'Package Journalism’ Is Not Cheap

P. Sainath, in the Hindu [also see this, this and this] returns to the subject of how ‘paid news’ is getting institutionalised

“Young dynamic leadership: Ashokrao Chavan,” read the headline of a prominent news item in the Marathi daily Lokmat (October 10). That was 72 hours before the people of Maharashtra went to vote in the State Assembly polls. The item was attributed to the newspaper’s "Special Correspondent," making it clear this was a news story. The story showered praise on the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for having achieved so much for so many in so few months. The same story also appeared word for word the same day in the Maharashtra Times, a leading and rival Marathi daily. Two minds with but a single thought? Two hearts that beat as one?
A cute and comforting thought. Except that the very same story (again word for word, only with a different headline) had appeared three days earlier in the Marathi daily Pudhari (October 7). In that case, with a reporter’s name at the bottom of the item.

More at the Hindu

On a somewhat related note, the NYT article blogged about by A.Sanzgiri in an earlier post in the day, quotes Raju Narisetti, the founder editor of Mint, promoted by the Hindustan Times group (whose vice-chairman Shobhana Bharatiya -- daughter of KK Birla, and granddaughter of GD Birla -- is a Rajya Sabha member nominated by the Congress):

“Some very simple practices that you often take for granted, such as being ethical in day to day situations, or believing in the rule of law in everyday behavior, are surprisingly absent in many situations,” said Raju Narisetti, who was born in Hyderabad and returned to India in 2006 to found a business newspaper called Mint, which is now the country’s second-biggest business paper by readership.
He said he left earlier than he expected because of a “troubling nexus” of business, politics and publishing that he called “draining on body and soul.” He returned to the United States this year to join The Washington Post.