Sri Lankan journalists suffered worst by all standards Tendency to sell news space for trivia grew in India A dozen journalists were killed in South Asia — most of them in conflict situations — during the year which also saw the media come under strain due to “over-commercialisation, monopolisation and excessive political clout.” Taking stock of the circumstances under which the media functioned this year, the South Asia Media Monitor for 2009...

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) can be filed in any High Court or directly in the Supreme Court. It is not necessary that the petitioner has suffered some injury of his own or has had personal grievance to litigate. The PIL is a right given to the socially conscious member or a public spirited NGO to espouse a public cause by seeking judicial means for redressal of public injury. Such...

Well-known PR firms, professional designers, and ad agencies served the richer parties and candidates. They made up “news” items in the standard fonts and sizes of the desired newspapers and even “customised” the items to make them seem exclusive in different publications.  So you thought you’d had enough of Page 3? Newspapers in Maharashtra think otherwise. Some of them had more than one, on several days during the recent state...

The Editors Guild of India [ Images ] is 'deeply shocked' and 'seriously concerned' at the increasing number of reports detailing the pernicious practice of publishing 'paid news' by some newspapers and television channels, especially during recent elections. The guild, at its annual general meeting held on Tuesday, strongly condemned this practice which 'whittles the foundations of Indian Journalism' and called upon all editors in the country to desist from...

Shocked by the “pernicious practice” of publishing “paid news” by some newspapers and television channels – particularly during the recent elections – the Editors Guild of India has strongly condemned this practice, “which whittles down the foundations of Indian Journalism.” Taking cognisance of “paid news” at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, the Guild said: “Both the media organisations and editors who indulge in it, and the customers who offer...