Journalists as a tribe tend to be cynical and self-righteous in equal measure. The cynicism leads us to believe that the glass is always half empty. Our self-righteous streak drives us into spasms of rage when we are accused of lowering ethical standards. The ‘paid news’ crisis calls for neither an overdose of cynicism nor another bout of self-righteousness. What is required is a robust pragmatism that accepts the problem confronting the profession, but also sees it as an opportunity to restore falling credibility.

We need to realize that ‘paid news’ is not some overnight phenomenon that began with election ‘packages’. Film and sports journalism, for example, has been forced to blur the lines with public relations for some time now. Corporate India has also been a step ahead of political India: ‘private treaties’ by which a newspaper enters into agreements with business groups to ensure favourable coverage in return for an equity stake in the company has been in existence for several years now. A political candidate who pays for favourable media coverage is not guaranteed victory, a corporate house through a ‘private treaty’ is almost guaranteed lasting immunity against journalistic ‘objectivity’.

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