Hyderabad: The eminent persons from the world of politics, journalism and academia who attended a seminar on “General Elections 2009 – Media Reporting” organized by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) on 13th May 2009 at Jubilee Hall, Hyderabad had unanimously expressed concern over the role played by large section of media during the just concluded General Elections – 2009.

Not only did the media indulged in unprofessional, immoral and unethical practices but also cheated the readers. Pointing out that the practice of publishing of propaganda material of the contesting candidates or political parties as “news” in the news columns with dateline and credit line under the guise of packages, schemes and contracts and collecting money is an unethical practice. While it is legitimate business practice for the media houses to accept advertisements, it is improper to use the news space/time slots for pecuniary gain. We believe that such practices lower the credibility of the media.

In a democracy the media exercises the right of the people for freedom of expression.  It is the voice of the people. It is to inform, to educate and rouse their conscience for betterment of democracy and common good. It is time for the media houses, professional journalists, political parties and regulatory bodies to self introspect on the perilous practices that have crept into the media in recent times and apply corrective measures to remedy the situation before it is too late. If a feeling gains ground that the self regulatory mechanism within the Media organizations failed and bodies like Press Council were taken for granted.

There would be stringent demands to bring a law to regulate the media. Hence, the working journalists including the Editors and their professional organizations should generate wide spread debate on the ills plaguing the media and find ways and means to combat them.

We earnestly appeal to Press Council of India to conduct a thorough inquiry into the practice of “paid news” and evolve suitable norms to control such maladies and uphold the dignity and credibility of the profession of journalism. It is also high time for Government of India to appoint a media commission to go in to all aspects of media, which is a long pending demand of the working journalists of the country.
 
We express our sincere thanks to Mr. Justice G N Ray, Chairman, Press Council of India for announcing an Enquiry Committee to go into the entire episode of “paid news” and packages during the General Elections 2009. We also thank him for stressing the urgent need for constitution of new Media Commission by the