As part of its campaign against “paid news,” the Editors Guild of India has asked all editors to endorse a pledge that they will act against any attempt to put out advertising as news without proper disclosure.
Editors have also been requested to publish/broadcast the editorial statement in their respective publications/channels to arrest the erosion of public faith in the credibility and impartiality of news reporting. This editorial statement is the first in a series of steps that the Guild hopes to take during the year which has been dedicated to tackling the menace of ‘paid news.’
In the editorial statement, editors have to undertake that: “I have noted with concerns the spread of the phenomenon of publishing ‘paid news,’ where advertising is presented to the reader in the guise of news. I believe that this practice violates and undermines the principles of free and fair journalism, and therefore condemn the practice of ‘paid news.’ I assert that my publication/TV channel will not carry any ‘paid news,’ and that my colleagues and I will ensure that this practice does not taint our publication/news channel.”
At the annual general meeting of the Guild last month, the issue of ‘paid news’ was discussed at length, with members taking the view that putting out advertising as news amounted to “grave journalistic malpractice.”
Further, it threatened the foundations of the media, and of the journalist profession, by eroding public faith in the credibility and impartiality of news reporting.
The decision to request all editors to sign a statement is a follow-up on the general consensus over the need for editors and other journalists to make public declarations on the subject in order to restore the reading and viewing public’s faith in the media by undoing the damage that has already been done.