Central information commissioner asked the Press Council to post its probe report on its site.
Embarrassment looms large, for politicians as well as prominent media organisations. Central information commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi has ordered the Press Council of India (PCI) to provide a copy of the ‘paid news phenomenon’ probed by it to an applicant and post it on its website by October 10, 2011.
The ‘paid news phenomenon’ or ‘political paid news’ surfaced during the 2009 general elections. It saw allegations flying against several politicians across India. In Maharashtra, former chief minister Ashok Chavan was among those dragged through the muck for the “coverage” he got. Paid news is advertisement dished out as independently produced news content that readers accept due to the social trust it’s couched in.
But after a lot of hue and cry and complaints from its members, the PCI appointed a two-member sub-committee of Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K Sreenivas Reddy to probe the phenomenon. It submitted its report in April 2010.
“However, the original report was never released. A watered-down version was made available on the PCI website. On the original report, its view was that it will be used as reference. As a citizen, it is our right to know what goes on in the media world on which we rely heavily on. There are some organisations that indulge in such practices and the entire fraternity is blamed for it,” said applicant Manu Moudgil who filed the complaint with the commission.
Gandhi in his order, however, stated that the report can be denied only as per provisions of the Act and not otherwise. On the legal opinion argument it presented, he said that it could have been taken in 30 days.
Paid News as defined in the ‘watered down report’ of the PCI is “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print & electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration”. Paid news, it states, is a complex phenomenon and has acquired different forms over the last six decades.
It goes on to add that “it ranges from accepting gifts on various occasions, foreign and domestic junkets, various monetary and non-monetary benefits, besides direct payment of money”.
The newest form of paid news, it states, is in the form of ‘private treaties’ between media companies and corporate entities whereby with help of formal agreement certain shares of the company are transferred to media house.
“The PCI should pursue the report for some kind of action,” said Moudgil. PCI officials were not available for comment.
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