This decision comes as a result of the fixation of TRP by some news channels, the most prominent Republic TV. BARC had recently filed a complaint in this regard with the Mumbai police through the Hansa Investigation Group. The complaint alleged that these channels are bribing families on whose televisions meters have been installed to collect audience data to continuously tune in to particular channels. Consequently, the Mumbai Police Commissioner held a press conference in Mumbai to announce the initiation of investigations to probe channels allegedly attempting to manipulate TRP data in order to obtain more advertising revenue.
This development was also preceded by a few stormy months during which some news channels had started lawsuits in the media to turn the apparent suicide of a rising movie star, Sushant Singh Rajput, into an assassination conspiracy and consequently campaigning. of “ investigation ” to clamor for the bloodshed of the ‘accused’ along with smear campaigns to defame various movie celebrities allegedly associated in the angle of ‘murder’ and drug abuse charges. The Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police were also vilified in the campaigns. Three top-tier investigative agencies were put on the scene to file indictments and jail the ‘defendants’, named primarily in media trials, all for apparent political gain. At the moment their investigations have almost been exhausted, none of them have been able to justify the angle of the murder. As of October 2020, all the major producers in the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court complaining against the media lawsuits and smear campaigns of two major national news channels, Republic and Times Now. Meanwhile, watching or not watching the news channels has become an existential crisis for the common people of the country.
Indeed, since the coming to power of the Hindu nationalist government of the NDA in India in 2014 and its aggressive push for a Hindu nation, Indian news channels and media have become increasingly polarized along lines ideological, with some pushing for agenda-oriented programs. and blatantly communal campaigns while others wrestle with their neutral journalism positions. Fake news and social media manipulations have also been disturbing developments during the same period.
Under the liberal impulse of the government of Dr. Manmohan Singh in 1991, international private television actors were allowed to participate in the Indian broadcasting scene that until then had been dominated by the national broadcaster Doordarshan. Back then, cable satellite entertainment channels had started arriving in the early 1990s, and news channels had started to proliferate since the mid-1990s. The fierce competition thus began with the proliferation of channels fighting for their respective audience segments. Therefore, the investigation of the audience has become a matter of utmost importance.
TAM or Television Audience Measurement, a private company to measure television audience in India, started operating from the mid-nineties and soon joined INTAM or Indian National Television Audience Measurement from ORG-MARG. TRP’s competition and measurement journey had always been a rough ride, with most of the channels contesting the statistical figures by making their own claims and some of them launching bitter legal battles against the agencies. In view of this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, started deliberations to build a more credible and comprehensive rating agency in 2008, trying to involve all stakeholders in the business. After various reports from various committees and recommendations from TRAI (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India), the BARC concept was formalized in 2010 as a joint industry body founded by stakeholders: broadcasters, advertisers and agencies. advertising and media, and started its operations from 2013-14. In a landmark move in 2015, TAM and INTAM merged with BARC. However, recent developments and various charges / indictments in previous years have shown again that a comprehensive and reliable rating agency is still a distant dream.
While the audience research and rating of competing broadcasting groups cannot be ruled out, TRP’s analysis for news channels can definitely be abolished entirely, leaving news channels to focus on good, unbiased content. to win the respective audience. This would also free sober news channels from unnecessary fierce wars or controversial statistics or manipulation of the PRT. In addition, the news is very close to physical reality, informing viewers about developments in all fields of activity, and any manipulation of the news content, making it biased or false or simply unreliable, would be a disservice to citizens. . For this reason, we also join the many voices that are already in the ups, for a total stop of the TRP system for the news channels. The suspension is very welcome, but it has to be the precursor to more drastic actions.