Media ethics, TRP scam issues to be examined by Parliamentary panel headed by Shashi Tharoor

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has decided to take up the matters of media ethics, news coverage and the TRP scam issue for discussion next week. The discussing is conducted amid reports of Television Rating Points (TRP)

The sitting would discuss the matter with representatives of News Broadcasters Association, Press Council of India and Prasar Bharati on the subject ‘Ethical Standards in Medical Coverage’. This will be followed by evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Infromation and Broadcasting on the same subject.

This comes after Congress MP and member of the panel Karti Chidambaram requested Shashi Tharoor to take up the issue and call the officials of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry before the committee to seek clarification and remedial measures. Karti Chidambaram had said, “The government’s advertising expenditure depends on the TRP system, and public spending should not be based on flawed data.”

“Flawed or manipulated TRP cannot be the basis of ad spend. TV companies also base their valuations on TRP. Those valuations are questionable now,” Karti further said.

On Thursday, the Mumbai Police claimed it has busted a TRP scam involving three TV news channels – Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.

Police said owners and top management of Republic TV would be called for the interrogation in connection with the TRP scam, while owners of the two other channels have already been arrested.

The racket came to light when Broadcast Audience Reasearch Council (BARC), an organisation which measures TRP, filed a complaint in this regard through Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, police said.

TRP is a tool to judge which TV programmes are viewed the most and also indicates the viewers’ choice and popularity of a particular channel.

Shashi Tharoor was reappointed chairman of the reinstated Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, days after BJP members sought his removal for summoning Facebook officials before the panel.