The Wall Street Journal‘s bureau chief in India, Paul Beckett, has a major piece on the rampant corruption in the media in the election coverage, with advertising masquerading as news for a fee, and neither readers nor voters being told about the transaction.
Brokers, he writes, are offering package deals for coverage in newspapers, for front-page pictures, for interviews, for printing press releases verbatim, etc.
Thankfully, Beckett reassures us that “the best-known English-language dailies typically don’t do it so blatantly”.
Beckett quotes the former chief election commissioner N. Gopalaswami as saying that he had heard of newspapers having a rate card for positive coverage and another for not negative coverage, and that this is not something that can be ignored.
“The nation’s newspapers usually play either vigilante cop exposing wrongdoing in the public interest (on a good day, at a few publications) or spineless patsy killing stories on the orders of powerful advertisers. Many papers also engage in practices that cross the ethical line between advertising and editorial in a way that is opaque, if not downright obscure, to readers.
“But it is of another order of magnitude to see reporters, editors and newspaper owners holding the democratic process to ransom. A free (in every sense) press is an integral part of a vibrant democracy. A corrupt press is both symptom and perpetrator of a rotten democracy.”
Read the full article: Want press coverage? Give me some money
Also read: Forget the news, you can’t trust the ads either
Sucheta Dalal on selling news and buying silence
The scoreline: different strokes for different folks
Salil Tripathi: The first casualty of a cosy deal is credibility
In prosperous Gujarat, everybody can buy media
Tags: 2009 Elections, CEC, Chief Election Commissioner, Churumuri, EC, General Elections 2009, Medianet, N. Gopalaswami, Paul Beckett, Salil Tripathi, Sans Serif, Sucheta Dalal, The Wall Street Journal, Times Private Treaties, WSJ
7 May 2009 at 1:58 pm
We don’t need a Paul Beckett to tell Indian Media is corrupt, the media happennings are so transparent any layperson can tell that news is sold, it is not only the print media, the electronic media have gone to the lowest level (especially the biggies CNN-IBN, NDTV and TimesNow)…
7 May 2009 at 2:16 pm
agree that Beckett is stating the obvious but disagree with Rajesh R that any “LAYPERSON” can tell that the news is sold.
7 May 2009 at 2:56 pm
It’s a free market for God’s sake.
If there is no money to be made telling lurid stories of corruption and venality, what else do you expect?
Isn’t that a reflection of the people rather than the newspapers?
7 May 2009 at 3:11 pm
Vijay Karnataka can put anybody to shame.
7 May 2009 at 3:27 pm
mr beckett perhaps does not know the wisdom of the indian voter, he will take money from whoever gives it, but will not violate his conscience. that is the reason why elections throw up surprises all the time. the same about media and publicity. people see through it. anyway, beckett’s story lack depth.
7 May 2009 at 5:13 pm
avaru … ivaru …
Respect what the man is saying! He is rightly saying the whole media sucks!
yaDa, bala and there is good ol’ TOI(VK is bala in spite of being its baala)..
7 May 2009 at 5:16 pm
@Coffee Addict – What do you think of CNN IBN? And what do you think of rajdeep sardesai accepting the Padma award? And pray shed more details of how Vijay Karnataka puts anybody to shame? Do they accept money for reports? Waiting for your elaboration.
@Alok – “Isn’t that a reflection of the people rather than the newspapers?”. The writer already makes this point when he says “A corrupt press is both symptom and perpetrator of a rotten democracy”. The idea is the press should NOT be a perpetrator of the decay. It is supposed to be “free” and supposed to be a “pillar”, a “fourth estate”. No difference otherwise between media and corrupt politicans.
7 May 2009 at 8:24 pm
Yeah, because vishweshwar bhat and pratap simha dont make politically correct statements. Isnt it Mr.Coffee addict?
