BENGALURU: At a time when the Indian media's credibility has taken a beating due to cases of corruption, Rajeev Chandrashekhar's Asianet News Network (ANN) has set the ball rolling by laying down guidelines that require among other things its senior editorial staff to mandatorily disclose assets.

The news network said as part of its editorial and newsroom guidelines, it will also disclose the ad sales and revenues during the months leading up to and during elections.

ANN said it will also disclose all ad sales and revenues accruing from political parties and politicians.

For the company, which runs a Malayalam news channel Asianet News, Kannada news channel Suvarna News and a daily newspaper Kannada Prabha, the Code of Conduct and Ethics policy are an intrinsic part of the employment contract of every team member.

ANNPL CEO Suresh Selvaraj said, "Our news brands Suvarna News, Asianet News and Kannada Prabha enjoy high credibility amongst our viewers and readers. Our leadership position in our markets is a direct consequence of the high trust in our news and in our team.

"These initiatives show that we will continue to do whatever it takes to increase the credibility and reach of our news coverage, investing further in not just infrastructure, technology and talent – but also in ethics and values."