With only one meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) on paid news since its constitution in January, the government has virtually put the issue of tackling the menace on the back burner. This happened despite concerns expressed by members of both the Houses of Parliament last year when the issue had come up for discussion. It has been over 18 month since the Press Council of India (PCI) submitted its report and findings on the issue.

       Now, the GoM plans to look at all related reports.In its first meeting held last month, the GoM, under the chairmanship of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, took note of I&B ministry’s presentations on the issue and the reports compiled by PCI, government sources said. There are no indications to when the next meeting will take place.

        The first and only GoM meet on paid news happened at the insistence of I&B minister Ambika Soni. “My office kept up the pressure coordinating with everybody and I wrote several letters to the FM before the first GoM meeting happened. The GoM is now studying the reports submitted by PCI,” Soni told FE.

        Besides, Soni said her focus was on strengthening Prasar Bharati and revamp of the Directorate of Audio and Visual Publicity. Giving more powers to PCI is also among possible measures before the GoM, Soni said.

        According to official sources, paid news is a very contentious issue for all parties. This is because several instances of paid news listed by the PCI report point finger at politicians, MLAs, MPs, political organisations and prominent media houses that have been found indulging in paid news business.

      “Let the GoM come to a conclusion, give its recommendations and let the Cabinet ratify those recommendations. Before that, the government cannot do much,” a senior official said.

       In August last year, Sebi also took stringent initiatives to tackle the issue of ‘private treaties’ between media houses and corporates.

         According to a Sebi order, all media houses have to disclose their stakes in corporates on their website. Also, they must publish and disclose the same in newspapers and on television channels as the regulator feels that commercial agreements between media houses and companies may give rise to conflict of interest and may, therefore, result in dilution of the independence of Press. However, Sebi’s directives have not been fully complied by several media companies so far, sources said.

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