7 May 2009 at 8:43 pm
Rahul Baba came up with a innovative way to counter terrorism in fifteen minutes!!And the reaction of the Vir Sanghvis,Shekhar Guptas and the jokers employed in NDTV and CNN-IBN is a proof of the depth to which the Indian media can sink..
7 May 2009 at 9:48 pm
>>Thankfully, Beckett reassures us that “the best-known English-language dailies typically don’t do it so blatantly”.>>
You need to take this one with buckets of salt…:)
7 May 2009 at 11:20 pm
Corruption or not, our media lags far behind in professionalism. The bania controlled media needs an alternative. Like NRN and IT industry did to the Big Banias of Indian Business.
7 May 2009 at 11:40 pm
@Yella OK
There is a difference between a rotten democracy and an uncaring public. India is both. nitpicking I know, but true all the same.
8 May 2009 at 4:17 am
What Mr.Becket says about the corruption in the print media and also the electronic media is nothing new. The media may defend this afterall they are in business.Business is to make profit.
It is quite longtime back some 50years ago the British writer Mrs Dorothy swayers wrote a long article(Book?) as to ‘How free is the press’.
But now the elctions are the blessings for the media to reap a “Good Harvest’
8 May 2009 at 4:19 am
There’s only one way to stop this media menace,make the media houses esp CNN-IBN,NDTV reveal their sources of income and make them more accountable.Congress has bought all of them over,there’s no doubt.Watch IBN7 for more proof.
8 May 2009 at 7:31 am
Instead of being critical of Beckett and also jumping at the conclusion, we should be asking ourselves why our NGOs and actvists are failing us?
Yes we know that the press is corrupt, politicians are corrupt? But do we go into these allegations and try to expose them? Why not? Beckett has not just written an obvious story. he has done his home work and he has talked to responsible people and explained how it is done. How many of us have done that? We are arm chair theorists taking a pot shot at any one and every one.
We read the lurid accounts of assets of several of politicians going up 2000% 5000% in mere five years. We can claim we all knew this. But how many of have attempted to find out how has it gone up? Iif it is because of corruption, how many of us are ready to file a case?
It is easy to criticize. But difficult to take up some conrete steps.
8 May 2009 at 9:31 am
Couldn’t have agreed more on this Mr Beckett!!.
We know by ourselves that media is non-democratic, it needs somebody to pamper them and help them grow. They need somebody to give awards every year [including best news channnel, padma awards, etc..].
They don’t want to nail the Congress politicians during interviews but they don’t leave a stone unturned while interviewing all others. In a way they are making sure democratic principles are thrown into air and dynastic politics flourish so they have a common refference [look at the number of interviews covered on Rahul, Priyanka in last month, none other got so much space, even the PM for that matter]. One question I want to ask these journalists, why don’t you highlight the living conditions of Raebareli, Amethi, Bellary, etc where these so called yuraj’s and Rajmatha’s have won.
They do want to highlight common mans problem not even a single channel has tried to show the plight of farmers, kashmiri pandits, worst living conditions of the poor(including all religions), effect of recession on India(huge number of people have lost jobs), etc. They are ready give enough coverage on what Sharukh Khan is wearing, what Rahul Gandhi is eating, etc.
Long Live Indian Media, One day when you look back yourselves you will know what damage you have done to the country.
8 May 2009 at 10:32 am
ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಉಪ್ಪು ತಿಂದರೆ ನೀರಿನ ಸರಬರಾಜು Rome ಮಾಡಬೇಕು *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
9 May 2009 at 3:37 pm
@Alok : It is precisely because its a free market that we should be afraid. There is money in printing sensational stories of corruption. Who said there is not?.
But, the risk of reporting those stories(personal safety cost), the money that can be had by writing good stories about bad politicians( The politicians are so rich nowadays. They will feed the media dogs really well till the elections are over) far offsets the benefits that a media house can get by publishing good stories.
But, who loses out in this whole process of media ganging up with the politicians? The people of this democracy.
So, what is the solution?
