Amid its aggression, China first places full-page ads in The Hindu and Business Line that aren& #39;t marked as ads but designed to pass off as the dailies& #39; own news articles. Then China& #39;s embassy shows them on its site as Indian media’s special page on China. http://in.china-embassy.org/eng/embassy_news/t1821123.htm">https://in.china-embassy.org/eng/embas...

The same thing happened when PRC-paid "special pages" appeared in these two dailies on April 1. Such ads completely blur the line between the newspapers’ own coverage and paid propaganda. It& #39;s past time that Indian media frame code of ethics and set up self-regulation mechanisms.

To be sure, PRC-paid propaganda in newspapers that deceptively looks like news articles is a problem extending beyond India. Through such inserts, the CPC funds select foreign dailies, seeking to influence their editorial positions. To what extent it succeeds is a moot question.