It may not pay to carry paid news anymore. Annoyed with the menace, which becomes acute during elections, the Government plans to amend the PRB Act to incorporate provisions of stringent punishment for erring newspapers and channels.
The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has recommended that the Press & Registration of Books Act be amended so newspapers found guilty of paid news by the Press Council of India do not get DAVP advertisements for one month. For repeat offences, they will not get DAVP ads for three months and on a third violation, they may lose registration altogether.
“Based on recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the I&B Ministry has decided to amend the PRB Act to punish publications guilty of paid news. It is being vetted by the law Ministry, following which it will be brought before the Cabinet for approval,” said Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.
However, he clarified that the Government would not play any role in identifying any such publication for paid news. It would be done by PCI for print media and NBSA for electronic media, he said, adding that the Government would just take punitive action.
At present, the Election Commission takes action against politicians guilty of paid news but the newspapers and channels involved go scot free as PCI has no punitive powers and can merely censure them. Meanwhile, siding with TV news channels, the Ministry has asked Trai to give them reprieve till December 2014 in implementing the rule regarding 12 minutes of advertising per hour.
Broadcasters under the aegis of IBF had recently met the Minister and highlighted that revenue of news channels has not grown as compared to general entertainment channels, so they should get some time. The Ministry has urged Trai that since it has not applied the rule in existence from 2006 till now, it should not implement it now. Instead, it seeks a roadmap for broadcasters to get some benefit from digitisation in revenue generation, as they depend on these ads at present due to a bad economic scenario.