the size of the "paid news" market to be somewhere between Rs 300 crore and Rs 1,000 crore.
In Uttar Pradesh, politicians complained about how leading newspapers sold various "packages" or "rate cards" for publishing news in their favour and/or completely blacking out news about their opponents.
In Punjab and Haryana, complaints from politicians showed how it was the newspapers that set the agenda much before the elections were announced. While the language papers claimed that it was the national dailies with their local editions and political supplements that were forcing them to offer their editorial space for a price, the national dailies denied resorting to such practices. Even media houses in the national capital of New Delhi were not immune to the malaise.
"Paid news" has become an organized and properly structured "industry". It is corporate-controlled and functions with the full patronage and participation of some of the largest media groups in the country. The individual journalist has no importance in this "industry" because what is published as "news" has not been independently gathered and reported by reporters and journalists but written and published as per the wishes of the political party or the candidate who has paid money to the concerned publisher or media organisation. Indeed, in some cases the reporter was not even required as the public relations (PR) machinery behind the politician got down to work. In some newspapers in Gujarat, reporters complained that they were ordered not to file political reports.
This "industry" has become so organized that large PR firms, professional designers and advertising agencies handled contracts worth many crore rupees - not just to position advertisements but to create "news". Propaganda put out as "news" was customised by these image-creation agencies to appear as "exclusive" news articles in the publications these appeared in. But the scale of the operation was so large that confusion and overlap were inevitable and many giveaway mistakes occurred (for instance, the same "exclusive" story appeared under different bylines in rival newspapers - word for word). The use of these large corporate PR firms gave resource-rich parties an unfair edge over their electoral rivals (about whom, news was blacked out because they could not pay) and this malpractice has sullied India's proud electoral democracy.
The new aspect of this phenomenon of "paid news" in 2009 is that there was widespread participation by political parties in this process. The integration and assimilation of leading political parties and corporate public relations bodies in this racket is also unique to the elections of 2009.
Shri Sainath spoke on how the ruling party in Maharashtra exploited the situation to the hilt. "In Maharashtra, it is definitely the Congress-NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) that occupies the top slot because other political parties in the state are really strapped for resources. The reason for this is not embedded in the character of any particular party: it is simply that one coalition has been in power in the state for ten years and thus has far more money. In another state, it could be another ruling party.
"For example, a news item headlined, 'Young, dynamic leadership', eulogising the Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Ashok Chavan appeared using exactly similar words from beginning to end in three competing Marathi newspapers - Lokmat, Pudhari and Maharashtra Times. If a question were posed to these three newspapers as to how the exactly same articles appeared in their pages, their reply would be customised. They would say that accidentally one of the press releases of the Congress party went directly to the press without passing through the copy desk and therefore the same news appeared in a similar manner in all three newspapers. But, had it been a press release, it should have been circulated to all newspapers and not just three. The question, therefore, arises as to how the press release found its way only to three newspapers. The news was published by Pudhari on October 7, 2009, whereas, the other two newspapers had carried it on October 10. Is there a practice among these newspapers to carry three-day-old press releases?"
In the general elections of 2009, the head offices of newspapers and television news channels, said Shri Sainath, set "targets" and "quotas" for their regional centres. These targets were then worked into individual quotas for reporters, correspondents and special correspondents, depending on the rank of the employee in question. In April 2009, during the fifteenth general elections, the Hindu carried a story on individual journalists from several small towns in Maharashtra, like Nagpur and Amravati, complaining that they were being forced to write news stories that were paid for being published.
Shri Shakil Ahmad, a lawyer and an independent candidate from Sion-Koliwada in Mumbai, said the very newspapers that had earlier given him space as a social activist "demanded money to write about me as a candidate". "Since I refused to pay, nobody wrote about me," said Shri Ahmed, who added that he was eager to depose before the Election Commission of India and has filed a legal affidavit/undertaking in this regard wherein naming newspapers like …. that tried to extort money from him. Shri Ahmed's statements would earlier get space because he was very useful to the media in, for example, covering the proceedings of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission that inquired into the communal riots that had taken place in Mumbai in 1992-93. His services to the media were in the nature of a public service from which he derived no monetary gain. And his name was soon well known in the press. When it came to his contesting elections, he was blacked out as he would not pay money." (Subsequently, on January 27, 2010, Shri Ahmed deposed before the Press Council of India reiterating the allegations that were recounted by him to Shri Sainath.)
In the course of tracking down the trend of "paid news", Shri Sainath observed: "Several editions of newspapers published from Maharashtra in between October 1 and 10, 2009 bear testimony to the fact that there was huge scramble by candidates to get news space. There are instances of mysteriously fixed size news items, each say of a length of 125-150 words with a double-column photo. The 'fixed size' news items hid more than they revealed. News items are seldom written in such a rigid format and size whereas advertisements are most often. In specific newspapers, multiple font types and multiple drop case styles were noticed within the same page of a single newspaper. This happened because just about everything - the layouts, fonts, printouts, photographs - was provided by candidates who had paid for slots in the pages of the newspaper."
