[Reader-list] WSJ on the Indian media - "Want Press Coverage? Give Me Some Money"

[Rana Dasgupta]

Want Press Coverage? Give Me Some Money

By PAUL BECKETT

Ajay Goyal is a serious, independent candidate contesting for a Lok 
Sabha seat in Chandigarh.
Never heard of him? Neither, probably, have a lot of people in 
Chandigarh because when it came to getting press coverage for his 
campaign he was faced with a simple message: If you want press, you have 
to pay.

So far, he says, he's been approached by about 10 people – some brokers 
and public relations managers acting on behalf of newspaper owners, some 
reporters and editors – with the message that he'll only get written 
about in the news pages for a fee. We're not talking advertising; we're 
talking news.

One broker offered three weeks of coverage in four newspapers for 10 
lakh rupees ($20,000). A reporter and a photographer from a Chandigarh 
newspaper told him that for 1.5 lakh rupees ($3,000) for them and a 
further 3 lakh rupees ($6,000) for other reporters, they could guarantee 
coverage in up to five newspapers for two weeks.

"We would do good coverage for you," he says they told him. All of those 
who approached him either were from national Hindi language papers or 
regional papers, Mr. Goyal says.

“You want a front page photo for free? This is something people pay for.”

In one case, he went along to see what would happen: a press release he 
submitted full of falsehoods – claiming he had campaigned in places he 
had never been, for instance – ran verbatim. One thing he has never seen 
on his real campaign: a reporter there to cover the story.

"It's disappointing," Mr. Goyal says. "What good is literacy and 
education if people have no access to real news, investigation, 
skepticism or a questioning reporter."

At the nexus of corruption in India, the nation's newspapers usually 
play either vigilante cop exposing wrongdoing in the public interest (on 
a good day, at a few publications) or spineless patsy killing stories on 
the orders of powerful advertisers. Many papers also engage in practices 
that cross the ethical line between advertising and editorial in a way 
that is opaque, if not downright obscure, to readers.

But it is of another order of magnitude to see reporters, editors and 
newspaper owners holding the democratic process to ransom. A free (in 
every sense) press is an integral part of a vibrant democracy. A corrupt 
press is both symptom and perpetrator of a rotten democracy.

"I'm not saying all media is biased but there is a growing sense in 
people's minds that a lot of the media is biased," says Anil Bairwal, 
national coordinator of National Election Watch. "Some do it in a 
sublime manner and some do it openly."

So why are we surprised when the voter turnout is so low, despite the 
much-touted surge of political awareness among the young and 
post-Mumbai? It's all part and parcel of the public disgust with the 
political system and the pillars of the Establishment that support that 
system as well. For every newly-minted reform-minded, politically aware 
voter, there are probably hundreds of jaded citizens who just decide the 
heck with it.

How widespread is the practice of pay per say?

The best-known English-language dailies typically don't do it so 
blatantly, candidates and others involved in the elections say. Rather, 
those papers are more likely to hue closely to one major party or the 
other, making it tough for candidates who don't fit the papers' view of 
the world to be heard. But in the Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati media, to 
name a few, the practice is widespread, candidates say.

N. Gopalaswami, retired Chief Election Commissioner, says in an 
interview, "This is not something that can be ignored. It is not just a 
few apparent cases, it is much more than that."

He has heard of newspapers proferring a rate card - one price for 
positive coverage, another for not negative coverage. The commission 
heard complaints in both 2007 and 2008 about candidates being charged 
for coverage. Among them, the national Communist parties who don't have 
the deep coffers to spend on campaigns.

In Mumbai, a city appropriately geared to commerce, politicians are 
faced with multiple payment options. Consider these phrases from 
newspaper editors and brokers, which I culled from campaigners:

"You want a front page photo for free? This is something people pay for."

"If you want a picture in there or if you want a story, we have to be paid."

"We're going to publish the interview, but you need to buy 5,000 copies 
of our paper."

"1.2 lakhs ($2,400) for the next two weeks and I will take care of all 
that coverage."

—Paul Beckett is the WSJ's bureau chief in New Delhi