Be courageous, Kuldip Nayar tells scribes

Speaking at his book launch 'Beyond the Lines', Nayar said, "Today any news you see in the newspapers please take it with a pinch of salt because journalists, owner and space has been bought. Paid news is selling and favouritism is being reflected."

88-year-old Nayar, in his autobiography talks about his journey in the field of journalism and his days during the emergency. He has also given accounts of many historic moments in the country from a journalistic view point.

Speaking about the paid news, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said the concept of such form of news was a "serious problem" which happen mainly during the elections and not all the time.

"Paid news is a very serious problem and it happens particularly during elections and everyone knows who is doing what despite Election Commission or even the Press council intervention does not work. I think it's a collective challenge how to deal with this," Jaitley said.

The Editor of Daily Star, Bangladesh, Mahfuz Anam said the very fact that one can pay for news is actually killing the code of Journalism which is 'Trust'.

"It is in India where free press was established and when we come to know about such paid news, it is really the death of news," he said. (MORE)