Shri Sainath pointed out that in the election expenditure statement submitted to the Election Commission, Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Ashok Chavan, disclosed that he had spent less than Rs 7 lakh on his election campaign. The expenditure limit in terms of election campaign that is imposed on a candidate by the Election Commission of India is Rs 10 lakhs. Of the Rs 7 lakh, Shri Chavan stated that he had spent a mere Rs 5,379 on newspaper advertisements and another Rs 6,000 on advertisements that were on cable television networks. These figures, according to Shri Sainath, are "clearly at odds with the unprecedented media coverage the Chief Minister got during the election campaign". "I have with me 89 full pages of news which are devoted just to Shri Ashok Chavan. Most of these news items are printed in colour. A substantial number of these pages have been culled out from those editions of the big Marathi daily newspaper Lokmat, which is the fourth most widely circulated daily in the country according to the National Readership Survey of 2006," said Shri Sainath.
Several pertinent questions arise from this huge media coverage that was accorded to Shri Chavan, said Shri Sainath. What would have been the total expenditure incurred by Shri Chavan if all the "news" that had been carried about him and his achievements been considered advertisements that were paid for? How does one justify the presence of over 150 pages of "news" on one man who had at that time held the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a period of only 11 months? Even Barack Obama, the first African-American to win the US Presidential elections did not find any newspaper in the US giving him five full pages of 'news' before his election. And his was the costliest election campaign ever.
What Shri Sainath said was borne out by the statements of Shri Yogi Adityanath of the BJP who told Outlook that his name did not figure at all in the reports appearing in the leading dailies of Uttar Pradesh. "In my constituency of Gorakhpur from where I had won in the past, my candidature did not find a mention in the newspapers," the BJP MP remarked, adding how every newspaper in his constituency was offering its editorial space for a package.
Shri Sainath also observed how a spate of genuine advertisements of politicians hit the pages of certain newspapers in Maharashtra on August 30, 2009. "This was 24 hours prior to the date elections were formally announced on which day, the model code of conduct specified by the Election Commission came into effect. After the model code of conduct came into effect, the word 'advertisement' disappeared from all items on political events and candidates. Even the fig leaf describing a paid news item as a 'sponsored feature' or a 'response feature' disappeared and the items were simply published and were sought to be passed off as 'news'.
"As I wrote in the Hindu on June 20, 2009: 'The average worth of a Lok Sabha MP is Rs. 51 million. But there are 74 MPs with serious criminal charges against them whose wealth averages Rs 60 million (or Rs 6 crore). That is, they are well entrenched in Parliament's Platinum tier. And the average wealth of a Cabinet Minister is around Rs 75 million (or Rs 7.5 crore).' (These data were derived from the ongoing studies on the subject released by the NEW (National Election Watch) an initiative of the non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). As I noted in that article on the 15th Lok Sabha, its 543 MPs are worth close to Rs 28 billion (or Rs 2800 crore, the 64 Union Cabinet members from the Lok Sabha account for Rs 5 billion or Rs 500 crore). And the links between wealth and winning elections are firmer than ever before.
"Money power of politicians clearly enables them acquire media power during elections. Likewise, the propaganda power of media barons enables them to control or acquire political power - both financially rewarding exercises. In one way, the media is leading the charge in keeping the aam aadmi, who is much poorer than the elected representatives, out of the electoral process.
MAHARASHTRA CHIEF MINISTER SHRI ASHOK CHAVAN'S DEFENCE:
The Press Council of India raised the issue of "paid news" with Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Ashok Chavan in Mumbai on January 28, 2010, and questioned him on the various allegations made against him by Shri Sainath. Produced below are excerpts from his deposition.
Press Council of India: What is your opinion about newspapers publishing articles that appear to the reader to be news items but are actually paid for to be published? The reader is unable to distinguish between such paid news items and advertisements as there is nothing to indicate that there has been a financial transaction behind the publication of these news items. In your opinion, should these 'news items', which actually are paid for, be published by the press?
Shri Ashok Chavan: These news items that are frequently appearing in various newspapers should first be interpreted. First, it needs to be firmly established whether the news item that has appeared is actually a news item or an advertisement. If it happens to be an advertisement, then it should be proved by documentary evidence like receipts for payment against publishing of the item. Opposition parties have made allegations that advertisements were passed off as news items printed in newspapers. Political parties making such allegations do not have evidence to prove that advertisements have been published in the garb of news. It should first be ascertained whether a particular news item is indeed an advertisement.
PCI: In the absence of documentary evidence like payments having made through cheques, which would establish that there has actually been a financial transaction between a candidate or a political party and a newspaper or a television news channel, we have with us circumstantial evidence that Shri P. Sainath made available to us and about which he has also written extensively in his newspaper, The Hindu. He has made available to the Press Council of India copies of three newspapers: Lokmat, Pudhari and Maharashtra Times, which are essentially competing brands. In all three newspapers, the same article on Shri Ashok Chavan appeared, word for word. The article appeared in Pudhari on October 7, while the other two newspapers carried it on October 10. The only difference in the three articles was that there were three different bylines. This means that there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that these were not news items but advertisements.
