MAYABHUSHAN
“The phenomenon of ‘paid news’ has acquired serious dimensions. Today, it goes beyond the corruption of individual journalists and media companies and has become pervasive, structured and highly organized. In the process, it is undermining democracy in India.”
These are the grave opening remarks of the Press Council of India’s (PCI) report on paid news in the Indian media, in July last year. The report compiled by the PCI was based on the findings of its sub committee which pored through evidence, in form of published articles in newspapers both vernacular and English, which were suspected as ‘paid news’ content.
The four audio files and transcripts below go a step ahead. The conversations in these audio files with the marketing manager for both Herald newspaper, Goa’s leading English daily and Herald Cable Network (HCN) a cable news channel owned by the lay bare how a typical political paid news deal is struck, especially with elections around the corner. Many in the media and other informed sections of society, would already know that piety pouting newspapers across the country have been brazenly cracking ‘editorial content for cash’ deals, but these conversations show how easy it really is to crack a paid news deal in the Indian -- and case in point here -- the media in Goa.
Buying editorial space in a newspaper is almost as easy as walking up to a store counter and buying a change of underwear.
Here we have a reputed Goan media house welcoming paid news content and dishing out a rate chart for paid political interviews, both on behalf of its English daily news paper ‘Herald’ and for its local cable news channel, Herald Cable Newtork (HCN).
It is necessary to mention here, that although I am a journalist by profession, I have undertaken this ‘paid news buster’ exercise, solely as a reader of the newspaper, which I subscribe to at home. That is one of the reasons why I chose this newspaper.
The other reason being that, Herald over the last few weeks has been running dubious interview after interview of ‘potential’ candidates for the forthcoming state assembly elections which are scheduled to happen sometime next year.
A source in the Herald informed me that money was being exchanged by the newspaper’s employees – both editorial and marketing – for publishing the political interviews.
I called up the Herald boardline on October 20 posing as Bernard Costa, a fictitious person wanting to contest assembly elections from the Velim assembly constituency in south Goa. On the same day, Herald had carried another dubious and suspected paid political interview of Raymond D’Sa, who had claimed that he vying for a Congress ticket for the Cortalim assembly seat and had wanted to “serve the poor and needy” (sic).
The receptionist at the Herald gave me the number to Tulsidas Desai 9822568376 – a marketing manager at the Herald. What unfolded between Tulsidas and ‘Bernard’ (i.e. me) is represented below in form of four audio files. They are unedited phone conversations, transcripts for which are also available. Here's audio file number 2. http://youtu.be/JjhIhQSCkTw
I have already dispatched a complaint to the Press Council of India, Election Commission of India, Goa Union of Journalists as well as several media blogs, journalists and concerned civil society persons, in order to put the information I had in the public domain and with the relevant authorities.
Tulsidas Desai
Keeping the current example in context, Herald is not the only news paper which has been institutionally allowing paid news content in Goa at the moment, but I put forth this case because I could establish a connection between the editorial content and the price that is to be paid for it. There are a couple of other vernacular newspaper published from outside Goa, who have already cracked deals with a young Congress minister and it is showing in the content. The newspaper’s editor and the vernacular newspaper’s very special correspondent is involved in this particular deal.
In the Herald case too, it would be naive to believe that a marketing manager, in this case Tulsidas, can push a deal like this without the consent, tacit or otherwise, of the editorial leadership of the newspaper.
Here in the case before you, the deal Tulsidas cracked with me was to publish my interview in the Herald for Rs 86,400 (for a fifteen inch and eight column spread) and on HCN, a half an hour interview thrice a day.(audio file number 3) http://youtu.be/8U8YBT7Tv6M
And the gall of these guys to tell the interviewee to drop by with a questionnaire himself!!!!
The things to look out for in this story are:
We are not just talking about paid news in the air here. When Tulsidas is asked about the rates for political paid interviews, he mentioned the Raymond D’sa interview published in the Herald on Oct 20 and the nearabouts price the newspaper got paid for it. Tulsidas is no novice intern at the Herald, he is a marketing manager and obviously knows the paid news rate card set by the newspaper.
Raymond’s was not the only published paid political interview in print. There are several other dubious article which have been publised by the Herald earlier, which should be looked into by the Press Council of India and the newspaper’s readers. Interestingly most of these interviews were carried in the same slot, on Page four top deck.
There was an interview of Sankalp Amonkar, a potential Congress candidate published on October 3 also carrying the same byline.
There was Somnath Zuwarkar, another potential Congress candidate’s interview published on September 19
Another political hopeful Sameer Salgaonkar was interviewed on September 12.
Michael Lobo who is a potential BJP candidate from Calangute constituency has been interviewed on August 15
Tulio de Souza, son in law of former deputy chief minsiter Wilfred de Souza and also a potential election candidate from the Saligao constituency has already been positioned as a winner, in perhaps one of the most lopsided ‘constituency analysis’ segment.
Not too surprising, that all the potential candidates here have one thing common other than the fact that they have featured in Herald’s suspected paid news interviews. All of them are extremely rich folks.
How the silver earned in exchange for the paid news interviews was shared, is anybodys' guess!
P.S. If any media persons wants to run a story on this revelation, I could send across a zip file containing all the relevant details. I am on mayabhushan@gmail.com
P.P.S. Readers, who believe the paid news needs to be addressed can spread the story and the audio files around on mail and social networking sites.
