MUMBAI: English daily Hindustan Times has been cleared of charges of ?paid news? after an inquiry by a committee of the Press Council of India (PCI) found them to be baseless.

The committee accordingly has recommended to the full council that the matter be closed. The recommendations of the committee are generally accepted by the full council.

Earlier in January, it was reported that the PCI had decided to ?censure? HT along with some other papers for having carried news reports in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections of 2010 that were allegedly self-promotion material provided by the candidates in fray.
 
On 2 February, Hindustan Times editor-in-chief Sanjoy Narayan wrote that none of the four pieces ?in question? carried a politician?s quote, and reflected the voices of ?villages and farmers?. The paper, he had said, had done its ?checks? and would go back to ?the authority?.

The PCI committee also went through the clippings, which had been alleged to be paid news and found they were factual in nature or balanced. In fact, one story was about chopper trouble.

NEW DELHI: Paid news is becoming a menace and there is a growing demand among various groups who are wanting the government to set up a mechanism for controlling this.

Nine complaints of paid news were filed by four different individuals against seven newspapers in 2012-13, but only two are under consideration of the Press Council of India.

While one case was considered time-barred, six were closed for non-pursuance.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said that there were 11 complaints against different newspapers in 2011-12, most of which ended with the Council censuring the newspapers concerned. There were just two reports in 2010-11 (both closed for different reasons).

There were as many as 17 complaints against over ten newspapers in 2009-10, all of which related to elections. The year had seen the General Elections as well as some state assembly polls.

Interestingly, the Press Council of India Committee which had examined the malaise of Paid News had found at least 126 confirmed cases of paid news. In addition, 61 candidates admitted to having paid for news in the print and electronic media.