The vexed issue of "private treaties"

Should a media company disclose to readers of its newspapers its interest — in this case an ownership stake — in companies that are regularly featured on its news pages?

Are media companies taking enough steps to insulate their news and opinion writing from growing business interests of the firm itself?

And in a market where newspapers are significantly subsidised by advertisers, does it matter whether such conflicts of interests are divulged or not to readers who have been reluctant to pay for what it costs to produce a daily newspaper?

Mint posed these questions earlier this year in an article on the issue of private treaties. And last month it carried a report on a move by Sebi, the capital market regulator, to make private treaty deals more transparent (Page 12: "Sebi seeks more transparency, orders media firms to declare stakes in other companies").

Reading both these articles will give you a good idea of the stakes involved here for both journalists and the reading public.

What do you intend to do if you are a journalist?

And what do you have to say about the issue as a reader?