T
he rate for the news space is the same as the advertisement tariff of the paper/news channel. Ask any candidate who contested the just-concluded elections. He or she bought a ‘package’ for coverage of the campaign, complete with pictures, quotes and, importantly, with a positive slant that the contestant was on a roll, attracting large numbers of people and his/her victory was not in doubt.
The candidate was given a choice like any client who wishes to advertise in media: of the page, front or back or centre; of colour or black and white, number of stories to be carried with or without photographs, and whether the candidate will provide the story or it should be generated by the media.
Depending on the paper’s circulation and the channel’s TRPs (television rating points, indicating the viewership of a channel/programme), the cost of a package ranged between Rs two lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Some of the better off candidates spent Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore for such publicity which included at least four Telugu dailies and two TV channels. These bought items/profiles and campaign stories did not carry a byline or a creditline apparently as a ‘safety measure.’
There are six leading Telugu dailies and an equal number of TV news channels in Andhra Pradesh. Without exception all of them made the deal of ‘paid articles’ as these stories have come to be known in media circles. Even the so-called non-commercial papers with ideological leavings gave in to the temptation. And the risk of not buying news space was so grave that even candidates of parties that stood for clean politics dirtied their hands.
Did the reverse work? That is, was a candidate refusing to pay for ‘coverage’ victimised with negative publicity? “Absolutely,” according to journalists this writer spoke to in Anantapur, Kadapa, Warangal and Nizamabad districts. “Either we black him out or write stories that he is not drawing crowds or that he’s not campaigning,” admitted a local reporter.
The deals for coverage were negotiated in the papers’ district editions which are in a tabloid form. The district advertisement manager and the bureau chief (reporter) negotiated the terms with the candidate or one of his/her trusted aides. Nothing was on paper. The candidate got a receipt for 10 per cent of the amount paid so that it could be submitted to the Election Commission towards expenses.
Since unaccounted cash was being seized by the police in the run up to the elections, the media worked out a foolproof method of payment. They took a post-dated cheque from the candidate. After the polling was over the media’s representatives returned the cheque and took cash.
Cheating
The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), Hyderabad chapter submitted a memorandum to the chief electoral officer I V Subba Rao on this trend. “Not only did the newspapers indulge in (this) unprofessional, immoral and unethical practice but also cheated the readers and misrepresented the situation regarding the prospects of candidates on the ground...”
This practice of taking money for publishing positive stories of candidates was earlier limited to staffers of newspapers in the districts and the deal — unquestionably unethical — was between an individual journalist and the candidate. This time round, however, the managements of media organisations decided that they too wanted a piece of the cake and so the Telugu media formalised this ‘arrangement.’
According to an estimate by the AP Union of Working Journalists, the Telugu newspapers made Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore through paid news coverage and each news channel about Rs five crore. Overall, the media houses raked in an estimated Rs 300 crore during the elections through this dubious device, the memorandum said.
Pothuri Venkateshwara Rao, veteran editor, attributed this trend to two factors: commercialisation of the media at the cost of journalistic ethics and the close relationship between the media houses and political parties which influence both presentation and writing of news. “This is a reality we cannot deny. Ultimately, everything revolves around money,” he said summing up the unholy nexus between the media and politics.
Madabhushi Sridhar, a former journalist-turned-law teacher, says the most effective method to counter this dangerous trend was to activate the civil society.
“Let’s take to the streets, put committees to monitor the media and create such a ruckus that the media is forced to get back on the right path. There are no legal remedies to ethical issues,” he said.
As NWMI, Hyderabad, put it, this is not only a gross dereliction of duty by the the Fourth Estate to act as a watchdog of society but also portends a dangerous drift of the media towards ganging up against the people. Indeed, these trends are endangering the institution of democracy which sustains their existence, it said.
A Telugu saying aptly sums up this sorry situation: if the mother becomes a ghost, can there be a safe place to put the baby’s cradle? If the media sells itself in the ‘mandi’ of commerce, won’t democracy wither and die?