The Year 2011 saw the first action ever against a politician for 'paid news', the Election Commission on October 20 disqualifieda woman MLA from Uttar Pradesh for three years for incorrect statement of election expenditure incurred on 'news items' in two Hindi dailies. The MLA, Umlesh Yadav belonging to Rashtriya Parivartan Dal. The losing candidate, in his complaint before the Press Council, named the dailies Amar Ujala andDainik Jagran as having carried paid news in this case. On February 20, 2011 the London newspaper Sunday Times, carried a story “India’s media demand cash to run favourable news” on the paid news carried by the Times of India. A Sunday Times reporter contacted Medianet, a company suspected of offering "paid news" deals. It was created by Bennett, Coleman and Co, which publishes many titles includingThe Times of India. The reporter telephoned Medianet, posing as the PR agent of a company wanting coverage for a party at an exclusive shopping mall in Delhi. The Medianet executive said space could be bought in the Delhi Times supplement. In September, the Times of India re-ran a three-year-old story on Bt Cotton without any updates as paid news to neutralise a bad press on the biotech company Mahyco Monsanto Biotech on August 28th. The newspaper re-ran the news under the section “Consumer Connect Initiative” in September. In 2008 the TOI, Nagpur edition published the original story, and similar news reports had appeared in The Economic Times and news feeds of UNI and PTI. In November the Goa newspaper, OHeraldo was in the headlines for paid news. A journalist, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar conducted a sting operation after finding that the newspaper has been publishing news based on the articles that are paidfor. He posed as Bernard Costa, a would-be candidate in the State's Assembly polls to be held early next year. The sting operation has transcripts that show that the OHeraldo accepted an amount of Rs. 86,400 to publish a scripted political interview. The findings were published on web portals and Goa specific websites, such as Goa Chronicle, GoaNet, TargetGoa and NizGoenka,MxMIndia. The newspaper manager concerned has sent Nagvenkar a notice for defamation.
PAID NEWS
ReplyDeleteThe Year 2011 saw the first action ever against a politician for 'paid news', the Election Commission on October 20 disqualifieda woman MLA from Uttar Pradesh for three years for incorrect statement of election expenditure incurred on 'news items' in two Hindi dailies. The MLA, Umlesh Yadav belonging to Rashtriya Parivartan Dal. The losing candidate, in his complaint before the Press Council, named the dailies Amar Ujala andDainik Jagran as having carried paid news in this case.
On February 20, 2011 the London newspaper Sunday Times, carried a story “India’s media demand cash to run favourable news” on the paid news carried by the Times of India. A Sunday Times reporter contacted Medianet, a company suspected of offering "paid news" deals. It was created by Bennett, Coleman and Co, which publishes many titles includingThe Times of India. The reporter telephoned Medianet, posing as the PR agent of a company wanting coverage for a party at an exclusive shopping mall in Delhi. The Medianet executive said space could be bought in the Delhi Times supplement.
In September, the Times of India re-ran a three-year-old story on Bt Cotton without any updates as paid news to neutralise a bad press on the biotech company Mahyco Monsanto Biotech on August 28th. The newspaper re-ran the news under the section “Consumer Connect Initiative” in September. In 2008 the TOI, Nagpur edition published the original story, and similar news reports had appeared in The Economic Times and news feeds of UNI and PTI.
In November the Goa newspaper, OHeraldo was in the headlines for paid news. A journalist, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar conducted a sting operation after finding that the newspaper has been publishing news based on the articles that are paidfor. He posed as Bernard Costa, a would-be candidate in the State's Assembly polls to be held early next year. The sting operation has transcripts that show that the OHeraldo accepted an amount of Rs. 86,400 to publish a scripted political interview. The findings were published on web portals and Goa specific websites, such as Goa Chronicle, GoaNet, TargetGoa and NizGoenka,MxMIndia. The newspaper manager concerned has sent Nagvenkar a notice for defamation.
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