AC: Let me correct your statement since you have referred to a particular issue which concerns me directly. Several political parties have also launched complaints against me regarding this issue. According to me, the appropriate forum for challenging such complaints is through an election petition in a court of law. I will put forth my views on this issue in the court. Technically, once the election process is over, the appropriate manner to address grievances is through the mechanism of an election petition in a court. The Representation of the People Act and the Constitution of India provide that all such matters that are raised after the elections shall be challenged in courts of law. Hence, the matter should be settled under a court's jurisdiction. Secondly, during the process of election a huge number of press releases are handed out and many press conferences also take place. Prior to the election, a number of advertisements are also issued by the government highlighting the achievements made by the government. So, we don't know what was the source of information of these news items. In my party, the Pradesh Congress Committee also organizes a number of press conferences where a lot of press releases are issued to newspapers. It is a matter of fact that the contents of newspaper articles are culled from these press releases. I have never come across anyone who has demanded money from me. Does the Press Council of India have any guidelines to help differentiate between news and advertisements?
PCI: Lokmat with over 14 lakh copies a day has13 editions. What we witnessed was that there was a flood of advertisements in the newspaper during elections. Now you may argue that since Shri Rajendra Jawaharlal Darda, MP from Aurangabad East, is the owner of this newspaper and is also a member of the Congress party, he has written all these articles in your favour. What we have found is that Lokmat published 156 pages of advertisements in the run-up to the election and all of them were in your favour. These articles were published in the months of August, September and October 2009. Now would you say that this was done by Shri Darda's organisation voluntarily and no money was paid for it?
AC: I have repeatedly told you that whatever articles have appeared other than the advertisements, there is no question of paying any money to anyone. Official advertisements, which were issued by the Pradesh Congress Committee, have been accounted for. At the same time, you should not forget that I was leading the party in the state as the Chief Minister. So it was not surprising that there were articles written about me. Reporters have picked up from whatever press notes and press releases that have been issued by the party.
MORE ALLEGATIONS AND COUNTER-ALLEGATIONS
In a letter to the Press Council of India dated January 23, 2010, Shri Vijay Darda of the Lokmat group of newspapers wrote: "at the outset, it would not be out of place to mention that the Press Council has 'woken up' to this issue pretty late in the day. Media organisations have been officially selling their news space for quite a long time and the Press Council of India has been a mute spectator. As the number one Marathi newspaper group in the country, we have a firm commitment to maintaining credibility and the faith of our readers. We adhere to the highest standards of professional excellence of our volition, it is our chosen path and shall remain so."
Yet another Hindi language newspaper, Hindustan, published by HT Media, had prominently carried advertisements of a politician, without identifying him as such, in its Varanasi edition - the text size and the font were designed to give it the look of a news item. On April 30, 2009, the day when elections took place, the Varanasi edition of Hindustan carried an item that deceptively looked like a news story on top of its front page with a headline that suggested that there was a "wave in favour of the Congress". The following day, the newspaper later apologised to its readers for the mistake and said that it made a distinction between news and advertisements. The representatives of Hindustan told the Press Council of India that when they realised their mistake they were quick to point this out to readers.
The representatives of HT Media provided the Council a letter that had been published in Outlook weekly ( January 18, 2010) wherein Shri Rajiv Verma, Chief Executive Officer, HT Media Limited wrote: "We do not pass off sponsored news in the garb of editorial content. To the specific instance related to the Varanasi edition of Hindustan…, the articles were published under the advertiser sponsored content tag. Owing to a mistake by an overzealous advertising manager, the style and look turned out to be similar to the main paper. To remove any confusion among our readers, a clarification was issued the very next day on the front page of Hindustan's Varanasi edition. The erring manager was also suitably reprimanded. We have had no instance of any editorial transgression other than the unfortunate incident stated above….For all our publications, we have clear guidelines for 'sponsored' features that get carried with a clear notation or marking and in a look and style that is visibly different from our editorial content."
HT Media also denied that the former editor of Hindustan Smt Mrinal Pande had resigned owing to the incident in the paper's Varanasi edition, among other things. "Nothing could be farther from the truth as the said incident took place in April 2009, while the editor resigned five months later in September 2009 due to entirely different reasons…"
Speaking to the Press Council of India, a representative of Punjab Kesri too denied of ever having sold editorial space for money. When the Council specifically asked him what he had to say about a senior manager's comment to Outlook that the same newspaper had earned anywhere between Rs 10 crore and Rs 12 crore for carrying "paid news" items during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the representative said that it was not his prerogative to comment on the internal matter of another family-held publication. (Punjab Kesri's editions are published from Delhi and Jalandhar but under different managements.)
That the malaise had spread through the country, infiltrating big and small newspapers alike is evident from what Haryana Chief Minister Shri Bhupinder Hooda's admission that he was so disturbed by a series of negative reports in a leading multi-edition Hindi daily in his state that he offered to pay in order to ensure that the reports were factually correct! In fact, Shri Hooda was also questioned by the press for the expenditure incurred on advertisements that praised his government in the run-up to the 2009 Haryana assembly elections
Newspapers continue to deny that editorial space was put up for sale during elections. But reports coming from Gujarat, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh showed how editorials of various newspapers were pressurised by their respective managements to stop asking questions. Shri Hooda went as far to state that news reporters were not at fault for the malaise of paid news. "The journalists are not at fault here because fact-finding journalism has now become a commercialised activity with the present owners having turned newspapers into a business proposition," said Shri Hooda to Outlook.
