BHOPAL: Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday accused the media of the country of corruption. He alleged that the media was corrupt and has done nothing to curb corruption within the profession. Sibal was addressing a press conference in the state Congress headquarters here when reporters consistently asked him questions on railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and his nephew's connection in the Raliway Board appointment scam, the latest controversy which has shaken the UPA-Centre.

Senior BJP leader and deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad had addressed the media an hour before Sibal's press conference. Prasad had raised a series of questions against the UPA and the spate of scams including the alleged Agusta Westland helicopter bribery and the railway board appointment deal. Media wanted Sibal to react to the BJP allegations.

Without answering any of the queries on Pawan Kumar Bansal, however, the Union HRD minister trained his guns on the media. "Corruption is everywhere. It is not just in the Congress. Corruption is just your prerogative or mine," he said, repeating the last sentence again. He then continued: "You must be knowing about paid news. Corruption is also in paid news. Corruption is in society and in every strata of society. Corruption is endemic and it is phenomenal worldwide. No one can end it but incidents of corruption can be reduced."

He blamed television channels for promoting "consumerism" which he argued has led to corruption in society. "Media has also been corrupt. But what steps have you taken to stop corruption in your profession. The media can allege corruption but if I do the same on the media, I am gagging freedom of expression," Kapil Sibal said.

As Sibal lost his cool, he was joined-in by a calmer Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad . Both the Union ministers were in the Madhya Pradesh capital on Sunday to attend some private functions. Azad defended the Union government : "The amount of developmental policies implemented in the past eight years of the UPA government is unprecedented. This has been the golden period in the country's governance history. But we don't deny the lapses including the corruption. But that is only a very small fraction; it is minimal, only in decimals."

Ghulam Nabi Azad said the media was only creating negativity. "So much negativity is taking the nation towards a difficult situation. No one talks or writes about the thousands of hospitals and lakhs of schools this government has constructed. There are four pillars of our democracy - the legislature, executive, judiciary and the media. The media is expected to be part of the construction and not demolition. Why not write about the roads and hospitals we built?" Azad advised the media to show negative incidents as a one-minute news item rather than showcase it for eight days 24X7.