Concept of Paid News in Indian Print Media

Print media in India have been witnessing a rapid boom during the last two decades. On the contrary developed nations like the United State of America and some European countries have recorded a steep fall both in newspaper readership and growth. The growth of newspapers in India is a positive sign of democracy. However, in recent past there are some instances of unfair and unethical means practised by certain sections of Indian media that undermine the public service value of journalism. The phenomena of paid news have acquired serious dimensions in the media world. Today, it goes beyond the corruption of the individual journalist and media company and has become pervasive, structured and highly organized. In this process it is undermining the Indian democratic value. The paper brings to light how candidate Ashok Chavan made advantageous use of the print media (in Indian languages and print) during the Maharashtra state elections in 2009. A lot of news stories and editorials, that were paid for were published with and without bylines in dailies. No mention of the words 'advt', 'paid for', 'advertorial' was made on the same. Paid news is not active during elections per se. Paid news has also taken the form of 'private treaty' where the media company enters into a contract with the corporate house and the company's equity shares are exchanged for advertising contracts. The authors have made an attempt to keep the trouble of paid news in the Indian print media under control, and indicated some remedial measures.