P.P.S. If you guy wish to take up the paid news issue with Herald and want to register your protest, feel free to contact the 'people's paper' and its reps on:
Board numbers
0091-832-2224202, 2224460, 2228083/ info@oheraldo.in
Editor in chief and owner Raul Fernandes 0091 9822100188
Editor Sujay Gupta 0091 9923057937
General Manager Michael Pereira 9822122304
Marketing Manager Tulsidas Desai 9822568376
Here we have a reputed Goan media house welcoming paid news content and dishing out a rate chart for paid political interviews, both on behalf of its English daily news paper ‘Herald’ and for its local cable news channel, Herald Cable Newtork (HCN).
It is necessary to mention here, that although I am a journalist by profession, I have undertaken this ‘paid news buster’ exercise, solely as a reader of the newspaper, which I subscribe to at home. That is one of the reasons why I chose this newspaper.
The other reason being that, Herald over the last few weeks has been running dubious interview after interview of ‘potential’ candidates for the forthcoming state assembly elections which are scheduled to happen sometime next year.
A source in the Herald informed me that money was being exchanged by the newspaper’s employees – both editorial and marketing – for publishing the political interviews.
I called up the Herald boardline on October 20 posing as Bernard Costa, a fictitious person wanting to contest assembly elections from the Velim assembly constituency in south Goa. On the same day, Herald had carried another dubious and suspected paid political interview of Raymond D’Sa, who had claimed that he vying for a Congress ticket for the Cortalim assembly seat and had wanted to “serve the poor and needy” (sic).
The receptionist at the Herald gave me the number to Tulsidas Desai 9822568376 – a marketing manager at the Herald. What unfolded between Tulsidas and ‘Bernard’ (i.e. me) is represented below in form of four audio files. They are unedited phone conversations, transcripts for which are also available. Here's audio file number 2. http://youtu.be/JjhIhQSCkTw
I have already dispatched a complaint to the Press Council of India, Election Commission of India, Goa Union of Journalists as well as several media blogs, journalists and concerned civil society persons, in order to put the information I had in the public domain and with the relevant authorities.
Tulsidas Desai
Keeping the current example in context, Herald is not the only news paper which has been institutionally allowing paid news content in Goa at the moment, but I put forth this case because I could establish a connection between the editorial content and the price that is to be paid for it. There are a couple of other vernacular newspaper published from outside Goa, who have already cracked deals with a young Congress minister and it is showing in the content. The newspaper’s editor and the vernacular newspaper’s very special correspondent is involved in this particular deal.
In the Herald case too, it would be naive to believe that a marketing manager, in this case Tulsidas, can push a deal like this without the consent, tacit or otherwise, of the editorial leadership of the newspaper.
Here in the case before you, the deal Tulsidas cracked with me was to publish my interview in the Herald for Rs 86,400 (for a fifteen inch and eight column spread) and on HCN, a half an hour interview thrice a day.(audio file number 3) http://youtu.be/8U8YBT7Tv6M
And the gall of these guys to tell the interviewee to drop by with a questionnaire himself!!!!
The things to look out for in this story are:
We are not just talking about paid news in the air here. When Tulsidas is asked about the rates for political paid interviews, he mentioned the Raymond D’sa interview published in the Herald on Oct 20 and the nearabouts price the newspaper got paid for it. Tulsidas is no novice intern at the Herald, he is a marketing manager and obviously knows the paid news rate card set by the newspaper.
Raymond’s was not the only published paid political interview in print. There are several other dubious article which have been publised by the Herald earlier, which should be looked into by the Press Council of India and the newspaper’s readers. Interestingly most of these interviews were carried in the same slot, on Page four top deck.
There was an interview of Sankalp Amonkar, a potential Congress candidate published on October 3 also carrying the same byline.
There was Somnath Zuwarkar, another potential Congress candidate’s interview published on September 19
Another political hopeful Sameer Salgaonkar was interviewed on September 12.
Michael Lobo who is a potential BJP candidate from Calangute constituency has been interviewed on August 15
Tulio de Souza, son in law of former deputy chief minsiter Wilfred de Souza and also a potential election candidate from the Saligao constituency has already been positioned as a winner, in perhaps one of the most lopsided ‘constituency analysis’ segment.
Not too surprising, that all the potential candidates here have one thing common other than the fact that they have featured in Herald’s suspected paid news interviews. All of them are extremely rich folks.
How the silver earned in exchange for the paid news interviews was shared, is anybodys' guess!
P.S. If any media persons wants to run a story on this revelation, I could send across a zip file containing all the relevant details. I am on mayabhushan@gmail.com
P.P.S. Readers, who believe the paid news needs to be addressed can spread the story and the audio files around on mail and social networking sites.
P.P.S. If you guy wish to take up the paid news issue with Herald and want to register your protest, feel free to contact the 'people's paper' and its reps on:
Board numbers
0091-832-2224202, 2224460, 2228083/ info@oheraldo.in
Editor in chief and owner Raul Fernandes 0091 9822100188
Editor Sujay Gupta 0091 9923057937
General Manager Michael Pereira 9822122304
Marketing Manager Tulsidas Desai 9822568376
(COURTESY: MAYABHUSHAN & http://www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/)
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