7 Feb ; Instances of “paid news” getting highlighted in recent months, especially in vernacular media, by tailoring reports to promote business interests are a matter of grave concern, Chairperson of Prasar Bharati Mrinal Pandey said.
The difference between news and advertisements have come down as advertising agencies have begun “enticing” editors to publish reports to promote their products by offering sops to tide over crisis, she told a meet-the-press programme in Kozhikode on Sunday.
“Market forces have begun shaking editorial principles as dominance of paid news have affected well accepted journalist ethics,” she said.
“Journalists unions have equally appeared to have got politicised by succumbing to pressures of market forces compelling journalists to sell out their souls,” she said.
The vernacular media is visibly affected by the negative trend as they face shrinkage of advertisement revenue forcing them to publish “paid news”, she said.
Many Hindi newspapers have even begun distributing ‘rate’ cards among doctors, politicians and other professionals giving price lists per space detail for publishing promotional news, Pandey is in Kozhikode to attend a convention on Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), said.
Editors’ recruitment has to be made purely on professional basis, which, to a certain extent, could put an end to the unethical trend, she said, urging readers and viewers to react to situations and boycott newspapers and TV channels churning out news on monetary consideration.