PUNE/MUMBAI: Stalwart journalist and editor in chief of the widely read South Indian English newspaper The Hindu, N Ram, said here on Tuesday, that the phenomena of paid news has become institutionalized and underlined that there is an urgent need to preserve ethical and professional journalism in Indian media by suppressing the growing tendency of paid news that are engulfing news organizations.
"We cannot blame the marketing managers, the journalists, the editors or politicians for this phenomena. The real fault of paid news lies in the media. And the onus lies on those individuals and entities who own and run media organizations," said Ram while sharing his perspectives on the Indian media after being conferred with the "Lokmanya Tilak National Journalism Award."
It has become a perennial norm for some media organizations to put pressure on politicians and organizations to buy news, he said, adding, ironically, this development is undermining the very essence of ethical and professional journalism in the country.
Quoting Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari's recent address to a workshop on 'Media and Parliament', he said, "The Vice-President rightly analyzed the developing trends of conflict in the media, which is contradicting the demand of professional journalists in media organizations. This is happening because groups with interests have penetrated into media organizations."
On the decline of print and broadcast media in the developing world, Ram said that the proliferation and explosive growth of the print, broadcast, radio and new media has been tremendous in India in contrast to many developed countries. But he reminded that the decline of print and broadcast media in the West and the US began even before the advent of the Internet because of several other factors.
Ram further said that the World Association of Newspapers and Publishers has revealed that India reported an estimate sale of 101 million copies of news dailies, making it the biggest newspaper market globally.
Admitting that economic slowdown has hit the newspaper market revenue and growth, he said that the slowdown has not killed the growth trend in India. On the other hand, the Indian media market has relatively survived the recession.
In another development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan assured that stringent action would be taken against all the five police officers who were found dining and dancing at the Christmas party organized by underworld don Chotta Rajan's henchman D.K. Rao. "We have suspended the police officers," Chavan said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday on the occasion of New Year 2010.
"A departmental inquiry has been initiated against the policemen. And if serious inputs emerge out of the inquiry, stringent action would be taken against them," Chavan said.
Taking pot shots at its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Chavan said: "Action has been taken against the policemen who danced at the gangster's party. But what about a prominent NCP office bearer, who had organized the gangsters party? This issue is within the purview of the Home Ministry that is headed by the NCP minister, and they have to take a decision."