Several politicians have blamed the media, on record, of trying to extort money from them by either subscribing to their rate cards devised especially for the elections or by paying a certain sum in lieu of substantial positive coverage.
In a letter to the Press Council of India, Shri K. Ramasubramanian, state secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Tamil Nadu said how he was assured of positive publicity by the media during the election campaign provided he shelled out money in the range of Rs 4-5 lakh for a period of 15-20 days under a special scheme designed by the newspaper management. "Further I was also enlightened by a publication's management that if I released advertisements soliciting votes in newspapers I was accountable to the Election Commission which was monitoring the election expenses of candidates contesting in elections. Whereas, when the message appeared as an editorial piece, it would help the candidate conceal the expenses incurred", said Shri Ramasubramanian.
Congress Member of Parliament from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in Delhi, Shri Sandeep Dikshit narrated as to how he was asked by newspapers and television channels to pay up if he wanted his favourable editorial coverage. "I refused to pay up when reporters (under pressures from their management) came up to me asking whether I wanted to get into an arrangement with their newspapers if I wanted news in my favour," he said.
Shri Atul Anjaan of the Communist Party of India named prominent television channels and newspapers for demanding money to publish positive news about him. When he refused to pay, the newspapers responded by blacking out any news about him altogether from its pages. His election campaign went unreported.
Shri Parcha Kodanda Rama Rao of the Loksatta Party, in a letter to the Chairman of the Press Council of India dated February 10, 2010 and his subsequent deposition before Press Council of India members on February 10, 2010, stated: "I made (a) representation to the Returning Officer of my constituency to include the expenditure on paid news in respective candidates expenditure account, all in vain… As the Telugu newspapers were completely ignoring my campaign and my expenditure, in their coverage, I called up the advertorial executive of a top Telugu newspaper on April 10, 2009 to cover my campaign. For the remaining days he demanded Rs 1 lakh but I agreed to pay Rs 50,000 and paid it there and then in cash. He neither gave me any receipt nor acknowledgement for the said amount. The result of my payment was evident in the news coverage given to me on April 13, 14 and 15, 2009 as compared to inconsequential coverage given to me from March 28, 2009 to April 12, 2009.
"What is happening between the candidates and the newspaper managements is known only to both of them and it is a perfect cash transfer scheme from one to the other. It cannot be proved unless a secret detective operation is carried out with video cameras. However, I have established circumstantial evidence for the whole shady transaction in an election petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh."
Shri K. P. Reddaiah Yadav, former Member of Parliament and Vice President, Praja Rajyam Party, Andhra Pradesh, wrote to the Press Council of India on August 21, 2009, alleging that Sri Ramoji Rao, who heads the Eenadu group of publications, had "hatched a plan with other newspaper managements" to charge money from candidates for "election packages" for each Parliamentary and assembly constituency. The "package" envisaged that each candidate should pay Rs 10 lakh to each newspaper for 15 days for favourable coverage about himself or herself.
Among other publications, Eenadu, quite predictably, denied accepting any money. Shri Ramoji Rao, who heads the Eenadu group of publications stated that the problem of "paid news" was part of a larger malaise afflicting the media in the country. He, however, claimed that Eenadu maintains a strict distinction between advertisements and news. In a letter to the Press Council of India dated February 1, 2010, Shri Ramoji Rao wrote that the "the politician of the old days enjoyed popularity and people's love," adding: "His involvement in the freedom movement, his activism in various social reform movements and his service to the public earned him great respect in the society. But the latter day politician, the one from the ranks of moneyed and muscled sections needed positive coverage to earn name and fame. With the money power at his command the new entrant manipulated the local media person to gain popularity and public acceptance.
"Gradually, favourable coverage in the press and the capacity to spend big money in poll campaign became the sole eligibility on the basis of which political parties chose their candidates. Money thus acted as a ladder to gain political power. Quite naturally, those who spent money also began expecting returns. Thus was formed the vicious cycle of corruption. Elected candidates justified their corruption by citing the amount they spent for getting elected. The so-called paid favourable coverage by the press is one of the off-shoots of this tendency," Shri Rao stated.
On the other hand, campaign managers of the Congress openly admitted that television channels were open to accepting money from any political party if it wanted to improve its fortunes in the opinion polls and surveys telecast over their channels. Still others, like Shri Sudhakar Reddy of the Communist Party of India from Andhra Pradesh said that his party was assured of news space only after it had committed itself to some advertisements. "We were told that if we placed advertisements, news could be published," said Shri Reddy.
Independent analyses of newspapers like the Gujarat Samachar, done by a non-government organization, People's Media Initiative, indicates that in one particular edition the newspaper carried reports of all three candidates winning from two assembly constituencies in Maharashtra, Magathane and Malad. This naturally raises the question as whether the reports were paid for to be published. Gujarat Samachar, however, vehemently denied the charges. "We will conduct an enquiry into this and check whether it is for a fact," a representative of Gujarat Samachar told Outlook.
