News for sale: How media is squandering its credibility

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News space was blatantly on sale in the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections. Newspapers had fixed the rates for interviews with candidates, coverage of their rallies, reports on constituency tours and denunciation of rivals. Apart from a la carte offers there were package deals as well. Prabhash Joshi, the editor of Jansatta had the audience by their eyeballs and eardrums as he gave instances of paid election coverage masquerading as news in Hindi papers. Joshi was speaking at a debate, 'Blurring the Line Between News and Ads' organized by the Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP) and moderated by veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. FMP is an organisation (www.fmp.org.in) that has been set up by some senior journalists to promote quality journalism and uphold media freedom. The debate is the seventh in a series since December last year. FMP is concerned about media organizations chasing revenue any which....