HYDERABAD: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) on Saturday brought to the notice of the Election Commission, the “unethical, unprofessional and immoral” practices by the managements of some newspapers that are allegedly publishing “surrogate advertisements in news format”.

The unions submitted a written complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer I.V.Subbarao against the “paid articles” and urged him to exercise his discretion in curbing the same. Speaking to The Hindu on Sunday, the IJU secretary general K. Sreenivas Reddy alleged that the district tabloids of some newspapers were resorting to this practise. “No distinction is being maintained between ads and news. Managements are entering into contracts with candidates to publish news in exchange of money,” he alleged.

The complaint brought to fore the questionable practices by some vernacular dailies that are allowing the contestants to “buy” space and thus circumvent Election Commission’s cap on campaign expenditure.

The cap on election expenditure, upto Rs.15 lakh for an MLA aspirant and up to Rs.25 lakh for an MP candidate, has obviously eroded revenue collection through election advertisements for newspapers. To make up for the loss, managements are allegedly resorting to such dubious means of augmenting revenues.

These ‘paid articles’ come with extra topping as they sing paeans of the particular candidate and project him or her as the sole winner. “The amount collected is the same as advertisement tariff calculated per column centimetre,” informed a campaign coordinator. “Direct ads were better. Now we are forced to spend though we are not keen on it. Newspapers may resort to negative publicity if we don’t play along,” a leader says.