Shri Jatin Desai of People's Media Initiative told the Press Council of India in Mumbai on January 28, 2010: "So arbitrary is the paid news phenomenon that sometimes two conflicting news items appear on the same page because the paper would have reached an understanding both with a politician as well as his rival. The paper 'reported' that candidates belonging to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party were both going to win from the same assembly constituency of Magathane in Borivli. On October 13, 2009, the second page of the Gujarat Samachar carried an article without a byline that stated that Gujaratis of Magathane should vote for Shri Prakash Surve of the NCP. The same page carried another article stating that because of the support of Gujaratis, the MNC candidate Shri Pravin Darekar would win.
"The management of Gujarat Samachar (which claims a readership of 46.2 lakh) has predictably denied having sold its editorial space despite being confronted with two issues of its paper from Mumbai where conflicting reports on the fortunes of a single party were published. The Congress candidate in the Malad constituency of Mumbai was shown as trailing and winning on the same day! The same page of the newspaper on the same day published an article stating that the Gujaratis of Malad are supporting the candidature of Shri Aslam Sheikh of the Congress and also carried a photograph of Shri R.U. Singh, the BJP candidate from the same constituency, with a caption that stated that the Congress was losing ground."
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 newspaper's 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 story's 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 Women's 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 party's 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.
“PAID NEWS” IN PARLIAMENT:
Speaking in the Lok Sabha on March 3, 2010, the then Leader of the Opposition and senior BJP leader Shri L.K. Advani said election campaigns should be publicly funded while expressing concern about the phenomenon of "paid news" which he described as a "very serious issue". He said publications and television channels should be made to account for the revenue generated from "paid news".
On March 5, 2010, the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion on "paid news" on the basis of a calling attention motion moved by Shri Sitaram Yechuri of the Communist Party of India -Marxist, in which the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Shri Arun Jaitley of the BJP participated. Here are excerpts from their speeches.
Smt Soni stated: "In recent months there have been a number of media reports that sections of the electronic and print media have received monetary considerations for publishing or broadcasting news in favour of particular individuals or organizations or corporate entities, what is essentially 'advertisements' disguised as 'news'. This has been commonly referred to as the 'paid news syndrome'. While this is not a new phenomenon, it has attracted greater public attention of late, and is being widely discussed and debated across the country. It has been reported that the owners of some media organizations have financial relationships, including share-holdings, with advertisers. Further, cases have been reported wherein identical articles with photographs and headlines have appeared in competing publications carrying bylines of different authors or sometimes even without bylines, around the same time. On the same page of specific newspapers, articles have been printed during elections, projecting rival candidates, both as winning candidates! While it is widely agreed that it is not easy to find proof for such malpractices, there exists strong circumstantial evidence."
Shri Yechuri stated that "paid news" was "not merely a serious matter influencing the functioning of a free press, but it is an issue that also concerns the future of parliamentary democracy in India". He added: "…the role of the Fourth Estate or the media has always been very crucial in disseminating unbiased information to the people and helps them understand the policies that are involved in governance as also to decide as to who would be capable of effective governance in the country. So, this is an issue that not only affects the media or the Fourth Estate but it also affects the future of parliamentary democracy in our country….providing access to unbiased, unfiltered and objective news or information is the role that media is supposed to play. This comes under very severe strain with the emergence of the 'paid news' syndrome.
"The Hon'ble Minister has said that the phenomenon of 'paid news' is not a new phenomenon. But it is a completely new phenomenon in terms of the staggering proportion it has reached and the corporatization of media houses has actually led to a situation whereby this sort of paid news is no longer confined to any one print medium or electronic media. There are instances where large media houses not only own print media but also own electronic media and radio waves. These media houses offer packages for the projection of certain individuals in all the forms of media that they own and control. This distorts parliamentary democracy in multiple ways: (a) (the) media ceases to be objective and, therefore, distorts public perception; (b) it distorts the electoral political choices of the people by providing undue advantage to those candidates/political parties who are able to afford these packages, (c) it manipulates democracy, negating it completely by denying or by not providing equal access to those who cannot afford to indulge in such malpractices thereby breaching the provisions of the Constitution of India, and (d) it demeans the idea and essence of journalism itself.
"There are of course well-meaning and good journalists, who have actually played a stellar role in shaping public policy in our country and in guiding political parties into directions that are better for the country and its people. Such journalists have been completely weeded out of this sort of system. In order to protect journalism from getting into this abyss, it is necessary to prevent journalism from being muscled by corporate powers."
…I draw the attention of the Hon'ble Minister and the government that it is not enough to deliver morally sanctimonious lectures. A serious effort needs to be made to ensure probity and accountability on the part of media houses. As per reports, the size of the 'paid news' market in Andhra Pradesh in the elections in 2009 alone was over Rs 1,000 crore (this is a very gross underestimation). In Maharashtra, which is the cradle of 'paid news', the size of the market has reached a figure of some thousands of crores. It was for this reason that I said on some other occasion that elections in India are the single largest stimulus for the economy.
"Huge amounts of money are being spent on 'paid news' and this completely distorts news. I, therefore, suggest that there needs to be accountability on the part of media houses and journalists. I cannot, however, specify how this accountability is to be ensured. But, one method is to institute an enquiry wherever such complaints come up. If it is established that any newspaper or news channel has been indulging in this practice, the government must stop doling out its advertisements in that newspaper or news channel. Unless some deterrents of this sort are thought out, it will not be possible, at least, to control this phenomenon which is a very serious malady affecting our parliamentary democracy. Apart from putting in place such deterrent action, a consciousness against 'paid news' needs to be generated in society."
