#WhatsappUniversity & Paid News: Ethics & Corruption in Indian Media (With Proofs)

#WhatsappUniversity & Paid News: Ethics & Corruption in Indian Media (With Proofs)

Journalism refers to the production and distribution of reports on recent events. News can also be abbreviated as Noth, East, West, South. The Whole World is a source of news and Journalists have to sniff out newsworthy matters but again these days this line is getting blurred as the identifications of Paid Vs Real are somewhere lost. N.E.W.S, as you all know, is: 

N- North
E- East 
W- West
S- South

While some people consider it as a Myth around media “Read The Counter“. Researching about Paid News, I found a graphic in outlook India (21st December 2006) which was seen portraying “Paid News Rates” & its different types.  The advertisement specifies an election budget for a candidate. Now, is that something ethical.  This can also be seen in “Media Ethics By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta- Which Can be Purchased Here“

You won’t find this article on Outlook Magazine now as they might have removed it. (This was the address on which this image was here.)  It’s not just news, but some anchors & politicians were also seen and identified as paid.  Just refer to the video where Arvind Kejriwal has been seen scripting questions with the anchor, this story was covered by the mainstream media as well.  This is one of the few videos. In the below-mentioned video called as ZEE-Jindal Sting operation, Naveen Jindal exposes “ZEE News” of blackmailing them.

These are just 2 of the many cases in the ecosystem. Talking about Media Ethics, below are some cases where the thin line of ethics has been completely removed after the baseless reportage of the stories crossing LOE or Line of Ethics.

´VN Narayan Case–  In 1999, a distinguished journalist and editor of HT had to resign after he was exposed to plagiarising an article from The Sunday Times in London.
´Uma Khurana Case– In 2007, a Delhi School teacher was duped by a television journalist (Prakash Singh) who conducted a sting operation on him using hidden cameras and claimed that she was luring her students into commercial sex work.
´Arushi Talwar Murder Case– The Reporting of this case has crossed many boundaries and even changed the meaning of how negatively can a report be published and even conceived.
´Sridevi’s Death Coverage- The Maut Ka Bathtub Coverage is not at all ethical and also using the power of chroma or green screen as a weapon for mass destruction is something not acceptable. Also, some major media houses even showed the actual dead body.
´Kathua Rape Case Coverage This case left people in tears and mourning but it was not for the Media. Some major news outlets even disclosed the names of the victims, while the others went to her family and started to question them.
´Ryan International School Coverage- This case again grabbed many eyeballs, but sensationalism these days has gone to some other level altogether. Asking Questions is the job of any reporter but not “Apko Kaisa Lag Raha h” or how are you feeling after death ?. Reporters even compared the fact of being intelligent to his death.
´ Rupert Murdoch & NOTW- Privacy of many users were accessed without permission.  
´War Mongering Headlines & statements after Pulwama & other terror attacks-   Politicising terror attacks and even trigger headlines for war has something we have seen after every terror attack.

(All the above cases can be read in this book by P. Guha Thakurta) -Kindly Purchase Here 

Above are just a few examples as you will dig deeper, you will find more such examples of reportage of crossing LOE (Line of Ethics).  Crossing this line is not something uncommon these days, but it’s always good to hear that the Election Commission always takes strict actions against some of the people caught red-handed. For Example, the Election Commission once issued a notice against BJP’s Narrotam Mishra, the entire story follows as:

´ Rajendra Bharti of Congress in 2009 filed a complaint against Narottam Mishra regarding assembly elections in MP in 2008.

    ´ Bharti Alleged that Mishra under-reported the election expenditure and had spent a huge amount of money on PAID NEWS items

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     Sensationalism, Paid News, Fake News has got a new hand since “Whatsapp University” has penetrated and these channels have been very successful in utilizing as a weapon of mass destruction. Let’s see some examples of Fake News on Social Media. (The Image has some examples). 
     The Paid News World has become such a large Industry and has matched the levels of PR Professionals and other important professions but ethically they lie nowhere.

      DO YOU KNOW?
According to P.Sainath, The size of the paid news market is huge. In Andhra Pradesh, the Union of Journalists has estimated the size as 300 to 1000 Crores market.

We all have recently seen the leaked WhatsApp chats in the Arnab Goswami case and even the Sushant Singh Rajput Coverage.