The people must start a newspaper themselves , which will remain transparent and doesn’t bend to the politicians or the corporate world. Yes, this takes money, but if we don’t do this, we are all going to lose out on a lot of wealth of our country. Ex: Bellary mines.
11 May 2009 at 3:22 am
Hi,
Anybody with some commonsense can make it out. But as usual we always need an westerner to tell us where we stand. But , I feel ndtvs coverage is fair. But times tv and CNN IBN(congress news network). The sad thing is, how many of us want to watch the poverty in orissa, plight of farmers in orissa, effects of mining in orissa etc. we are equally responsible for the content which is served to us. saying that its the duty of the media house to do what it must to. But who follows it in India?
11 May 2009 at 1:20 pm
If there is no money to be made telling lurid stories of corruption and venality, what else do you expect?
Well ..just have a flashback on NDA and its treatment of Media for doing the Job,
silencing Outlook magazine with raids on its promoters (after it had exposed the Prime Minister’s Office); in hassling Alex Perry over his passport (after his profile of Prime Minister Vajpayee in Time); in arresting Iftikhar Geelani under the Official Secrets Act and allowing him to be bashed up in Tihar Jail (after a published document on India’s military presence in Kashmir was found on his laptop); in virtually driving Tehelka.com out of business by choking its funds-flow (after it sullied the BJP’s clean image through the defence scandal); in ordering Al-Jazeera’s India correspondent Nasir M Shadid to get out (after his reportage on Gujarat and Kashmir); in threatening a ban on Star News in Gujarat (after its coverage of the Muslim victims in Gujarat); in removing 3,000-odd small newspapers from the DAVP (Department of Audio Visual Publicity) list, the NDA has achieved all that Indira Gandhi did with none of the backlash.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/07kp.htm
12 May 2009 at 10:24 pm
It is high time that readers/viewers should go to the media offices and protest against those who are ganging up with the politicians and make money. The Editors should sack them or change their beat from politics to others so that they will not be in a position to act as hand maids of politicians. They should also enquire as to how their reporters who get not a fat salary could build palatial buildings and own cars, gold and wealth with such a meagre known sources of income
15 May 2009 at 2:59 pm
As for as buying favourable coverage on print, does anyone have any idea what percentage of those that read newspapers or can afford them, especially the english ones, vote? And of the rest of us how many make our decisions based on a ToI/HT report? Why do we care? Let the politicos pour some of that money back into the Indian economy than into the Swiss economy.
As for the rest, who are we to complain? The newspapers provide what we wanna read. Page3 has become a whole supplement with 6 pages at least in most major newspapers. Moral highground is something very few in India can claim to.
Congress News Network? The BBC, the benchmark for reportage and the NYT, the benchmark for opinion both refer to the BJP as a “Hindu Nationalist” or “Hindu Fundamentalist” party. Unless you want to be known as the rush limbaugh of India, no media house wants to be associated with the sangh in anyway. Even die hard supporters like the Pioneer choose to gloss over or ignore defending loony fringe elements’ actions like Modi’s and instead get selective amnesia to harp on the “efficient governance” which is an euphemism for single window corruption.
Paul Beckett wrote his piece for his own audience. He wasn’t preaching to us. And as it is, the WSJ itself isn’t exactly famous for non-partisanship :).
If everyone who moans and groans about Indian media (including myself) stop contributing to print readership and TV TRPs (which I have), we have enough of an enterprising economy where someone will come up with news in print and TV that puts a premium on honesty and integrity.
We also have to think about the Media house’s point of view. Faced with international and liberal contempt if they support the Hindu Right, unable to support an unpalatable Left, and the unprintable antics of the SP, BSP JD-S etc.. they’re left with the likes of the Congress! Whaddya do?
16 May 2009 at 1:13 am
I think best way to control abuses in reporting is having disclosure statement of the reporter and news is paid news or not.
By the way, Engilsih media is most corrupt or biased or paid for news than any thoer regional language news papers.