Of paid news and underpaid newsmen The Statesman19 May 2014 When volumes of space are devoted to discussing the paid news menace, it is always forgotten that most media employees remain deprived of basic minimum facilities in northeast India. The paid news issue may create the impression that politicians are feeding the media groups, but the truth remains that employees never get financial benefits out of it, though they have to face the negative consequences of the practice. The paid news syndrome emerged as a matter of serious concern for various quarters, including the Election Commission, in the last few weeks, as the country went through the largest electoral battle in the world. Over 500 cases were registered against the political parties that allegedly bribed some media outlets for facilitating favourable poll-related news coverage It goes without saying that in the practice of paid news, the owners of newspapers and media outlets collect money from the political leaders with some hidden understanding. The arrangement also helps them to prepare a relatively lower election budget even after getting the advantage of media coverage by the bought media houses. “Simply put, paid news is a form of advertising that masquerade as news. But I must admit that the corruption in the media is a complex phenomenon where the paid news entails illegal payments in cash or kind for content in publications and television channels that appears as if it has been by unbiased and objective journalists,” said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a media commentator. Speaking to this writer from New Delhi, Guha Thakurta also noted that despite the EC's best efforts, the difficulty in curbing this phenomenon is that paid news is difficult to identify. “Black money (which is also difficult to track) is usually involved in paid news. Today much of the media is dominated by corporate conglomerates that have a single goal of maximising profits. The autonomy and the independence of the media get compromised because of corruption within,” asserted Guha Thakurta. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on 9 April 2014 made a ruling that the journalists and non-journalist of newspaper & news agency employees of the country should get their pay hike under the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Board. All Assam Media Employees Federation (AAMEF) came out with a prompt statement hailing the apex court’s directive and it urged the Union government to ensure the media employees engaged with privately-owned satellite news channels too got systematic pay hike. The AAMEF pointed out that around 80 per cent television employees of northeast India are still performing their duties with 'pitiable salaries, unlimited working hours and without any facilities mandated by the country's labour laws, not to speak of any statutory wage board’s guidelines'. Hiten Mahanta, the president of AAMEF, also pointed out a different phenomena that many media groups of the region prepare a loss-making balancesheet annually to avoid paying proper benefits to their employees. “Except a few, it's a common practice for all the media barons to divert the funds from the collected amount of money from the advertisers to other non-media enterprises owned by their families. With this evil practices, the newspaper owners continue siphoning away the essential resource of the media groups for their selfish interest,” added Mahanta. Rupam Barua, president of Journalists' Forum Assam advocates for a social media audit of newspapers & private news channels of the region such that the readers and viewers can find a transparent picture of the financial dealings involved with their favourite media outlets. “When we talk about the paid news menace, it creates the impression that a huge amount of money from the politicians comes to the media groups, of course illegally. But the irony is that the deals are not fixed by the journalists or other employees. Rather it’s the prerogative of the owners,” asserted Barua adding that the financial benefits from the exercise quite naturally are sucked away by them only, whereas everyone is affected by the crisis of credibility of the particular media group concerned.
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