-
Anantha Subramanyam K
dna
The central government is planning to table a legislation to curb issue of ‘paid news’ during elections, in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament starting December 5.
The law against paid news which will be drafted by the information and broadcasting ministry involves amendments in the Press and Registration of Books and Publications Act and would also define what constitutes paid news.
In the current state assembly elections, the Election Commission has so far reported seven cases of ‘paid news’ in Chhattisgarh within a week of final electoral notification. Considering seven different news articles published in four local Hindi dailies as ‘paid news’, an Election Commission constituted committee has directed that expenses incurred in publishing these be included in the poll expenditure of the respective political parties.
The draft under discussion in the government circles lays down the course of action that would be taken in case a publication is found to have indulged in the practice of paid news. Sources privy to the draft told dna, that it has stipulated action to the extent of cancelling the registration and declaration of the publication found guilty of paid news. Also, it suggested the definition of a newspaper will include web editions as well.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology headed by Rao Inderjit Singh had also recommended a tough law against paid news. The panel cited advertisements camouflaged as news, denial of coverage to select electoral candidates, exchanging of advertisement space for equity stakes between media houses and the corporates and rise in paid content as manifestations of paid news. The parliamentary panel had also opined that financial accounts of the media houses should be subject to examination. It also recommended a law to make mandatory disclosure of ‘private treaties’ and details of ad revenue received by the media house.
