MIB writes to BARC not to resume news ratings until examining committee report

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has asked the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) not to resume TV ratings for the news genre until the report submitted by a committee is examined.

In a letter, MIB under-secretary P Nagarajan said that a committee was constituted by the MIB on February 4 under the chairmanship of Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO, Prasar Bharati to study the deficiencies of existing TRP system and propose technological advancements/interventions for further strengthening of the procedures for a robust, credible and transparent rating system. He added that the report submitted by the committee is being examined and asked BARC to maintain status quo on the same until MIB concludes the report on the matter.

The decision came days after the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) approached the ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

NBF asked the minister Prakash Javadekar to intervene in the matter saying that data measurement is the lifeline of the broadcast industry. "There have been incidents of manipulating in the past too but closing down is not the solution and it can only be improved when the data flows continuously," NBF said in a letter.

On the other hand, no demand has been raised yet by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to release the data instead they wrote to BARC inquiring about the process of securing ratings. It also demanded an explanation of the steps being taken to secure the ratings.

The NBA said that the corrupt data released month after month not only ensued to the loss of the reputation but also caused huge financial losses to news broadcasters and BARC need to give an explanation.

BARC has stalled the TV ratings for news genre on October 15 for 8-12 weeks after Mumbai police's press meet pertaining to TRP scam.