South Asian Media Commission’s (SAMC) India Chapter on Monday viewed with “shock and anguish” the recent disclosures of high-profile lobbyists seeking to manipulate media coverage to serve the interests of sections of the corporate sector.
Particularly disturbing were the moves to use media persons for help to influence decisions by the government and leadership of the ruling dispensation on crucial issues like the composition of the Union Cabinet, the SAMC said.
“The episode dealt a severe blow to the credibility of the media as a whole and strengthened negative perception of its role. Had that not been the case the revelation of the tapped conversations of the corporate lobbyist, Niira Radia, with senior journalists would not have rocked the media community on a scale not known in the past,’’ K. K. Katyal, President of SAMC, India, said in a press statement after a meeting of the India Chapter.
The members of the Commission felt that there was an “ethical vacuum” in the profession. They attributed it to the dilution of the role of the editor in Indian media.
The Commission recommended that newspapers and other media organizations should make known their ownership pattern and balance-sheets, media persons should be required to disclose annually their assets, and the Press Council of India should be given more powers.
