Prashant Pathrabe, who was appointed as an observer by Election Commission of India to monitor the election process in Dehradun inspected Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) office at Vikas Bhawan on Tuesday and took stock of the works being done there.
He directed MCMC nodal officer and chief development officer Banshidhar Tiwari to review stories being published in various newspapers minutely. Media playing an important role in the election process, action should be taken regarding cases of paid news being published in the newspapers, he stressed. He further said that advertisements being beamed on the TV channels, in newspaper or magazines and others should be reviewed carefully too, he said.
Representatives of various media groups should be called to be informed of what paid news stand for, he said, adding that they should be cautioned too against venturing into the realm of paid news.
Tiwari is learnt to have informed Pathrabe about the teams formed at MCMC and the vigil they have been keeping regarding TV ads and paid news in the print media.
Others present on the occasion were ADM (administration) Harbeer Singh, city magistrate Chandra Singh Martolia and committee members- Vibhuti Bhatt, Alok Mishra and Virendra Rana.