Emerging Trends in the Indian Media Landscape - Malaise of Paid-content and the Need for Greater Accountability

The practice of paid news by public media in a democracy betrays the deep-seated ethical canon of journalism, which assumes that 'news is meant to be objective, fair and unbiased' as differentiated from advertisements that are paid for by those who sponsor. The blurring of lines between news and advertisements and attempts to present advertisements as news or advertorials, or news published grossly favouring private interests by selling the editorial space certainly constitutes betrayal of the trust of the reader, for such acts deceive the readers or viewers to believe the doctored reports to be true and unbiased. The practice, not only forces the media audiences to compromise on their right to unbiased news and fair comments, but also weaken the foundations of the fourth estate by lowering its own credibility and societal approval, which are the basic arguments legitimizing media freedom. While seeking to decode the phenomenon of paid news in terms of its operational, legal, and moral aspects, in the context of the changing dynamics of the Indian media market, this paper also attempts to examine the impacts and analyse the responses of the media, civil society and the state to the malaise of paid content.