Shri Arun Jaitley stated: "… I completely share the spirit and substance of what my friend, Shri Yechury, said. I only disagree with him partly on his suggestion of possible solutions. The menace has assumed such large proportions that a solution cannot be to just deny them government advertisements. I have read the statement of the Hon'ble Minister, which is actually based on two premises - first, that this constitutes free speech; second, that the Press Council of India, which I would state is a toothless wonder, is already looking into the matter. And, therefore, both these premises, that the Press Council of India is capable of finding a solution to this, and that this is an expression of free speech, are fundamentally erroneous.
"Therefore, if we are to suggest a solution, as Shri Yechury has suggested of not releasing advertisements from governments in those newspapers, the magnitude of the problem, which is so large, is to be kept in mind and the solution suggested has to be proportionate to the problem and the evil that is sought to be curbed. And, what is the problem? The problem is that about a decade ago we noticed that during elections some strange media organizations would ask for money over and above the money paid for advertisements. In the last two years, the phenomenon has grown disproportionately in the sense that there has been the evolution of paid packages which are news packages. Whatever the Hon'ble Minister has highlighted in the statement is all evidence of that. Not only this, political parties and candidates are being compelled to pay to prevent blackout of their campaigns by media houses and to prevent disproportionate coverage to rival candidates.
"Some respectable media organizations, as I witnessed in the last general elections, legitimized this practice. It was legitimized by the former organization of broadcasters, saying to its members that all of you must, now, form a cartel and increase your rates over and above commercial advertising for political advertisement. This was called 'election premium'. And, when candidates and political parties protested as to why they were being charged more, they were told that they would be compensated by way of live coverage of rallies and of press conferences. Therefore, coverage of rallies and press conferences got linked to those who paid this extra election premium. This is where the problem stands.
"Therefore, if the government has a will to stand up and find a solution, it would be possible to find solutions. Once 'paid news' is sent to the arena of business, it would be clear to establish that it is nothing more than trade and that too a trade with an unlawful objective. It is unlawful because there is violation of the Income Tax Act. You are taking money in a colour which is not permitted. You are inciting people and involving people by wholesale violation of electoral laws. You are subverting one of the basic features of India's Constitution which is the conduct of free and fair elections, and, therefore, the entire exercise that is being done is a complete corruption of the electoral process and is a trade or a business with an unlawful purpose.
"The government needs to set up a regulator. The world over, regulators have now started a new system. Prosecutions take years and years and nobody is scared of them and so the regulators hear these matters and deterrent penalties are imposed. Look at the competition law. If somebody is accused of cartelization, the penalty will be ten times the volume of business. So, it may be Rs 50 crore or Rs 100 crore. In the case of media organizations, you need not be so harsh; it could be lesser. But certainly, it has to be a deterrent penalty. In the case of (a) candidate, it has to be an offence under election laws of the world…. (The phrase) 'corrupt practice' must be amended in the Representation of the People Act and this should be a ground for setting aside the election and disqualifying the candidate and if parties indulge in this…there must be action against this. My question therefore to the Hon'ble Minister is, (whether) the government is willing to accept (the) position that this is a trade and business with an unlawful purpose which has started…It threatens Indian democracy. Are you merely going to ask the Press Council to look into this matter or are you going to take some precipitate action as far as this is concerned?"
CURBING “PAID NEWS” USING EXTANT LEGAL PROVISIONS:
DR MADABHUSHI SRIDHAR’S SUGGESTIONS
Speaking to the Press Council of India on February 10, 2010, in Hyderabad, Director of the Centre for Media Law and Policy, Hyderabad, of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Dr Madabhushi Sridhar, said the "paid news" phenomenon represents a "fatal combination" of three "Ms", namely, the media, money and mafia, that has subverted free and fair elections. He said that earlier, politicians used to hire musclemen with huge amounts of money and train them in booth rigging. "Now…candidates are training media pens instead of mafia guns to 'rig' the minds of people with constant opinion bombarding," he stated.
"When the Press Council of India asked Maharasthra Chief Minister Shri Ashok Chavan to answer allegations relating to 'paid news' items that were published about him, he reportedly stated that the 'appropriate forum' to respond to is a court of law where election petitions are heard. This implies that unless the allegations are meticulously proved, it is almost impossible to handle 'paid news' offenders, who might by that time, reap the benefits of getting into positions of 'power'.
"After declaring candidates elected, the only remedy before a losing candidate is to challenge the validity of the election… But, this legal procedure is time consuming. By the time, the court's verdict reaches a final stage and assuming that the allegations of the complainant are upheld and conviction is confirmed, the winning candidate would have served much of his term before 'justice' is delivered to losing candidate.
