Bangalore, Apr 16 (PTI): Election Officers would keep a hawk-eyed vigil on "paid news" in the run-up to the May 5 Karnataka Assembly polls.

State Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha today issued directions to all District Election Officers (DEO) to set up district-level media certification and monitoring committees (MCMCs) to check "paid news" during the electioneering.

The Chief Electoral Office would make use of the existing provisions of law to arrest the incidence of "paid news" or surrogate advertisements in print and electronic media, he said in a statement here.
The DEO in each district would do vigorous scrutiny of all newspapers published or having circulation in the district in order to locate political advertisement in the garb of news coverage appearing within the election period, Jha said.

He said the DEOs would closely monitor advertisements released in print media in any form including surrogate advertising in the form of news.

"The DEOs would also serve notices to candidates and political parties where called for, so that expenses incurred are duly reflected in the account of the concerned candidate and party," he added.