-The Times of India In a scathing indictment of the Bihar government, a Press Council report has leveled serious charges against the state establishment including attempts to censor the media, misuse its "monopolistic status" for giving advertisements and arm-twisting newspapers to publish positive stories. Comparing the situation to Emergency, the three-member team that recently submitted its report to PCI chief Markandey Katju said that the Nitish Kumar government was forcing the...
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Suspend police officers, says Katju
-The Hindu PCI chairman slams detention of Iftikhar Gilani Slamming the Delhi Police’s detention of senior journalist Iftikhar Gilani hours after Afzal Guru’s execution on Saturday, Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju has demanded that the officers responsible be suspended and charge-sheeted. Mr. Gilani, who works as an assistant editor for English news daily DNA, is also the son-in-law of Kashmiri separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani. On Saturday morning, he and...
More »Election Commission pegs paid news market at Rs.500 crore-Vidhi Choudhary and Utpal Bhaskar
-Live Mint Of the total amount paid to media firms (around 40% of the poll expenses of parties), the EC estimates half to be towards paid news The Election Commission of India (EC) has estimated the market in so-called paid news, or political advertising masquerading as journalism, at as much as `500 crore. The move is likely to buttress demands for greater scrutiny of election expenses. EC has been seeking to crack down...
More »'Yes, we spent money on paid news ads'-P Sainath
-The Hindu Confessions by politicians to EC belie claims of innocence by top newspapers The political class is more honest than the media when it comes to ‘paid news’ during elections, judging by the fact that several poll candidates have owned up to this corrupt practice. At least, after the Election Commission and the Press Council of India shot off notices to them and held inquiries into the matter. They have acknowledged...
More »Caugh red-handed? -Sunayana Singh
-NewsLaundry.com Come election time, “paid news” is one of the most oft-heard phrases. News items on politicians can’t be explained away so easily anymore. Responding to reports of paid news during the Himachal Pradesh elections, the Press Council of India (PCI) for the first time set up a four-member Election Coverage Monitoring (ECM) Committee to look into incidents of paid news in the run-up to the Gujarat elections last December. Here’s the gist...
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