Paid news in white

IN Media Watch Briefs | 07/12/2012

Before the group has lived down the Naveen Jindal sting for which its chairman and managing director took anticipatory bail, another Zee channel, Z24 finds itself implicated in a paid news report front-paged by the Indian Express. Chhattisgarh's PR department apparently regularly pays news TV channels in the state to highlight the government's achievements. The government says they are sponsored programmes paid for in white.

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Media Watch Briefs

Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.