Soni Voices Concerns over ‘Paid News’
Terming “paid news” phenomenon as a serious matter, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Friday said the right of public to correct and unbiased information needs to be protected.
“…There exists strong circumstantial evidence of the malpractices,” she said in response to a calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha.
“When paid information is presented as news content, it could mislead the public and thereby hamper their judgement to form a correct opinion. Thus, there is no denying the fact that there is an urgent need to protect public’s right to correct and unbiased information,” Soni said.
Meanwhile, media reports citing sources in the I&B ministry said that the government may be readying to initiate stringent measures against both electronic and print media houses indulging or encouraging ‘paid news’.
The measures, still under consideration, against such media companies may include discontinuation of Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) advertisements released to such publications and also a heavy financial publicity.
(Text based on Media Reports)
