"The Press Council of India (PCI), an autonomous body to maintain and improve the standards of press, received 17 complaints of paid news in the year 2009-10, two complaints in the year 2010-11 and 11 complaints in 2011-12 and nine complaints till date in the current year," Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said in a statement laid in the Lok Sabha.
He said the Election Commission had also received 155 complaints of paid news during the state assembly elections in 2011 and 750 cases in 2012.
In response to another question, Tewari told the Lok Sabha that Doordarshan had earned a total revenue of Rs 86.57 crore in the year 2011-12 from the auction of slots on its Direct-to-Home platform to free-to-air channels.