Media comes under scanner after Jindal's sting operation

New Delhi, Oct 26: The Indian

is in an introspective mood now. After

MP and industrialist

accused

of trying to extort money from him and his company, leading journalists of the country are worried lot as media ethics have reached its lowest ebb.

In order to set their house in order, journalists across the country feel that media should be monitored by an independent body. Now journalists want an independent inquiry on the media.

Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju said, "Let an independent statutory body monitor the media, which I have been constantly suggesting."

Jindal and his team members did a sting operation on Zee TV recently. The footages of the sting operation show a conversation where editors of Zee TV were seen demanding advertising commitments in exchange of burying negative coverage on Jindal's company.

Jindal filed a criminal case against Zee News accusing the reporters of demanding Rs 100 crore to block airing a video tape which allegedly had showed involvement of Jindal's company in coal block allocation scam.

The Congress MP bashed the news channel owned by Subhash Chandra while releasing the tape. The MP said, "Media in our country has to be above suspicion. Media has played a crucial role in our country. Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has faced an incident on which I want to give a pure version. The way Zee TV has carried the news, it has become important for me to share."

However, Zee Television group earlier had overruled all allegations against them stating that they had asked for money over advertisement commitments worth crores of rupees.

Punit Goenka, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., was quoted as saying, "This kind of allegation has happened in the past and may happen in the future. It doesn't make any difference to us and we will stick to the truth. These are all pressure tactics."

Chandra refuted allegations hurled against his reporters and also alleged that Jindal had misbehaved with Zee TV reporters after they sought clarifications on the allegations levelled against his company for alleged irregularities in coal scam.

OneIndia News