KOCHI: A Media Certification and Monitoring Committee has been formed as per the directions of the Election Commission of India(EC), to check the publishing, broadcasting or telecasting of paid news in the run up to the Piravom byelection, said District Election Officer and Collector P I Sheik Pareeth. Any news item or advertisement in print, audio or visual media that promotes any particular candidate will be considered as paid news. The committee will take a decision in this regard based on the norms laid out by the Press Council of India. If any news item or advertisement is found to be paid news, then the corresponding amount will be considered as a part of the campaign expenditure of the candidate.The EC had put in place this stringent plan after allegations regarding the role of paid news behind the victory of certain contestants during the previous Lok Sabha elections in some north Indian states.Additional District Magistrate E K Sujatha will be in charge of the monitoring committee. The field officer of the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity and the deputy directors of the Press Information Bureau and the Information and Public Relations Department will also be part of the committee. The committee will report to the District Collector and the authorities concerned regarding the news-related articles/programmes and advertisements appearing in newspapers, radio, television channels and on cable networks. The committee will also be monitoring the use of SMS in this regard.
Comments
0 comment