Dr Sridhar argues that "undue influence" by the media to curb free exercise of electoral rights is an election crime under Section 171C of Indian Penal Code as well as the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The punishment for the offence of undue influence is prescribed under Section 171F of IPC, which says punishment of imprisonment up to one year or fine or both could be imposed. In both laws, whereas the first part is a general definition which could include any attempt to unduly influence, the subsections in both laws provide examples of undue influence but these are not limited to these examples only. Subsection (2) of Section 171F of the IPC starts by stating "without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of subsection (1)" and this means that any undue influence not contemplated by this law might also be offensive. This could include the media's interference through "paid news", argues Dr Sridhar. Voters can be influenced with statements of the good deeds of the candidates and their achievements, but these should not be "undue" and become tantamount to "abuse of influence" (Bachan Singh versus Prithvi Singh, AIR, 1975, SC 926). The Supreme Court said (Shiv Kripal Singh versus V.V. Giri, AIR, 1970, SC 2097) that "what amounts to interference with the exercise of an electoral right is 'tyranny over the mind'".
In case the expenditure on "paid news" together with other expenditures incurred by a candidate exceeds the prescribed limits laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act would have been violated. Dr Sridhar points out that every District Magistrate in his capacity as Returning officer or District Election Officer has the power to issue a notice to each newspaper and candidate to furnish details relating to the "sale" or "purchase" of news columns and also submit copies of publication to verify whether the reports therein are false or not or cause undue influence that could materially affect outcome of the election.
He believes that while existing legal provisions are adequate to punish offenders, the provisions of the IPC could be amended to enhance the quantum of punishment and fine for electoral offences. After a complaint is received and a press clipping provided alleging publication of "paid news", it should be presumed that the company or individual against whom such an allegation has been made is guilty and the burden should shift to the accused to prove his or her innocence. If the content of the "paid news" item is excessively tendentious or exaggerated, the presumption of liability should go up. Dr Sridhar argues, adding that over and above the suggestions outlined, the Press Council of India should shape public opinion and make more people aware of the implications of the pernicious practice of "paid news".
Shri S.N. Sinha, member, Press Council, argued that the Working Journalists Act needed to be strengthened to improve working conditions and conditions of job security for journalists and that the contract system should be done away with. He has also called for the restoration of the autonomy and the primacy of the editor as the sole decision-maker in selecting news. In a communication to the sub-committee, Shri Sinha suggested that the Election Commission should expeditiously scrutinise all complaints received by it of incidents and occurrences of "paid news" and transfer to the Press Council all cases in which a prima facie case of offence is made out. He further suggested that the Press Council be empowered to adjudicate all such cases and be conferred the power to impose penalties, including the suspension of publication/broadcasting by errant media companies up to one year. The Council, he has suggested, should be entrusted the task of sending copies of its judgements to the Election Commission for appropriate action against the candidate or the political party concerned. He has further argued that the Press Council should be converted into a "Media Council" with adequate powers to oversee and regulate the working of the electronic media along with the print medium.
CONCLUSIONS
Though the phenomenon of widespread practice of "paid news" has been verbally confirmed and vindicated by politicians and campaign managers of political parties, there is no recorded documentation that would firmly establish that there has been exchange of money between media houses/advertisement agents/journalists and politicians/political parties. The problem in establishing the practice of "paid news" is simply one of obtaining hard proof or conclusive evidence. With one notable exception (Shri Parcha Kodanda Rama Rao of the Loksatta Party in Andhra Pradesh), no complainant has been able to provide the Press Council of India with documents as proof of money having been paid to carry positive news. Even the rate cards that had been formulated by media houses and had been passing around during elections were just typed sheets of paper which carried nothing on it to attribute it to a newspaper/television news channel that had put it together nor anything that could be attributed to a journalist/advertisement agent.
However, the huge amount of circumstantial evidence that has been painstakingly gathered by a few well-meaning journalists, unions of journalists, other individuals and organizations together with the testimonies of the politicians and journalists who have deposed before the Press Council of India, goes a very long way in establishing the fact that the pernicious practice of "paid news" has become widespread across media (both print and electronic, English and non-English languages) in different parts of the country. Interestingly, this phenomenon appears to be less pervasive in states (such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu) where the media is clearly divided along political lines.
The guidelines of the Press Council of India that news should be clearly demarcated from advertisements by printing disclaimers, should be strictly enforced by all publications. As far as news is concerned, it must always carry a credit line and should be set in a typeface that would distinguish it from advertisements.
Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, should be amended by Parliament to make the practice of paying for news coverage in newspapers and television channels an "electoral malpractice" or an act of corruption and made a punishable offence.
The Election Commission of India should set up a special cell to receive complaints about "paid news" in the run-up to elections and initiate a process through which expeditious action could be taken on the basis of such complaints. In order to place a check on frivolous complaints being made a time limit of, say, one month from the date of publication or broadcast of the report should be imposed.
The Press Council of India should be open to entertaining complaints about "paid news" from journalists while assuring them of secrecy if they act as whistle-blowers.
Media organizations should refrain from the practice of engaging stringers and correspondents who double up as agents collecting advertisements for their organizations and receiving a commission on the revenue that accrues from advertisements instead of receiving stipends or retainers, if not, regular salaries.
If working conditions and conditions of job security for journalists are improved and the autonomy of the editorial staff upheld in media companies, this would to an extent curb the phenomenon of "paid news".
Despite its quasi-judicial status, the Press Council of India has limited powers. The Council has the power to admonish, reprimand and pass strictures but cannot penalize the errant or those found guilty of malpractices. Besides, the Council's mandate does not extend beyond the print medium. In the absence of an alternative body, the Press Council of India's mandate should be widened to receive complaints and grievances against and about the working of television channels, radio stations and internet websites. The Press Council should be given legal powers to not merely admonish or pass strictures but also impose penalties against errant individuals and organizations.
