No question of paid news if PCI code followed: A Mobi
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 04 2012: There would be no question of paid news if media houses and media persons adhere to the guidelines of Press Council of India (PCI), President of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) A Mobi has observed during a workshop for mediapersons on 'Paid news and advertisements' at Manipur Press Club here today.

Attending the workshop organized jointly by the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manipur and AMWJU as moderator, A Mobi said that the issue of paid news is not a new phenomenon with large companies taking the help of media to sell their products.

But of late, another dimension of the issue has emerged in the form of political paid news with political parties or politicians using media as a tool to gain political mileage over their opponents.

However, all these issues would have never arisen if the media, both print as well as electronic, follow the guidelines of PCI strictly.

With elections to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly approaching, there is the need to understand the issue of paid news seriously so as to avoid publishing news related to elections that are considered paid news, he observed, while recalling the incident in which an elected representative in Uttar Pradesh had been disqualified over paid news.

Participating in the workshop as a resource person, Chairman of State Level Media Certificate and Monitoring Committee A Tombikanta explained that the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee has been set up not just at the state level but also at the district level under strict instruction from the Election Commission of India to monitor paid news and advertisement in media.

The matter which is beyond the capability of the district level committee would be looked into by the state level committee.

With election code of conduct already in force, print as well as electronic media should take extra care at the time of covering news reports related to the election.

Media should verify reports of praise or criticism of any political party or candidate before publishing or broadcasting and it is also advisable to establish contact with the district level committee or the state level committee in this regard, Tombikanta added.

Among other resource persons who attended the workshop, Member of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee Y Rupachandra observed that mediapersons should understand the issue of paid news thoroughly and any candidate against whom charge of paid news had been levelled could face disqualification even after being elected in the election.

Moreover, no candidate can spend more than the limit of election expenditure fixed by the Election Commission and payment for publishing advertisement through media should be paid not in hard cash but in the form of bank draft or cheque.

Editor of The Sangai Express (English) Hijam Rajesh and Editor of Poknapham Robindro Sharma were also among those who spoke during the workshop.

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