As part of its campaign against “paid news,” the Editors Guild of India has asked all editors to endorse a pledge that they will act against any attempt to put out advertising as news without proper disclosure. Editors have also been requested to publish/broadcast the editorial statement in their respective publications/channels to arrest the erosion of public faith in the credibility and impartiality of news reporting. This editorial statement is...

Much like the tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas five years ago, the closing weeks of 2009 saw an ill wind sweeping across many of our democratic institutions, highlighting that beneath the veneer of the nation’s aspirations towards great power status was a crumbling institutional core. To look at the fourth estate first. The preface to the Press Council of India’s “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” has a section that...

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...