Joint CEO appeals media houses to indulge in ethical reporting

Principal Correspondent
KOHIMA, MARCH 18

JOINT Chief Electoral Officer Nagaland, N. Moa Aier said that much depends on the manner in which reports appear in the media, both print and electronic, to create awareness amongst the electorates to rightly exercise their franchise.
Delivering the key-note address during a training programme on Paid News organized in the office of CEO Nagaland (Media Cell) here today, he said that media houses play an important role and therefore it should indulge in ethical reporting without being bias.
Expressing hope that the training would help create better understanding about ‘Paid News’, Aier said it all depends on oneself to take the responsibility of reporting news items without being bias.
Co-ordinator, Natural Disaster Management ATI Nagaland and also the State Level Master Trainer, Dr. Hovithal Sothu imparting the training said that paid news means to publish an advertisement of a candidate or political party in the garb of news.
He also quoted the Press Council of India’s definition of paid news, which read as “any news or analysis appearing in any media (Print and Electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration”.
Maintaining that as the ECI has put ceilings for election expenditure of the candidate, he said that any paid news appearing in favour of a candidate would amount to electoral offence as it would help the candidate evade election expenditure.
Paid news also causes undue influence on voters ad also affects their Right to Information, he said, adding that there are circumstantial evidence but not much clinching proof as charges are promptly denied by both sides.
Nonetheless, he also stated that in order to put a check on Paid News, the Election Commission of India has directed constitution of Media Certificaiton and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at the state and district levels.
The MCMC will judge the publications and report the matter to the Expenditure Observers, who will include the news items under the expenditure heads of the candidate. Any complaints regarding paid news should be disposed within 96 hours.
Maintaining that Indian democracy thrives on fair elections, a multi-party system and free media helps voters to vote in elections, Sothu emphasized on the need to share correct and unbiased information while also expressing that self regulation by political parties, candidate and media houses would be the ultimate solution to avoid the issue of paid news.
Different media fraternity, both print and electronic media as well as DIPR officials and representatives of recognised political parties – NPF, BJP and JD(U) attended the training on Paid News.