Mumbai:
In what's becoming a major embarrassment for Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, The Hindu newspaper has reported a glaring gap between the campaign expenses he declared, and the massive publicity he got in newspapers ahead of the recent polls. It suggest that different articles on Chavan were actually ads, thinly disguised as news stories.
Stories that added up to a media blitzkrieg. Stories that spoke in glowing terms of the Era of Ashok, and carried headlines like "Young Dynamic Leadership." Some of these reports ran in three different newspapers; the fact that the reports were identical in all three papers suggests they were paid for. And their collective value goes far beyond the Rs 5,379 that Chavan declared as his expenditure on newspaper ads for his campaign.
"This is not just a story about Chavan but about the entire political and media spectrum this election. Either we finish paid news, or it will finish us (patch) Earlier it was petty corruption...now it's an entire organised industry," says P Sainath of The Hindu.
Ads masquerading as news is not a new phenonmenon, point out Sainath and other journalists, but in this recent election, it allegedly reached new heights; the main concern now is how easily this can undermine free and fair elections.
The chief minister avoided the media on Monday, but the Opposition has approached the Election Commission, asking for an inquiry.
The Lokmat group which ran most stories on Chacan argues that it did not bend the rules. "This is news. We are a Congress family and we carry reports favouring the party," says Devendra Darda, Executive Director, Lokmat. When it was pointed out that the same article ran in different papers, his response was, "We are responsible for our own content. You should ask the others about their content...."
Stories that added up to a media blitzkrieg. Stories that spoke in glowing terms of the Era of Ashok, and carried headlines like "Young Dynamic Leadership." Some of these reports ran in three different newspapers; the fact that the reports were identical in all three papers suggests they were paid for. And their collective value goes far beyond the Rs 5,379 that Chavan declared as his expenditure on newspaper ads for his campaign.
"This is not just a story about Chavan but about the entire political and media spectrum this election. Either we finish paid news, or it will finish us (patch) Earlier it was petty corruption...now it's an entire organised industry," says P Sainath of The Hindu.
Ads masquerading as news is not a new phenonmenon, point out Sainath and other journalists, but in this recent election, it allegedly reached new heights; the main concern now is how easily this can undermine free and fair elections.
The chief minister avoided the media on Monday, but the Opposition has approached the Election Commission, asking for an inquiry.
The Lokmat group which ran most stories on Chacan argues that it did not bend the rules. "This is news. We are a Congress family and we carry reports favouring the party," says Devendra Darda, Executive Director, Lokmat. When it was pointed out that the same article ran in different papers, his response was, "We are responsible for our own content. You should ask the others about their content...."
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