A proposal to amend Section 15(4) of the Press Council Act, 1978, to make the directions of the Council binding on government authorities, has been pending for a long time and should be amended to provide the Council more "teeth".
The Election Commission of India should actively identify instances of "paid news" and if a prima facie case is established, the Commission should initiate action on its own against the errant and, if necessary, seek the assistance of those government authorities responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and other laws.
It can be effectively argued that the existing laws of the land (including the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act) have the potential to check the malpractice of "paid news" provided the concerned authorities, including the Election Commission of India, are not just proactive but also act in an expeditious manner to apprehend those indulging in practices that are tantamount to committing a fraud on the public.
All these initiatives, if sincerely implemented, may not entirely stop such malpractices in the Indian media but could reduce their incidence to a considerable extent.
Written by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Kalimekolan Sreenivas Reddy, Members, Press Council of India.
“I am deeply disappointed by the Press Council of India ’s decision not to annex with its main report the sub-committee’s report which has named and shamed the culprits”
Senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who, along with fellow journalist Srinivas Reddy, formed the two-member sub-committee of the Press Council of India that repared the report: 'Paid News: How corruption in the Indian media undermines democracy' spoke to Realpolitik. Excerpts:
Realpolitik:What is reaction to the Press Council of India's decision not to make official the report of the sub-committee comprising you and Srinivas Reddy, and instead annex it to the main report?
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: I am deeply disappointed. I was hopeful that the media organisations that were indulging in this pernicious practice of paid news undermining democracy in India would be named and shamed by the PCI. Unfortunately, by a thin majority members of the PCI who were present on the July 30, 2010 were successful in not annexing the 36,000-word sub-committee's report to the 3,600-word final report that has come out.
What was the reaction of the council when you submitted the report?
When the first draft of the sub-committee's report was circulated among the members of the Press Council in March this year, it became evident that representatives of a lobby of publishers were most unhappy that we have named media organisations involved in the business of paid news. At one level, they complimented me and my colleague Sriniwas Reddy for working hard. But in private, one of them told me that I had perhaps worked a bit too hard. Sriniwas and I kept insisting that not a single allegation remained unattributed. That we had got back to all the publishers against whom allegations were made and made sure that their comments were incorporated in our report. But the council took the decision it took.
So what is the status of the report now?
It has been kept on record. But it's not on the website of the Press Ccouncil. So I do not know what it means to say that the council has taken it on record. The final report that was submitted to the government mentions in its footnote that the sub-committee's report has been taken on record of the council as a reference document.
The report, however, was neither annexed to the final report submitted to the government of India nor is it present on the website of the PCI. But it is available on various websites. So it is unusual because the report is public but not officially so.
Don't you think that by not making your document a part of the main report, the PCI has sought to bury your findings and cover up a heinous crime being committed by some of the top media organisations?
I am deeply disappointed by the PCI's decision. At the same time, I am optimistic that the nationwide debate generated by the report will make media organisations involved in such malpractices think more than twice before passing off advertisement as news. I am also happy that the Election commission of India on June 8, 2010 issued a circular to all the chief electoral officers in the country inviting their attention to this malpractice of paid news and describing it as a corrupt electoral practice under the Representation of People's Act 1951. The Securities and Exchange Board of India too has made it mandatory for all media organisation to disclose their financial interests in companies about which they carry article or give news or views.
From the report it appears that the politicians have taken a holier-than-thou stand and attacked media organisations. Is it not true that part of the problem would not be there if politicians do not to pay to get favourable coverage during elections?
There seems to be a mutual back-scratching relationship between politicians and media barons. At one level, politicians cutting across party lines are unanimous that paid news is bad not just for the media but also for the political class. Because as Sushma Swaraj (of the BJP) pointed out “yeh bimari se mahamari ho gayi hai, aur hum sab bhuktbhogi hain” (from an illnees, it has assumed the proportions of an epidemic, and we are all victims of this malaise). Now why are they victims. Because by paying money, you are not only getting articles published in your favour, you can also run down you political opponent. So it has become a free for all. And the Press, instead of disseminating information, has become an extortion agency. But the politicians do not want to offend the media. Because they need the media. Sushma Swaraj revealed that money was demanded by media for her election coverage, but she refuses to name the media organisation.
Your report does not present a fool-proof solution to curb the practice of paid news. How do you think this malaise can be effectively tackled?
Srinivas Reddy and I were two journalists who were asked to investigate and document this malpractice. We did not conduct a sting operation on money being paid to media under the table. We did not have the powers of the income tax department to conduct search and seizure operation. Nor did have the power of CBI or the police department. We did not obtain what can be described a smoking gun evidence. But we put together a huge volume of circumstantial evidence, and this has not been denied. I challenge anybody to prove that we were not fair or balanced. All sections of the society have to play a role to check this menace. Media should understand that if it does not have credibility it will cease to exist. Go to villages, people still believe that journalists can not only highlight their problems, but can also redress them. If this credibility goes, what will we be left. We should all unite to ensure that this trust on media and journalists does not become a victim of a greed of profit of some media organisations.
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