Vibrant journalism springs from professional ethics: Ansari

Indore, July 15 (PTI) At a time when concern is being
voiced over paid news, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari
Friday said vibrant journalism springs from the bedrock of
professional ethics.
"The inability of the industry and the Press Council
to go public with its report on paid news is another pointer
to the problems of self regulation and the culture of silence
in the entire industry when it comes to self criticism", he
said.
Ansari was addressing a function organised by Indore
Press Club, in the central Indian state Madhya Pradesh, on the
occasion of Bhashayi Patrakarita Mahotsav 2011 to commemorate
the 75th Birth Anniversary of distinguished journalist
Prabhash Joshi.
He regretted that in an industry that has over fifty
thousand newspapers and hundreds of television channels,
systematic media criticism is non-existent.
"What this means is that in the absence of government
and industry regulation, even civil society has been unable to
provide an effective de facto media regulatory mechanism. No
discussion of media regulation can ignore the recent
controversy over paid news", he said.
He said there is need for introspecting whether the
strategy of relying on advertisement rather than subscription
as the main revenue source for media outlets has created a
difficult set of ethical problems for the media industry as a
whole.
"No discussion of media regulation can ignore the
slow erosion of institution of editor in Indian media
organizations," Ansari said.