Was Network 18 journalists' promotion of Reliance Jio ethical?

Amidst much fan fare and big celebrity presence, Reliance’s 4G mobile service Relaince JIo was launched on Sunday for over 1 lakh employees of the multi sector conglomerate.

Beyond the much frenzied launch and glamour attached to the event with Shah Rukh Khan and AR Rahman gracing the event, there was also a bunch of celebrities also expressing their univocal support for the launch almost like an undeclared advertising campaign. Though sources in Network 18 said no blanket instructions had been given asking employees to tweet or post updates about Jio, almost all top editorial and management were promoting the launch.

This raoses two important questions

1. Should journalists not have tweeted about the Jio launch as they would have done with any other news event?

2. Should these tweets not have been accompanied with disclosures? 

.@SinghPramod2784 Check the attached images as a sample... @bainjal @shilpakannan pic.twitter.com/Qz0SCO5uLn

— Ankit Lal (@ankitlal) December 28, 2015

But apart from celebrities, journalists working for the Reliance owned Network 18 also used their social media accounts to spread the message for their employers.

This included Bhupendra Chaubey, CNN-IBN executive editor, Managing Editors CNN-IBN and CNBC-TV18  and Sanjay Pugalia, Editor In Chief, CNBC-Awaaz & CNBC-Bajar.

The editors of the two most popular media outlets owned by Relaince promoting the company’s business interests raises the issue of conflict of interest and breach of media ethics in cases of corporate owning media outlets.

Reliance currently owns the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators which can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services. 

Fed up of Internet buffering speed ?? Wait for #RelianceJio #CelebratingJio

— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) December 27, 2015

A new turning point for Indian telecom,media, technology and entertainment sectors #CelebratingJio @flameoftruth https://t.co/4iDZTgyDCW

— Sanjay Pugalia (@sanjaypugalia) December 27, 2015

Congratulations to the jio team. Wish you all the best @flameoftruth

— Shereen Bhan (@ShereenBhan) December 27, 2015

On May 2014, an article published on Forbes Magazine titled “Reliance Takes Over Network18: Is This The Death Of Media Independence?” prior to the acquisition, argued how the current situation will be a reality then.

It had cited the exit of Network18′s CEO, CFO and COO as a result of the ‘hostile takeover’.

The article had then described the acquisition as a ‘strategic move for RIL’ with regards to its Reliance 4G mobile network.

However the article had also quoted a Reliance statement saying, “The acquisition will differentiate Reliance’s 4G business by providing a unique amalgamation at the intersection of telecom, web and digital commerce via a suite of premier digital properties.”

This move also saw the husband wife duo of Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose leave the network.